Search Climate Insights Directory

This report, produced by the Global Canopy Programme and WCS Indonesia Program, evaluates the policy coherence and trade-offs within Indonesia's development agenda regarding water, energy, and food (WEF) security. Using a WEF nexus framework, the study identifies how competing demands for land and water resources can undermine climate mitigation targets and ecosystem services. It highlights gaps in cross-sectoral and multi-scale coordination, particularly between national goals and local government priorities, and recommends improving geospatial data through the One Map Initiative and utilizing Strategic Environmental Assessments (SEA) to better manage resource trade-offs.

This document consists of the Appellants' Practice Note and Heads of Argument filed in the Supreme Court of Appeal of South Africa on 8 May 2020. The Appellants, including the Global Environmental Trust and the Mfolozi Community Environmental Justice Organisation, are appealing a High Court judgment that found in favour of Tendele Coal Mining (Pty) Ltd. The appeal centers on whether Tendele's mining operations at the Somkhele Mine were conducted lawfully without specific environmental authorisations under the National Environmental Management Act (NEMA), municipal land use approvals, waste management licences, and permits for the relocation of community graves.

The document consists of a series of legal and administrative records regarding a land-use change application for Portion 1 of the farm Yzermyn 96 HT in Mpumalanga, South Africa. The application, submitted by Atha-Africa Ventures (Pty) Ltd, sought to rezone the land from agricultural to 'special' use to allow for mining and related activities. The process involved multiple objections from environmental organizations and landowners, a dismissal by a local planning tribunal based on a lack of locus standi, a subsequent appeal, and a final approval by the Gert Sibande District Municipal Planning Tribunal on 29 April 2019.

The Department of Economic Development, Environment and Tourism (LEDET) of the Limpopo Province refused an Environmental Authorisation (EA) for the proposed Meletse Iron Ore Mining project. The project, proposed by Aquila Steel (S Africa) (Pty) Ltd, would have involved an open pit mining operation and associated infrastructure on the farms Donkerpoort 448 KQ and Randstephne 455 KQ. The refusal was based on the determination that ecological, visual, and traffic impacts could not be mitigated and that the project conflicted with required land use for the site.

This guide, produced by the Centre for Environmental Rights and Lawyers for Human Rights, provides information for communities and individuals in South Africa on their environmental and legal rights when facing proposed mining activities. It details the mandatory government permissions, consultation processes, and legal avenues available to affected parties to protect their land, water, and health.

This document is a legal judgement from the High Court of South Africa (North Gauteng Local Division) regarding a case brought by the Libradene Residents Association against the Minister of Mineral Resources and others. The residents sought to stop mining activities in the Libradene area, arguing that the mining was unlawful, caused significant environmental and structural damage to their properties, and violated their constitutional rights to a healthy environment and property. The court examined the validity of mining rights granted under the Minerals Act of 1991 and the subsequent Mineral and Petroleum Resources Development Act (MPRDA) of 2002, ultimately focusing on whether the mining operations complied with legal requirements and environmental regulations.

A notice from the Municipal Appeal Authority of the Dr Pixley Ka Isaka Seme Local Municipality regarding a land development appeal for Portion 1 of the farm Yzermyn 96 IT in Mpumalanga Province. The notice establishes a written appeal process involving the Centre for Environmental Rights, the Gert Sibande District Joint Municipal Planning Tribunal, and Atha-Africa Ventures (Pty) Ltd.

The document is a letter from the Mpumalanga Province Department of Agriculture, Rural Development, Land and Environmental Affairs granting environmental authorisation to Atha Africa Ventures (Pty) Ltd for the Yzermyn Underground Coal Mine. The authorisation covers multiple listed activities, including the construction of surface infrastructure, roads, and an explosives magazine, while noting significant impacts on wetlands and endangered ecosystems.

This document contains the heads of argument for an application for leave to appeal a High Court decision regarding the legality of mining operations conducted by Tendele Coal Mining (Pty) Limited. The applicants argue that the mining company failed to obtain necessary environmental authorizations under the National Environmental Management Act (NEMA), violated town planning legislation for new mining areas, operated without a required waste management license, and unlawfully relocated traditional graves.

The Voice Community Representative Council, an NPO representing communities in the Dr. Pixley Ka Isaka Seme Municipality, issued a memorandum of grievances to the Centre for Environmental Rights (CER) on July 26, 2018. The document accuses CER and its coalition of using environmental protection as a pretext to block the Yzermyn mining project by Atha Africa Ventures, thereby perpetuating economic and racial inequality and poverty for the local black community.

This guide outlines the criteria and risk assessments for mining activities within high-importance biodiversity priority areas. It establishes a rigorous set of filters and a risk-averse approach to determine if mining is an optimal land use compared to the preservation of critical ecosystems and water resources.

The Matzikama Municipality issued a decision on 24 July 2020 approving the rezoning of a portion of Farm Geelwal Karoo No 262 from Agriculture zone I to Industrial zone III to allow for mining activities and a mineral processing plant.

This policy brief by the Center for International Environmental Law and the Environmental Investigation Agency argues for a rights-based approach to land use in the post-2020 global climate agreement. It emphasizes that land-based mitigation must not displace industrial emission reductions, must protect the tenure rights of indigenous peoples and local communities, and must prioritize food security and biodiversity to avoid perverse outcomes from policies like biofuels and carbon offsets.

This document is a fact sheet containing a table of individual green municipal bonds issued in the United States during 2017, detailing the issuers, amounts issued in USD, dates, project types, and CBI certification status.

This guide by the Climate Bonds Initiative outlines the standards and certification process for issuing green bonds within the agriculture sector, with a specific focus on the expanding market in Brazil.

This document is an appendix listing the federal and state legislation consulted for a report on forest restoration in the Amazon. It provides a comprehensive bibliography of laws, decrees, and resolutions from the Brazilian federal government and the states of Acre, Amapá, Amazonas, Mato Grosso, Pará, Rondônia, and Roraima, focusing on environmental protection, climate change, and land regularization.

This policy brief by the Climate Policy Initiative analyzes the shift in Amazon deforestation from large-scale to small-scale clearings. It highlights how remote sensing-based monitoring, while effective at reducing large clearings, fails to detect areas of 25 hectares or less, leading landholders in states like Mato Grosso and Pará to adapt their practices to avoid detection.

This fact sheet by the Climate Policy Initiative outlines how adjusting Indonesia's fiscal policies can promote efficient land use and reduce greenhouse gas emissions in sectors such as forestry, oil and gas, mining, and agriculture. It identifies three primary opportunities for reform: adjusting revenue collection instruments to favor land-size-based taxes over profit-based taxes, reforming revenue transfers to local governments to discourage land expansion, and utilizing earmarking for sustainable land management programs.

This fact sheet by the Climate Policy Initiative examines how Indonesia can adjust its fiscal policies to balance the growth of its land use sector—which contributes nearly half of the national GDP—with a goal to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 29% by 2030. The document identifies three primary areas for fiscal reform: shifting from production-based to land-size based levies, reforming revenue sharing with local governments to discourage land expansion, and earmarking Adjustment Funds for sustainable land use.

This fact sheet from the Climate Policy Initiative argues that Brazil possesses the necessary policy tools to combat deforestation in the Amazon without compromising agricultural production, highlighting a historical decrease in deforestation rates alongside increasing agricultural GDP.