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The document serves as a comprehensive guide for interns in South Africa's environmental sector, bridging the gap between academic study and professional work. It outlines the roles of various government and civil society entities, explains the national environmental policy landscape rooted in the Constitution, and provides practical tools for time management, communication, and workplace ethics. Additionally, it offers guidance on performance appraisals, the rights and responsibilities of interns, and strategies for transitioning into full-time employment within the green economy.

The document criticizes the 'Copenhagen Accord' for shifting the burden of climate action to developing nations and promoting private finance over public obligations. It highlights how global banks like Barclays and Santander, and corporations like Shell and Lafarge, use carbon markets and REDD projects for 'greenwashing' and profit. The report concludes that climate finance should be mandatory, public, and managed by the UN to ensure it serves the most vulnerable populations rather than corporate interests.

The report argues that fossil-fuel subsidies lock economies into carbon reliance, exacerbate greenhouse gas emissions, and divert funds from social services. It concludes that while reform is politically difficult due to interest group influence and administrative path dependence, it would lead to aggregate GDP increases and significant CO2 reductions. The document emphasizes that transparency—both through improved national accounting and a new international reporting regime—is essential for successful de-subsidization. It provides a framework for reform based on research, clear objectives, coherent policy design, and the prevention of backsliding through independent pricing bodies.

This fact sheet by the International Institute for Sustainable Development (IISD) traces the evolution of the sustainable development movement. It highlights a progression from early environmental warnings, such as Rachel Carson's 1962 book, through the establishment of major international frameworks like the 1992 Rio Earth Summit and the 1997 Kyoto Protocol, to contemporary challenges including the 2008 global financial and food crises and the 2009 Copenhagen climate negotiations.

The SEI Strategy 2010-2014 establishes a framework for the institute to act as a leading provider of systems understanding and policy solutions for sustainable development. The strategy reorganizes research into four multidisciplinary themes: managing environmental systems, reducing climate risk, transforming governance, and rethinking development. SEI aims to increase its institutional core funding to 40% by 2014 to enhance strategic flexibility and independence. The institute leverages a distributed structure of research centres across Africa, Asia, Europe, and the USA to link global expertise with local implementation, specifically targeting the needs of poor regions and the development of leadership capacities in the South.

Egypt faces significant threats to national security and competitiveness due to climate change, specifically regarding energy, water, and food security. The authors present SEKEM, a company using biodynamic agriculture and a Sustainability Balanced Scorecard, as a private-sector model for adaptation and mitigation. The paper advocates for a national 'Green Transformation' in Egypt that integrates technologies and policies across sectors to ensure long-term resilience and job creation.

The document argues that Namibia should pursue a high-value niche sector strategy rather than a bulk-export industrialization model to achieve its Vision 2030 goals. It identifies missed opportunities in carbon markets and the need for better policy coordination between trade, environment, and rural development sectors.

The opening remarks emphasize the urgent need for African countries to integrate trade considerations into their climate adaptation and economic development strategies. The speaker warns that a failure to reach an agreement at the Copenhagen UN Climate Change Conference could trigger a wave of climate-related protectionist barriers, undermining the international trade regime during an existing global economic crisis.

The report details a dialogue on the vulnerabilities of African economies to climate change and the potential for trade policy to enhance resilience. It emphasizes the need for predictable financial mechanisms, the diffusion of low-carbon technologies, and the reform of the Clean Development Mechanism (CDM) to better serve African interests. The document highlights the potential of organic agriculture and renewable energy to create jobs and reduce poverty, while warning against arbitrary trade restrictions and poorly evidenced environmental labels that could undermine the competitiveness of African exports.

The document argues that climate change disproportionately harms disadvantaged people and that current policies are failing to achieve gender equality and low-carbon commitments. It calls for the integration of gender equality and low-carbon development goals to avoid 'maladaptation' and ensure just transitions. The call to action provides specific recommendations for governments, multilateral organisations, the private sector, and LGBTQIA+ movements to foster gender-equitable 'green' and 'blue' economies, improve women's access to resources, and increase the climate literacy of gender equality movements.

The document examines Durban's 'learning-by-doing' approach to climate adaptation through its Municipal Climate Protection Programme (MCPP). It highlights that sector-specific Municipal Adaptation Plans (MAPs) for water, waste, and disaster management were more effective at driving action than high-level integrated strategies. The city's efforts include making its 75,000 ha open space system 'climate smart', testing community-level food security and reforestation projects, and implementing urban management pilots like green roofs. The text emphasizes the need for direct adaptation funding for local governments, arguing that while climate causes are global, impacts and necessary actions are local.

