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Fertile soils are an essential building block for human existence on Earth. The degradation of soils and land, in this regard, poses significant challenges for the well-being and food security of all the people around the world. Moreover, soils provide not only food, fiber, and many types of biomass we use, but also a wide range of other essential ecosystem services, such as carbon…

For Africa, more than any other region of the world, the outcome of these climate negotiations is of vital importance. The reason is simple. While Africa is the region that contributes the least to greenhouse gas emissions, African countries suffer the most from the impact of climate change. From the Sahel to the Horn of Africa, to the south of the continent and the small island nations, African…

To meet the objective of 2°C, we need to start by breaking the emissions spiral by 2020 and then reduce our greenhouse gas emissions by at least a factor of two, ideally three, between 2020 and 2050 to achieve carbon neutrality – i.e., zero net carbon emissions – by the end of the century. The best way to view the problem is to look at our energy requirements, which currently are met…

As for the report’s new Human Development Index (HDI), Sub-Saharan Africa continues to rank among the lowest, but 12 countries have individual HDI levels that put them in the high or medium human development group, and they are: Botswana, Cabo Verde, Congo, Equatorial Guinea, Gabon, Ghana, Mauritius, Namibia, Sao Tome and Principe, Seychelles, and Zambia. The Index is a summary measure of…

This guide is a first and preliminary guide on how to “get started” with implementing the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). It aims to help stakeholders, including governments at all levels (national, regional, and local), to understand the SDG Agenda, to start an inclusive dialogue on SDG implementation, and to prepare SDG-based national development strategies (or align existing plans and…

Friends of the Earth commissioned environmental data analysts Trucost to estimate the total land and water footprint of seven generic everyday products: a cotton t-shirt, a smartphone, a cup of tea, a cup of coffee, a chicken curry ready meal, a pair of leather boots, and a chocolate bar. We also asked Trucost to estimate the company and sector footprints for three of the products (t-shirts,…