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The document evaluates COP29's impact on Africa, highlighting the New Collective Quantified Goal on Climate Finance (NCQG) as a central but insufficient outcome. It details failures in the Just Transition Work Programme and fossil fuel phase-out commitments, while noting incremental progress in adaptation roadmaps, carbon market rules, and gender mainstreaming. The authors call for more decisive action and tangible climate justice at COP30.

The study finds that in northeast Brazil, specifically among irrigated farmers in Pernambuco during the 2011–2013 drought, adaptation to water scarcity occurred as an unintended consequence of non-climate-focused developments. Key drivers included income diversification through the clothing industry, poverty alleviation programmes under the Lula da Silva and Dilma Rousseff administrations, and the adoption of efficient irrigation technology originally intended to reduce labour and erosion.

The research evaluates beach governance in Uruguay and Brazil, finding that while Pocitos beach employs a participative committee-based approach, Central beach suffers from weak integration between municipal divisions and stakeholders. The study recommends a formalized, integrated, and participatory management model for both locations and other beaches in these countries.

The study evaluated the accuracy of ordinary kriging versus regression-kriging for mapping soil attributes in a Brazilian tropical dry forest. While stepwise linear regression models showed the best fit for grain size fractions and water retention properties, ordinary kriging demonstrated higher accuracy for 21 out of 33 attribute-depth combinations, suggesting that adding a linear trend model does not always improve predictions.

The Espinhaço Mountains have a long history of extractive economic cycles, from 18th-century gold mining to modern iron ore and gemstone extraction, which generated wealth at a high environmental cost. The region's rupestrian grasslands host unique biodiversity that supports three major Brazilian river basins and provides essential medicines, raw materials, and water. The authors advocate for the use of wealth generated by mining to fund sustainable land use management and biodiversity conservation.

Brazil and Mexico aim to reduce carbon dioxide emissions by 43% and 40% respectively by 2030, goals that require technical innovation, cleaner energy sources, and significant energy policy changes. The document analyzes current and prospective energy mixes and explores the role of renewable energy in achieving these targets while enhancing energy sovereignty and economic benefits.

The study validates a WRF model with 15 km grid spacing for weather forecasting and hydroclimate monitoring in the La Plata Basin. Testing against observations from August 2012 to July 2014 showed high prediction performance for a 7-day lead-time, with approximately 70% of rain and no-rain days correctly predicted in the basin and temperature correlations exceeding 0.80. The model successfully reproduced observed conditions during a drought in southern Brazil and a high-precipitation season in northeastern Argentina, demonstrating its utility for monitoring soil moisture, evapotranspiration, and runoff.

The study found that herbivorous insects in a Brazilian tropical dry forest exhibit higher diversity during the dry season, with evergreen trees supporting greater richness and abundance than deciduous trees. Additionally, insects showed increased nocturnal activity during the dry season to avoid harsh daytime conditions, suggesting that evergreen species are critical for insect conservation in these ecosystems.

The study analyzed chlorophyll concentrations from 1997 to 2017 using SeaWiFS and MODIS Aqua data across four Large Marine Ecosystems (LMEs). It found significant increases in chlorophyll concentrations in large portions of the Patagonia (PLME) and Humboldt (HLME) ecosystems, while increases in the South Brazil (SBLME) and Pacific Coastal Central America (PCACLME) ecosystems were limited to smaller regions.

A study of an NSF-PIRE research project involving team members in Argentina, Brazil, and Mexico identified five primary barriers to international interdisciplinary research: integration, language, fieldwork logistics, personnel and relationships, and time commitment.

The study analyzed rainfall interception in early, intermediate, and late successional stages of tropical dry forests in Costa Rica and Brazil. In Brazil's Mata Seca State Park, net rainfall remained relatively stable between 79.3% and 85.4% across stages, influenced by high liana density. In Costa Rica's Santa Rosa National Park, net rainfall decreased significantly as succession progressed, from 87.5% in early stages to 63.4% in late stages, correlating negatively with the plant area index.

