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The IEU report covers its operational progress between November 2019 and February 2020, highlighting the completion of evaluations on country ownership and environmental and social safeguards. It details the progress of the Learning-Oriented Real-Time Impact Assessment (LORTA) programme, the publication of evidence gap maps on forestry and adaptation, and the unit's 95% budget expenditure rate for 2019.

The report argues that wealth and wellbeing depend on natural capital—the stock of renewable and non-renewable resources that provide essential ecosystem services. It highlights that natural capital can account for 30% to 50% of national wealth in various countries, yet traditional GDP measures fail to capture this value. The document outlines how governments can generate societal returns (e.g., poverty reduction and public health), economic returns (e.g., business resilience and green infrastructure), and environmental returns (e.g., ecological resilience). To scale these benefits, the report proposes twelve specific levers for government action, ranging from implementing UN-SEEA accounting frameworks and creating public-private partnerships to mainstreaming natural capital into macro indicators and implementing mandatory non-financial disclosures.

The policy brief argues that women are frequently excluded from contract farming agreements despite providing the majority of the labor, and that contracted crops often displace the subsistence crops women grow for household nutrition. To remedy this, the authors propose incorporating legal protections into contracts and national legislation, drawing on principles from consumer protection, franchising, and mortgage laws. Key recommendations include requiring spousal consent for contract validity, ensuring informed consent through plain-language summaries, and conferring third-party rights to women who perform substantial work but are not signatories to the contract.

The policy brief examines how women are often excluded from contract farming agreements despite providing the majority of the labor, and how contract crops often displace the subsistence crops women manage. It suggests adapting legal principles from consumer protection, franchising, and mortgage laws to ensure women's consent, informed participation, and direct access to benefits within agricultural contracts.

The document examines the link between community land tenure and global sustainability goals, highlighting that while indigenous and rural communities manage over 50% of the world's land, only 10% is legally recognized. It presents evidence that secure tenure reduces deforestation and carbon emissions more cheaply than technological carbon capture. The author calls for legal reforms, simplified formalization procedures, and a more equitable playing field between communities and corporations to protect these critical carbon sinks and support rural livelihoods.

The document details how human-induced climate change is altering ocean chemistry and temperature, accelerating sea-level rise, and melting high-mountain glaciers in Latin America. It emphasizes that while some changes are inevitable, urgent mitigation of greenhouse gas emissions is the primary way to limit future damage. The guide highlights the vulnerability of coastal ecosystems and high-mountain communities, arguing that early investment in disaster risk reduction and integrated governance is more cost-effective than future recovery.

The document outlines the impacts of human-induced climate change on the oceans and cryosphere in Latin America, focusing on ocean acidification, sea level rise, and the melting of Andean glaciers. It emphasizes that while some changes are inevitable, urgent mitigation of greenhouse gas emissions and early investment in adaptation—such as nature-based solutions and improved disaster risk governance—can significantly reduce future costs and risks to human societies and ecosystems.

The document examines how the Committee on the Rights of the Child (CRC) integrates climate change into its monitoring of State obligations. In 2018, the CRC issued climate-related recommendations to 47% of reviewed States, focusing heavily on procedural rights, education, and disaster-sensitive social protection. While mitigation was addressed in only 14% of climate recommendations—specifically targeting fossil fuel exploitation in Norway and coal-fired power plants in Spain—the CRC also urged Niger to address deforestation and land regeneration. The briefing highlights a trend of linking recommendations to Sustainable Development Goal 13 and emphasizes the need for children's meaningful participation in climate policy-making.

The French National Research Agency (ANR) is leading two Belmont Forum Collaborative Research Actions (CRAs). The first, 'Food systems and climate (change)', aims to develop climate-resilient and sustainable food value chains, with a specific focus on the Global South and regional food systems. It involves a partnership with the EU Joint Programme Initiative (JPI) FACCE and ERA-NET LEAP Agri, with 31 ERA-NET partners including entities from Europe, Africa, and Latin America and the Caribbean (LAC). The second, 'Towards sustainability of soils and groundwater for societal benefit', is in a scoping phase to understand the dynamics of the 'Critical Zone' (from the lower atmosphere to fresh bedrock) and propose management transformations. This second CRA is co-led by AllEnvi and ANR, with a steering committee including the NSF (USA), FAPESP (Brazil), and QNRF (Qatar).

The IAI Strategic Plan (2019–2044) establishes a long-term framework to bridge the gap between science and policy in the Americas. The plan is organized into three themes: meeting the needs of member Parties, advancing science for regional sustainability, and ensuring the organizational sustainability of the IAI. Key priorities include promoting transdisciplinary research on climate action, water and energy security, and biodiversity, while expanding the institute's membership and establishing a 100 million USD endowment fund.