The Strategic Framework for Water Security and Climate Resilient Development, developed by AMCOW and GWP, outlines a four-phase approach to identify and implement 'no/low regrets' investments in Africa. It emphasizes the critical link between water security and macroeconomic stability, noting that hydrological variability can significantly reduce GDP growth in several African nations. The framework advocates for a shift from isolated adaptation projects toward mainstreaming climate resilience within national budgeting and planning systems, such as Medium-Term Expenditure Frameworks. It highlights the importance of Integrated Water Resources Management (IWRM) and the use of Robust Decision Making (RDM) to ensure investments perform well across multiple climate scenarios. The document also addresses the need for diverse financing strategies, leveraging both traditional development funds and specialized climate finance like the Green Climate Fund, while promoting a transition toward a Green Economy and the inclusion of gender equality in water management.

The policy brief emphasizes that water security is the primary medium through which climate change impacts will be felt in Africa, necessitating a cross-sectoral approach to development. It proposes using the existing foundations of Integrated Water Resources Management (IWRM) to mainstream climate resilience across sectors such as agriculture, energy, and sanitation. The document highlights that effective coordination requires leadership from central government 'apex' bodies, such as a Ministry of Finance, rather than relying on a single line ministry. It cites Zambia's Sixth National Development Planning (SNDP) process as an example where water and climate change adaptation were consolidated across multiple sector strategies.

The document defines a 'Just Transition' as a framework to ensure that the shift toward a green economy is fair and inclusive, preventing vulnerable populations from bearing disproportionate costs. It traces the concept's evolution from 1980s US trade union concerns over pollution regulations to a broader global framework integrated into the UNFCCC and the 2015 Paris Agreement. The text emphasizes three types of justice—procedural, distributional, and restorative—and argues that transition planning must be participatory and cross-governmental. Using Malawi's agricultural mechanization as an example, it illustrates how top-down transitions can marginalize smallholder farmers despite overall GDP growth. While historically focused on the energy sector and fossil fuel phase-outs, the document asserts that Just Transition principles are equally critical for sectors like agriculture, transport, waste, and forestry, especially regarding adaptation priorities in the global south.

The Just Transition Planning Masterclass provided a platform for stakeholders from Kenya, Ghana, Namibia, and Uganda to explore how to manage the socio-economic disruptions of sustainable development transitions. The program combined webinars and an in-person workshop in Nairobi to discuss the definition of a 'just transition', the role of standalone frameworks versus integrated policies, and the impact of colonial resource extraction on current fiscal and governance capacities. Key findings highlight significant barriers to implementation, including a lack of disaggregated data for impact analysis, difficulties in accounting for the informal economy, and limited funding for the social components of transition, such as stakeholder dialogue and re-skilling. The report concludes with a set of best practices for developing holistic impact understandings, enabling participatory decision-making, and ensuring policy cohesion through co-created justice indicators.

The report advocates for community-led forest management and agroecology as essential, interrelated political strategies to combat deforestation and malnutrition caused by industrial agriculture and corporate control. It asserts that these approaches outperform traditional conservation and technical models by prioritizing community rights, traditional knowledge, and the intrinsic value of nature over market profits.

Friends of the Earth International calls for a transition away from a neoliberal economic model and the rejection of market-based climate solutions. The report emphasizes the moral and legal obligation of rich nations to lead emission cuts and provide public funding for adaptation and mitigation in the Global South, while warning against the risks of carbon markets and the 'Green Economy' framework if it ignores social justice.

This report by Friends of the Earth International (FoEI) critiques the outcomes of the COP15 (Copenhagen) and subsequent climate negotiations leading up to COP17 (Durban). It argues that the international community is failing to address the climate crisis due to a reliance on voluntary pledges and market-based mechanisms rather than legally binding emissions reductions. The document calls for a systemic shift away from neoliberalism and fossil fuels toward a 'genuine green economy' based on climate justice, historical responsibility of industrialized nations, and the protection of indigenous and local community rights.

The document critiques the 'green economy' as a mechanism for financial institutions and multinationals to commodify nature. It argues that market-based solutions, such as carbon markets and biodiversity offsets, lead to 'green grabbing,' the marginalization of indigenous communities, and the evasion of corporate environmental responsibility. The report advocates for the recognition of ecological debt, the protection of common goods through community management, and a radical shift toward sustainable societies based on social and ecological justice rather than market logic.

The report critiques the extension of market economies to ecosystems, specifically targeting carbon markets, biodiversity offsets, and water trading. It argues that these mechanisms allow corporations to avoid genuine emission reductions and environmental protection by paying for compensation certificates. The text highlights the role of financial institutions like the World Bank and Caisse des dépôts et consignations in structuring these markets, and warns that such financialization leads to land grabbing, the marginalization of indigenous populations, and the deregulation of environmental laws.