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The Baseline Report provides a current snapshot of Rwanda and its planned initiatives within the context of climate change to support the future creation of a National Strategy on Climate Change and Low Carbon Development. It covers a broad range of sectors including climate policy, economy, trade, industry, energy, mining, transport, cities, the built environment, agriculture, land, water, and forestry.

The report assesses MRV systems in four major emitting countries, finding that while emissions tracking is generally sophisticated and transparent due to international frameworks like the UNFCCC, tracking the specific impacts of mitigation actions remains inconsistent and less reliable. It highlights a gap in the ability of policymakers to identify the most cost-effective policies, as MRV systems often track policy outputs rather than actual emissions outcomes. The analysis provides country-specific evaluations and identifies good practices, such as the U.S. facility-level data portal and China's annual progress reports.

Australia and New Zealand are increasing their diplomatic and economic engagement with the African Union and African nations. Australia is leveraging its experience in mining, agriculture, and forestry, while New Zealand focuses on agriculture and peace operations. Both nations are seeking support from African states for non-permanent seats on the UN Security Council, with Australia campaigning for the 2013-14 term and New Zealand for the 2015-16 term.

While Swedish forestry is often viewed as a climate change 'winner' due to potential increases in vegetation growth and productivity from higher temperatures, the document asserts that climate change will also produce negative effects, necessitating adaptation strategies within the sector.

The report details a seminar on the governance of Africa's natural resources, focusing on oil, mining, and renewable resources. It highlights the critical role of transparency, accountability, and the need for home-grown African solutions to avoid the 'resource curse'. Key discussions include the benefits and challenges of state-owned oil companies, the impact of resource extraction on local communities, and the complexities of trans-boundary resource management. The document emphasizes that while initiatives like the EITI are positive, broader societal changes and stronger parliamentary oversight are necessary to ensure resources lead to poverty eradication and sustainable development.

The document analyzes three types of voluntary standards—sustainable-management, carbon-footprinting, and voluntary carbon-offset standards—evaluating their capacity to reduce greenhouse gas emissions in agriculture and forestry. It argues that while each approach has distinct strengths and weaknesses, their potential for climate mitigation can be maximized through cross-fertilization and hybrid strategies, particularly to support producers in the developing world.

The document critiques the application of carbon trading in Africa, asserting that the continent remains marginal to the global market. It highlights how the Clean Development Mechanism (CDM) creates perverse incentives, such as rewarding illegal gas flaring in Nigeria or subsidising fossil fuel dependence, while providing minimal financial benefit to local communities. The author argues that carbon offsets act as an 'avoided responsibility mechanism' for the global North and recommends shifting toward more just forms of climate finance.

The document examines how community protocols and FPIC processes empower indigenous and local communities to protect their land, resources, and traditional knowledge. Through various case studies in countries such as India, Peru, Ghana, and Cameroon, it argues that these tools are most effective when they are bottom-up processes designed and controlled by the communities themselves rather than imposed top-down by governments or corporations. The report highlights the role of the Nagoya Protocol and the UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples in providing international legal support for these tools, while noting that national implementation often remains inadequate.

The BalticClimate toolkit provides climate science overviews, scenarios, and tailored tools for policy-makers, spatial planners, and the business community in the Baltic Sea Region. It offers projections for sectors such as agriculture, energy, and housing, alongside over 120 practical examples of 'win-win-win' solutions for adaptation, mitigation, and economic development. Specific tools include checklists for policy-makers, a Vulnerability Assessment framework for spatial planners, and a Climate SWOT analysis for small- and medium-sized enterprises.

The Second National Communication for Saint Lucia details the country's climate profile, reporting a 2% increase in total CO2e emissions between 1994 and 2000, totaling 579 Gg. The report identifies high vulnerability in tourism, agriculture, and water resources due to projected temperature increases (up to 3.6C by the 2090s) and rainfall decreases (up to 57% by the end of the century). It proposes two mitigation scenarios to reduce emissions by 19.6% and 25.7% by 2020, respectively, and outlines a series of adaptation measures including revised building codes, coastal setbacks, and integrated watershed management. The document emphasizes significant gaps in financial, human, and technical resources, calling for the mainstreaming of climate resilience into national development planning.

The document argues that GHG offsets are a critical component of effective climate policy, providing flexibility for regulated industrial emitters and expanding emission reductions to non-regulated sectors. Through a review of international and domestic systems and original CIMS modelling, the brief demonstrates that offsets can significantly lower the societal cost of carbon policies. It proposes two primary implementation paths: integrating offsets as a compliance mechanism within sector-by-sector regulations or establishing a separate, independent offset regime to cover sectors like agriculture and waste.

