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Climate change is expected to increase the frequency and magnitude of extreme weather events, notably of droughts and floods to which the agriculture sector is particularly exposed. While agricultural productivity growth and policy development have allowed to better cope with these risks and reduce overall impacts on the sector and commodity markets, there is substantial room to improve policy…

The environmental, social and economic impacts of climate change coupled with the unsustainable management of ecosystems, increase the vulnerabilities of people and nature. Furthermore, the crisis is likely to impact different groups differently and is expected to affect the marginalized (women, children and elderly) disproportionately. Adaptation serves as an important strategy to…

Nature-based Solutions (NbS) use ecosystems and the services they provide to address societal challenges such as climate change, food security or natural disasters. IUCN defines NbS as: “Actions to protect, sustainably manage and restore natural or modified ecosystems that address societal challenges effectively and adaptively, simultaneously providing human well-being and biodiversity benefits…

The management of drought needs a paradigm shift. The time is ripe for countries to develop and implement effective national drought policies that include all three pillars of drought action. Countries need to recognize that the traditional approach of “responding” to drought is not viable any more. By being proactive, investing in early warning systems and assessing their vulnerability,…

Large sand and dust storms, which result from a combination of strong winds and loose dry soil surfaces in arid and semiarid areas, are detrimental to human health, agricultural land, infrastructure, and transport. Every year, an estimated 2,000 million tons of dust is emitted into the atmosphere. While much of this is a natural part of the biogeochemical cycles of the Earth, a…

According to the scientific evidence, climate change is likely to result in surface-water scarcity, increased frequency of storms and precipitation extremes, coastal flooding, landslides, wildfires, air pollution and droughts. This will cause loss of life, injury and negative health impacts, as well as damage to property, infrastructure, livelihoods, service provision and environmental resources…