The IAI Strategic Plan (2019–2044) establishes a 25-year framework to bridge the gap between science and policy across the Americas. The plan is organized into three themes: meeting the needs of member states regarding global environmental change, advancing science for regional sustainability, and ensuring the IAI's own organizational sustainability. Key priorities include promoting open data, supporting underrepresented groups, and focusing research on critical areas such as food and water security, renewable energy, and climate action. The institute aims to expand its membership to all nations in the Americas and establish a $100 million endowment fund to secure its long-term operations.

The document argues that private sector engagement is essential for successful National Adaptation Planning (NAP) because businesses and investors drive economic growth and provide the necessary financing, products, and services for climate resilience. It identifies four key enabling factors—information sharing, financing, institutional arrangements, and capacity building—that governments must address to overcome barriers to engagement. The guide outlines specific entry points for the private sector across the three phases of the NAP process: planning (consensus building and priority setting), implementation (climate-proofing operations and public-private partnerships), and monitoring and evaluation (designing metrics and reporting outcomes).

The document argues that private sector engagement is essential for climate adaptation in developing countries, as businesses and investors drive economic growth and provide necessary products, services, and financing. It identifies four key enabling factors—information exchange, financing, institutional arrangements, and capacity development—that governments must address to overcome barriers to private sector participation. The guide outlines specific entry points for engagement across the three phases of the NAP process: planning, implementation, and monitoring and evaluation (M&E). It also provides case studies from countries such as Ghana, Kenya, and Jamaica to illustrate successful public-private collaborations in adaptation.

The document argues that private sector actors—including micro, small, and medium enterprises (MSMEs) and private financiers—are essential for achieving climate adaptation goals due to their role in economic growth and capital flow. It identifies four key enabling factors for engagement: information sharing, financing, institutional arrangements, and capacity building. The brief outlines specific entry points for private sector involvement across the three phases of the NAP process (planning, implementation, and monitoring and evaluation) and provides case studies from countries such as Ghana, Rwanda, Kenya, and Jamaica to illustrate successful public-private collaboration in climate adaptation.

The study finds that internal armed conflict generally leads to a net negative change in women's labour rights during and immediately after conflict. While some qualitative literature suggests conflicts can create opportunities for women's employment, this large-n analysis indicates that negative mechanisms—such as post-conflict insecurity, violence, and a return to traditional gender roles—outweigh potential gains.

The Draft IAI Strategic Plan (2019–2044) establishes a 25-year roadmap to support sustainable policies in the Americas through interdisciplinary and transdisciplinary research. The plan is organized into three themes: meeting the needs of member Parties, advancing a science agenda for regional sustainability, and ensuring the organizational sustainability of the IAI. Key priorities include climate action, water and food security, biodiversity conservation, and the promotion of open science and data. The IAI aims to act as a bridge between scientific research and policy-making, targeting the co-creation of knowledge and the enhancement of institutional capacities across the region.

The draft Strategic Plan (2019–2044) outlines the IAI's vision to create a sustainable and informed American continent through science-based policy. It focuses on three main themes: meeting the needs of member states regarding global environmental change, advancing science for sustainability (covering food, water, energy, and biodiversity), and ensuring the IAI's own institutional sustainability through improved communication and funding. The plan emphasizes transdisciplinary research, open data, and the inclusion of underrepresented groups such as indigenous peoples and women.

The Defenders in Development Campaign urges states and development finance institutions (DFIs) to integrate human rights protections into development projects, noting that defenders of land and environmental rights face extreme risks of violence and criminalization.

The project aims to support 175,000 people in rural Guatemala by transitioning them from a heavy reliance on rain-fed agriculture to climate-resilient production systems. It proposes a three-component approach: implementing on-farm resilient practices and income diversification, establishing watershed-level water management plans and infrastructure, and removing policy barriers to strengthen agricultural extension services. With a total indicative cost of 62 million USD, the project targets indigenous populations and women who face significant barriers to credit and technical knowledge.

The report concludes that the Clean Development Mechanism (CDM) largely failed its objectives of producing high-quality, additional emission reductions and promoting sustainable development. It highlights systemic issues such as a lack of environmental integrity, perverse incentives for pollutant production, and the absence of social safeguards. Through four case studies in Uganda, India, Chile, and Guatemala, the document demonstrates how CDM projects led to land grabs, pollution, and the violation of indigenous and community rights. It recommends that post-2020 climate targets should not use CDM credits and that future mechanisms, such as the Sustainable Development Mechanism under the Paris Agreement, must incorporate binding stakeholder consultations and independent grievance mechanisms.