All publications and documents

The fifteenth session of the Conference of the Parties (COP15) of the United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification (UNCCD) took place from 9 to 20 May 2022 in Abidjan, Côte d’Ivoire. The theme of COP15 was Land. Life. Legacy: From scarcity to prosperity. COP15 discussed sustainable solutions for land restoration and drought resilience, with a strong focus on future-proofing land use.

Key messages • Atmospheric greenhouse gas concentrations continue to rise and fossil fuel emissions are now above pre-pandemic levels after a temporary drop due to lockdowns associated with the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020 and 2021 • Recent years saw record high temperatures and ocean heat. Looking forward, there is a 48% chance that, during at least one year in the next five…

Media and policy attention often take an alarmist tone when it comes to displacement crises and the complex interplay of drivers: climate and environmental change, disasters, conflict and fragility. This has contributed to the popular narrative that climate change will lead to mass-scale displacement, which in turn will lead to increased conflict. This prevailing narrative has given…

We live in a world of worry. The ongoing Covid-19 pan­demic, having driven reversals in human development in almost every country, continues to spin off variants unpre­dictably. War in Ukraine and elsewhere has created more human suffering. Record-breaking temperatures, fires, storms and floods sound the alarm of planetary systems increasingly out of whack. Together, they are fuelling a cost-of…

Since the 1990’s, the countries of Eastern Europe, the Caucasus and Central Asia (EECCA) have made great progress in pursuing economic development that is also environmentally sustainable. The countries, in collaboration with the GREEN Action Task Force hosted by the OECD, has developed a number of policies aiming to improve environmental quality and social well-being, while creating…

The report spotlights the hunger crisis in the Horn of Africa, where the longest drought in over 40 years is forecast to continue. The number of people facing acute food insecurity worldwide is expected to continue to rise precipitously, as the food crisis tightens its grip on 19 ‘hunger hotspots’ – driven by rising conflict, weather extremes, and economic instability aggravated by the pandemic…