All publications and documents

Land Portal is delighted to share the draft of the Land Governance module (link is external) for a public review stage (until 15th March 2020). We are inviting feedback on our selection of indicators, and our draft research guidance, as we explore how the Global Data Barometer can track governance, availability and use of data related to land governance in our upcoming survey. As…

Reducing pressures from agriculture is key to improving the status of Europe’s rivers, lakes, transitional, coastal waters and seas as well as groundwater bodies. A European Environment Agency (EEA) assessment, published today, shows that wider uptake of sustainable agricultural management practices is needed for improving the state of water, as well as biodiversity. Agricultural…

We need to address the cost of economic development to the environment, societies and our health when measuring human progress, says Achim Steiner of the UN Development Program. DW: Is development inherently connected with economic growth? Achim Steiner: That certainly has been the paradigm of the 20th century. Economic growth, gross domestic product, per capita income: those were…

La desertificación es uno de los principales problemas ambientales de las Comunidades Autónomas españoles. Por ello pedirán que la lucha contra la pérdida de fertilidad de las tierras sea una de las prioridades de la política verde europea Desertification is one of the main environmental problems of the Spanish Autonomous Communities. For this reason, they will ask that the fight…

Our World in Data presents the data and research to make progress against the world’s largest problems. This blog post draws on data and research discussed in our entry on Environmental impacts of food production. Half of the world’s habitable land is used for agriculture, with most of this used to raise livestock for dairy and meat. Livestock are fed from two sources – lands on which…

Deserts and drylands are often far from the barren images they are known for. These ecosystems play a vital role in climate regulation – nearly 46 per cent of global carbon is stored in drylands. Despite the harsh conditions, they are home to over 2 billion people and harbor some of the world's rarest biodiversity. Many deserts contain hidden water bodies that sustain several species of flora and…