ISPC commentary on the revised proposal CRP 5: Water, Land and Ecosystems. The revised proposal was approved with light adjustments by Fund Council at its 6th meeting November 8-9, 2011.

The Law determines principles for spatial development planning in Latvia. Its purpose is to ensure such spatial development planning that would raise the quality of the living environment, ensure sustainable, effective and rational use of territories and other resources, as well as targeted and balanced development of economy.

A short video about climate change impacts and responses among small coconut farmers in the Philppines

Asia and the Pacific, for the purposes of this book, encompasses a vast territory extending from Mongolia in the north to New Zealand in the south; from the Cook Islands in the east to Kuwait in the west (Map 1). The environmental diversity of Asia and the Pacific is therefore vast, and is contrasted by the region’s coldest and hottest deserts, verdant tropical rainforests, extensive steppe, desert steppe, grassland and rangelands, mountains and plains.

This policy, which a multi-sectoral approach and relating to the 2011-2014 period, sets out measures and actions to promote sustainable development in Trinidad and Tobago. The mission is to achieve economic inclusiveness in an innovation-driven growth economy with greater equity, more meaningful participation and a rising tide of prosperity for all in Trinidad and Tobago.

Rainwater harvesting in micro-catchments such as contour ridges and semicircular bunds is an option for utilizing the limited rainfall, improving productivity and combating land degradation in dry rangeland areas (Badia). However, implementation of this practice using manual labor or traditional machinery is slow, tedious and costly, and often impractical on a large scale. These limitations can be overcome using the ‘Vallerani’ plow for quickly constructing continuous and intermittent ridges.

Mechanized construction of micro-catchments for water harvesting (WH) was successfully tested in the Badia (dry rangeland) areas in Syria and Jordan, using the “Vallerani” plow, model Delfino (50 MI/CM), manufactured by Nardi, Italy. The plow was able to construct intermittent and continuous contour ridges, and could potentially be used to rehabilitate degraded rangelands. However, one major issue for large-scale implementation is the high cost and time required to manually identify contours for the plow to follow.

Nearly half the world's population and about 81 percent of Sub-Saharan African (SSA) households rely on wood-based biomass energy (fuel wood and charcoal) for cooking. This degree of reliance is far greater than in any other region. While the use of biomass fuels in China, India and much of the developing world has peaked or will do so in the near future, SSA's consumption will either remain at very high levels or even grow over the next few decades.

Thailand needs to avoid the high-carbon growth path of many developed countries and, instead, take a low-carbon growth path. A green low-carbon growth path is in Thailand's own interest as it can simultaneously tackle local environmental degradation, global climate change, and energy security challenges. It can also position Thailand as a regional leader in green, sustainable growth.

In 2008, when food prices rose precipitously to record highs, international attention and local policy in many countries focused on safety nets as part of the response. Now that food prices are high again, the issue of appropriate responses is again on the policy agenda. This note sets out a framework for making quick, qualitative assessments of how well countries' safety nets prepare them for a rapid policy response to rising food prices should the situation warrant.

This policy note provides an assessment of some of the impacts and proposed policy responses to problems related to the drought, including the rise in food prices. To address immediate needs, the humanitarian response to the drought is being managed by the Government of Kenya and a number of international organizations including the World Food Program (WFP), the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), and the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF).

This book is designed for governments that make decisions on the application of preventive resettlement programs as disaster risk reduction measures, as well as for institutions and professionals in charge of preparing and implementing these programs, civil society organizations participating in resettlement and risk reduction processes, and at-risk communities.