Mighty Earth's 2025 strategy focuses on decoupling agriculture from deforestation, ensuring sustainable state-backed development in Southeast Asia, and scaling finance for nature. The organization aims to leverage public distrust of corporations and passion for the environment to pressure the private sector, specifically targeting the automotive supply chain for decarbonized materials and promoting plant-based proteins to reduce methane emissions. Additionally, the group is pursuing continent-scale rewilding in North America, Asia, and Africa.

The study finds that the 2015/16 El Niño led to a 4% increase in global burned area and a 5% increase in fire emissions compared to a 'No El Niño' scenario, resulting in a 4% reduction in the terrestrial carbon sink. South America experienced the most significant impact, with a 13% increase in burned area and emitted carbon, primarily driven by temperature increases between August and October in central-southern Brazil.

The paper establishes a conceptual framework for understanding nitrogen dynamics in Latin America, identifying a tension between socioeconomic demand drivers and political/institutional structural drivers. Using Brazil as a case study, it argues that while demand for food, energy, and housing drives emissions, the ability to implement effective policy responses depends on governance and institutional forcefulness.

The energy transition accelerated in 2024, driven by record uptake in solar, wind, and electric vehicles as costs for solar modules and batteries fell significantly. While renewables are poised to overtake coal as the leading power source in 2025 and many nations have set net-zero goals, progress in energy efficiency and methane reduction remains off track. The document argues that achieving 2030 targets requires shifting fossil fuel subsidies toward clean energy investments, particularly in emerging economies.

The study uses a multidisciplinary approach to assess how socio-economic indicators and institutional capacities—including social networks, legal frameworks, and citizen participation—affect the ability of coastal municipalities in Latin America to cope with climate-intensified extreme rainfall events. Findings suggest that local vulnerability is not directly linked to institutional capacity, and while legal frameworks and actor networks appear sufficient, there is a critical need to strengthen citizen participation and create public spaces for information exchange to improve future adaptation and response.

The document argues that while green guarantees can mobilize up to five times more capital than loans, they are underutilized due to complexity, lack of technical assistance, high costs, and time horizon misalignments. It showcases case studies from the World Bank Group, Green Guarantee Company, TCX, GuarantCo, and a Sida-IFU partnership to demonstrate how streamlining processes, providing targeted technical support, subsidizing currency hedges, extending guarantee tenors to 20 years, and fostering bilateral cooperation can unlock private capital for the green transition in EMDEs.

The document analyzes the evolution of BRICS, specifically the 2023 addition of Egypt, Ethiopia, Iran, and the UAE, and the 2024 introduction of a 'partner countries' category. Using Susan Strange's framework of structural power, it argues that BRICS is not seeking to create a rival system but to reshape global governance to be more representative of the global South. The analysis highlights the bloc's economic growth—surpassing the G7 in PPP terms around 2015—and its efforts to create alternative financial mechanisms like the New Development Bank (NDB) and local currency trade to reduce reliance on Western systems. It concludes that while internal diversity and regional rivalries challenge cohesion, the 'agree to disagree' principle allows BRICS to function as a catalyst for South-South cooperation.

The report details the outcomes of a WRI conference in Bogota, where teams from Brazil, Colombia, and Mexico developed a joint vision to synchronize electric mobility deployment with air quality monitoring. It proposes three primary regional projects: a 'Healthy and Sustainable Path to School' initiative to reduce child exposure to pollutants, a regional health-impact calculator platform (QueTanLimpioEsTuAire.com), and a 'Fleets in Transition' project targeting the decarbonization of urban freight. The document emphasizes a focus on vulnerable populations, including children and the elderly, and aims to position WRI as a regional leader in integrated sustainable transport solutions by 2030.

The document highlights the challenges facing African subnational governments in managing urban food systems due to rapid urbanisation, limited authority, and fragmented policy frameworks. It argues that while local governments often lack explicit mandates and funding for food security, they are critical for building climate resilience and social equity. The brief recommends that philanthropic investment focus on multi-stakeholder platforms (MSPs), capacity building for local actors, and the institutionalisation of food councils. It specifically proposes four actionable funding opportunities, including a South-South learning lab and the expansion of the AfriFOODlinks network, to transition urban food systems toward agroecological principles.