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The report analyzes the governance and utilization of Indonesia's Village Fund, finding that while the fund has grown significantly and is a major revenue source for villages, it is predominantly spent on transportation infrastructure. The authors identify five key challenges—including a lack of technical capacity, misaligned planning between village and district levels, and insufficient regulatory guidelines—that hinder the fund's potential to support environmental conservation and sustainable land use. To address these, the report recommends integrating village priorities into district planning, empowering the Village and Community Empowerment Office, creating specific sustainability guidelines, adopting a 'negative-list' for spending, and introducing a sustainability variable into the fund's allocation formula.

The Uganda Green Economy Barometer 2018 argues that while Uganda has a conducive policy environment and significant natural capital, the transition to a green economy is hindered by poor policy implementation, high initial costs, and a financing gap. It highlights the potential for green growth to create 4 million jobs and boost GDP by 10%, provided there is political commitment, economic reform, and increased private sector investment in sectors like agriculture, renewable energy, and sustainable transport.

The document evaluates Morocco's readiness for Multilateral Development Banks (MDBs) to adopt its national systems for procurement and environmental safeguards. It highlights that while Morocco has made significant progress in public financial management and has been a pioneer in adopting the African Development Bank's UCS, gaps remain in complaint-handling mechanisms and the inclusion of climate change in environmental impact assessments. The paper recommends that MDBs leverage the local banking sector and establish local offices to better integrate with national systems.

CIEL and other civil society groups are calling on the Green Climate Fund (GCF) to immediately adopt the proposed Environmental and Social Policy (ESP), Gender Equality and Social Inclusion (GESI) Policy and Action Plan, and Indigenous Peoples Policy (IPP). The document argues that the GCF has already funded 54 projects without permanent safeguards to protect human rights and the environment, and that 23 additional projects awaiting approval at the B.19 meeting could negatively impact ecosystems and local communities. Furthermore, CIEL emphasizes the need for a funded work plan and budget for the Independent Redress Mechanism (IRM) to provide remedies for people harmed by GCF projects.

The document examines Chile's trade policy, highlighting its preference for bilateral and regional free trade agreements (FTAs) over certain plurilateral agreements. It details Chile's strategic shift toward services trade to compensate for a diminished manufacturing base and analyzes the economic rationale behind its participation in the Trade in Services Agreement (TiSA) and its non-participation in the Government Procurement Agreement (GPA), Environmental Goods Agreement (EGA), and Information Technology Agreement (ITA-II).

The report highlights the explosive growth of artisanal and small-scale mining (ASM), with an estimated 40.5 million direct workers in 2017. It examines the sector's critical role in global mineral supplies—including 20% of gold and 80% of sapphires—while detailing severe environmental and health risks, particularly from mercury use in gold mining. The document analyzes the tensions between ASM and large-scale mining (LSM), the limitations of current certification schemes, and the necessity of inclusive formalization processes that address the poverty-driven nature of the sector rather than focusing solely on entrepreneurs.

This policy brief develops a metric for 'convenient access' to public transit by combining spatial (distance to stop) and temporal (bus frequency) data. Applying this to Winnipeg, the analysis finds that only 53% of the population has convenient access during peak hours. It further demonstrates that proposed cuts to 22 bus routes would have resulted in 5.6% of residents losing convenient access and 5.54% losing all access to transit. The brief argues that such quantitative monitoring is essential for informing sustainable urban development and evaluating the impact of policy changes on ridership.

The document argues that while the 1.5°C target is technically achievable, it is hindered by a lack of political will, insufficient institutional capacity in developing nations, and tensions between rapid decarbonisation and sustainable development goals. It highlights a significant investment gap, noting that the energy sector alone requires an additional $458 billion annually through 2030. The authors suggest that the traditional consensus-based international cooperation model is insufficient and advocate for 'coalitions of the willing' involving non-state actors and philanthropic support to build capacity in disadvantaged regions.

The document outlines a formal partnership between IAI and the IPBES Secretariat to strengthen the science-policy interface for biodiversity in the Americas. The cooperation focuses on integrating regional data into IPBES assessments, addressing knowledge gaps, and supporting the implementation of the IPBES Work Programme within IAI member countries. It defines operational guidelines for bilateral meetings, intellectual property, fundraising, and the use of official logos, with an initial duration ending on 30 May 2019.

The report details discussions among 30 experts on integrating mandatory investor obligations into international investment agreements. It evaluates proposed draft texts covering compliance with domestic law, anti-corruption, information disclosure, human rights, labour and environmental standards, contract transparency, impact assessments, and tax base erosion. The experts discussed enforcement mechanisms, including the use of counterclaims in investor-state dispute settlement (ISDS) and the possibility of civil liability in an investor's home state to improve access to justice for affected communities.

