This IPCC technical paper extensively and thoroughly examines the potential consequences of climate change on the world’s freshwater resources and the communities that depend on them. Its objective is to improve understanding of how water-related issues are linked to climate change and adaptation and mitigation responses. The methodology splits sections into observed and projected effects with error margins and a stress on uncertainty presented as necessary context.

This review seeks to assess the sustainable livelihoods projects currently supported by Norway in Malawi within the context of climate change and its predicted impact on agriculture development and food security.The report found that since the adaptation to climate change was not a design feature of any of the projects or undertakings, the relevance of the activities to adaptation to climate change was rather incidental.

In the face of trends towards a widening “food gap” and general poverty, this paper attempts to address the problem by discussing the methodologies necessary for sustainable land management to ensure improved food security, rapid economic development and poverty reduction in developing countries of Africa. The authors explain that the population of the world has been increasing at an exponential rate over the past few decades. Present projections suggest that it will be 11 billion by the year 2100.

Desertification has had an acute impact in Africa, particularly in the Community of the Sahel-Saharan States (CEN-SAD), which is characterised by climate ranging from hyper-arid to dry sub-humid. The local communities and their livelihoods are heavily dependent on the increasingly fragile natural resources. This note, conducted by the Sahara and Sahel Observatory (OSS) on the request from CEN-SAD, summarises the results obtained from available documentation and consultations from experts and practitioners for the preparation and implementation of the Great Green Wall in the region.

The policy debate about the merits and demerits of biofuels is growing and changing rapidly, with concerns being voiced over their effectiveness for mitigating climate change, role in recent food price hikes and social environmental impacts. This study contributes to these debates through examining the current and likely future impacts of the increasing spread of biofuels on access to land in producer countries, particularly for poorer rural people. It draws on a literature review of evidence drawn from diverse contexts across Africa, Asia and Latin America.

The state of the Arab environment stands at a pivotal juncture with numerous environmental problems both current and imminently threatening the region. Among the major challenges being faced are water scarcity, land degradation and desertification, inadequate waste management, coastal and marine environment degradation and air pollution.

Large areas of the humid tropics are like mosaics, combining features of forests and agriculture and housing hundreds of millions of people. Land uses that store high quantities of carbon, such as agroforestry and other tree-based systems, make up a large part of those mosaic areas. Yet current discussions on reducing emissions from deforestation and degradation (REDD) within the UNFCCC do not adequately address these land uses as part of a potential mitigation strategy.

Focusing on water resources and irrigation, this paper documents a talk by Michael Lipton exploring approaches to poverty alleviation in developing Asia. The talk discusses the findings of a recent paper ‘Pro-poor intervention strategies in irrigated agriculture in Asia: poverty in irrigated agriculture - realities, issues, and options with guidelines’. It looks at a number of topical issues such as irrigation in relation to access and global poverty, irrigation corruption, and sustainability.

This bi-annual addition of id21 Natural Resources Highlights looks specifically at rural livelihoods. It contains the following three articles:

New thinking needed to tackle the rural employment crisis

A further 106 million people will have joined the rural labour force in the developing world by 2015. This article asks whether enough jobs can be created in rural areas to meet this demand, or whether further urban migration is the only answer.

How can small-scale producers compete globally?

La mission assignée au Programme National de Développement Rural (PNDR) est la suivante: « Infrastructure reliée, le développement rural, l’économie à forte croissance et la préservation de l’environnement » Pour réaliser cette vision, le PNDR s’articule autour de 5 grandes orientations, à savoir: promouvoir la bonne gouvernance au sein du secteur de développement rural; faciliter l’accès au capital et aux facteurs de production (foncier, infrastructures, finances rurales, matériel/équipement, énergie); améliorer la sécurité alimentaire et augmenter la production et la transformation agrico

The present Strategy is based on the notion that adaptation to climate change is a long-term process, and that it is still uncertain what the consequences of climate change will be and how soon they will take effect.

Liberia’s Poverty Reduction Strategy (PRS) is built on the foundation of the Government’s 150-Day Action Plan. The PRS is part of a longer-term continuum of the Government’s strategy for rapid, inclusive and sustainable growth and poverty reduction, including progress toward achieving the Millennium Development Goals. The PRS covers the three-year period from April 2008 to June 2011.