This Briefing Note proposes a framework for status assessment and performance evaluation of social ecological landscapes. Two important application of this framework is envisaged: (a) It can facilitate inclusive decision-making by multiple stakeholders working in the same landscape by explaining interactions, synergies, and trade-offs among SEL goals and landscape components; and (b) When SEL related bundles of innovations are successful (or otherwise), the framework can help document same, reinforcing the case for (not) adopting and scaling up/out.

Smallholder farmers constitute the largest group of economic actors in Malawi and there is increasing recognition that the small scale at which they operate does not offer for most a pathway out of poverty, let alone to prosperity.

There is currently no water cooperation between Afghanistan and Pakistan. Of the nine rivers that flow across the border, none possess a formal agreement or mechanism to manage shared water resources. Further, there is very little information available about the status of environment, hydrology and water resources management for these river basins that could be used as a starting point for dialogues on transboundary water coordination.

The International Conference on Eco-Health Nexus (ICEN 2023) aimed to promote interdisciplinary dialogues and solutions surrounding cascade ecology and human well-being. Cascade ecology refers to the study of ecological interactions in connected networks of tanks, streams and wetlands that exchange water, nutrients, and organisms.

Indigenous Peoples’ lands (IPL) cover at least 38 million km2 (28.1%) of the global terrestrial surface. These lands can be important for biodiversity conservation. Around 20.7% of IPL intersect areas protected by government (PAs). Many sites of importance for biodiversity within IPL could make a substantial but hitherto unquantified contribution to Global site-based conservation targets. Key Biodiversity Areas (KBAs) represent the largest global network of systematically identified sites of high importance for biodiversity.

While water-energy-food (WEF) Nexus is one of the most important, and widely investigated, environmental topics of our time, previous stock taking efforts possess notable limitations, namely (i) their focus is restricted to research articles, and (ii) there is less focus on nexus permutations that begin with energy and food. This paper assembled more than 900 documents and systematically categorized them according to more than 10 key parameters (e.g. scale, methods, limitations), to characterize approaches, achieved outcomes and presence of variables likely to support on-the-ground change.

The polders in coastal zones of Bangladesh are vulnerable to climate risks resulting in low agricultural productivity and low incomes for the communities dependent on agriculture-based livelihoods in these regions. Bangladesh adopted a participatory approach to water governance in the 1980s to improve the equitable and sustainable use of water resources. With men migrating away for better income opportunities, women are more involved in agricultural production and dependent on water resources.

The paper reviews the performance of the Sudanese agricultural sector over the last three decades (1990 through 2021) and examines the drivers of that performance. Key findings show that the sector’s contribution to gross domestic product was greater during the 1990–1999 period than during the other two decades; agricultural productivity as well was higher in that decade than in the subsequent two decades. The sector has remained a major source of employment and livelihood.

Multistakeholder platforms (MSPs) are increasingly applied in environmental governance as institutions to collectively negotiate challenges, opportunities, and policy options in contested landscapes. However, their contributions and effectiveness depend on how stakeholders perceive and frame the role of MSPs in addressing social and environmental challenges. Despite this dependence, stakeholder perceptions of MSPs are currently under-researched.