The document analyzes the challenges and initiatives related to women's participation in Papua New Guinea's extractives sector. It highlights the Women in Mining (WIM) initiative and the WIM National Action Plan 2007–2012 as strategic efforts to address gender inequality and empower women in remote areas. While some private sector programs, such as at the Lihir mine, have successfully increased female employment, the report notes that overall economic growth from minerals has not significantly reduced income poverty or social inequalities in the country.

The report details a two-day training workshop held in Lima in September 2018 for 21 regional communicators from across Peru. The event focused on translating technical climate change concepts and the 2018 Framework Law on Climate Change into accessible public narratives. Participants identified gaps in current media coverage, such as a tendency toward alarmism and a lack of political focus on climate issues, and proposed the creation of a National Network of Communicators on Climate Change to institutionalize environmental reporting. The workshop included a visit to the 'Voces por el Clima' ecological park and a press conference with the Minister of the Environment.

The report documents a two-day workshop in September 2018 designed to train 21 journalists and communicators from across Peru on climate change and the Climate Change Framework Law (Law N° 30754). The event, supported by the US Government and implemented by the International Institute for Sustainable Development (IISD) and the Ministry of the Environment (MINAM), aimed to improve the dissemination of climate information and integrate regional perspectives into the law's regulatory framework. Key activities included technical presentations, group work on personalizing climate news, and a visit to the 'Voces por el Clima' ecological park. Findings highlight a tendency for regional media to use alarmist or sensationalist tones because climate change is not perceived as a 'hot news' item, and participants expressed a strong need for a permanent National Network of Communicators on Climate Change to maintain direct access to technical experts.

The report proposes a definition of sustainable migration as movement that ensures a well-balanced distribution of costs and benefits for individuals, societies, and states, both now and in the future. It argues that migration is an integral part of social change and that its sustainability is inherently political, requiring a balance of empirical data and normative values. Through literature reviews and case studies of Somalia, Pakistan, Tunisia, and Norway, the authors examine how migration impacts development, social cohesion, and welfare state legitimacy, while cautioning that the term 'sustainable' can be co-opted for restrictionist political agendas.

The document examines how parking policies, particularly minimum parking requirements, incentivise private car use and increase greenhouse gas emissions. It contrasts these with maximum parking requirements and effective management strategies seen in Pasadena, Portland, and London, suggesting that South Africa update its 1985 standards to promote sustainable transport.

The Center for International Environmental Law (CIEL) criticizes the World Bank's draft Guidance Notes accompanying its 2018 environmental and social policy, stating that most notes lack tangible recommendations and fail to reference international human rights and environmental laws. While CIEL notes positive elements in the guidance regarding resource efficiency, pollution prevention, and core labor standards, it argues that the overall framework relies on vague language and excludes civil society from the creation process. CIEL calls for the Bank to develop robust, specific guidance and allow further civil society feedback to avoid reputational risks and ensure sustainable development.

The memorandum, submitted by a coalition including Natural Justice, opposes amendments to the EMCA that would change the appointment of the National Environment Tribunal (NET) Chairperson from nomination by the Judicial Service Commission to election by Tribunal members. It further argues that removing automatic stay orders for environmental appeals under Section 129 would lead to irreparable environmental degradation and place an unfair financial burden on appellants.

The World Resources Institute (WRI) collaborated with the Brazilian government to implement a new law in March 2017 that mandates 3C standards for the Minha Casa, Minha Vida (MCMV) social housing program. This law aims to prevent the isolation of low-income housing from urban centers, promoting public transport, walking, and cycling to benefit approximately 1.8 million people and reduce greenhouse gas emissions.

The paper argues that the 'water security' discourse often leads to the securitization of water challenges, which can justify the transgression of normative positions. In contrast, the authors propose a 'water equity' discourse that incorporates norm-critical considerations to empower sub-national agents and bypass traditional power-brokering cycles in addressing water controversies exacerbated by climate change.

The document identifies significant barriers to the growth of China's green bond market, including discrepancies between domestic and international green definitions, capital flow controls, and a lack of transparency in domestic credit ratings. It argues that while China has become the world's largest green bond market, only 2% of its bonds are foreign-owned. To attract international private capital—which is expected to provide 85-90% of the investment needed for China's green transition—the paper recommends harmonising green standards, simplifying approval processes for overseas issuance, developing RMB hedging instruments, and opening the domestic market to international credit rating agencies.