The document argues that integrating offsets into Canada's GHG regulations can significantly lower compliance costs for industrial emitters and expand emission reductions to difficult-to-regulate sectors like agriculture and forestry. It highlights that offsets are not exclusive to cap-and-trade systems but can complement performance standards, as seen in jurisdictions like Alberta and New South Wales. Modelling suggests that unlimited access to domestic offsets could reduce costs for industrial emitters by up to 40% and nearly double total emission reductions when expanding coverage. The brief proposes two implementation paths: allowing offsets for direct compliance within sector regulations or establishing a separate, independent carbon management fund.

The 2011/12 budget for South Africa's Department of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries (DAFF) is 4.719 billion rand, with a primary focus on poverty alleviation and job creation. The department aims to create 130,000 jobs in agriculture, forestry, and fisheries by 2014 and establish 50,000 commercially-oriented smallholder farmers. Key initiatives include the 'Zero Hunger Plan' for smallholder market access and the transformation of 12 agricultural colleges into National Agricultural Training Institutes. The budget allocates specific funds for flood relief (over 200 million rand over three years), forestry sustainability (300 million rand), and the sustainable management of forestry resources (550 million rand). In fisheries, the government has designated 9% of the coastline as prohibited zones and 3% of the offshore zone as no-fishing areas to protect marine ecosystems. The document also highlights South Africa's role as the host for COP 17 and its strategic alignment with BRICS to improve export access.

The document outlines China's shift toward energy efficiency and non-fossil fuel development, driven by energy security, environmental protection, and economic restructuring. It details the targets of the 12th Five-Year Plan (2011-2015), including carbon and energy intensity reductions. The author highlights China's rapid expansion in wind, solar, and high-speed rail, while noting the strategic importance of carbon capture and storage. Finally, it argues that China's clear policy framework creates significant investment opportunities for U.S. companies in clean technology.

In 2010, four members of the UNEP BFI CCWG (AFD, EIB, JICA, and KfW) committed approximately 15.5 billion USD to climate finance in developing countries, a 22% increase over 2009. Mitigation received 80% of these funds, primarily targeting the energy (51%) and transport (31%) sectors, while adaptation funding decreased by 28% to 20% of the total, focused largely on water supply and treatment. Concessional loans were the dominant financial instrument at 70% of total flows. The report also details carbon finance initiatives managed by EIB, KfW, and NEFCO, which are tracked separately from direct climate finance.

The document highlights the LAC region's specific climate finance needs, noting a high proportion of emissions from land-use change and adaptation requirements per person that exceed those of Africa and Asia. It emphasizes the need for public sector catalysis of private investment, particularly in forestry and agribusiness, and cautions that existing official development assistance patterns may leave the region with insufficient adaptation resources.

The document details how Orissa became the first Indian state to produce a Climate Change Action Plan (CCAP), utilizing a Strategic Environmental Assessment (SEA) to develop a five-year blueprint in six months. It highlights the importance of political leadership, inter-departmental coordination, and the integration of climate actions into state budgetary processes, while noting that planning can proceed despite significant information gaps in climate projections.

The DRC faces significant hurdles in establishing state authority and territorial integrity, complicated by a stalled decentralisation process and border disputes over oil and gas deposits. The transition from MONUC to MONUSCO represents a symbolic shift toward stabilisation, while the STAREC programme attempts to restore basic institutional infrastructure in conflict zones. Resource governance remains precarious due to illegal mineral trade, lack of monitoring technology for oil exports, and legal disputes over mining contracts involving international corporations.

The report finds that significant greenhouse gas mitigation is possible in developing countries at low or negative costs, primarily through energy efficiency and forestry. While macroeconomic analyses for countries like Mexico and South Africa suggest that low-carbon transitions can be net-positive for GDP, the report warns that technical cost curves often omit significant implementation and transaction costs. It emphasizes that low-income countries (LICs) have different drivers, focusing on co-benefits like health and energy security rather than absolute emission cuts. The document also highlights a critical knowledge gap regarding 'climate resilient growth'—how to structure economies to reduce long-term vulnerability—and calls for better integration of adaptation and mitigation strategies to avoid trade-offs.

The project assesses the effects of land use and cover changes on the La Plata Basin's hydroclimate, specifically focusing on the intensity and length of floods and droughts, as well as soil moisture, infiltration, and runoff. Using 1980-2005 datasets and a Weather Research and Forecast (WRF) modeling system, the research tests various land cover scenarios and introduces Ecosystem Functional Types (EFTs) to replace time-fixed land cover types in regional models.