All publications and documents

The Global Deserts Outlook presents a panorama of the environmental status of the world’s deserts: their location and extent, uniqueness and vulnerability, biodiversity and natural resources. The report provides a balanced picture of deserts as ecosystems which form a special part of the world’s natural and cultural heritage, and not simply as land that is the end result of the process of…

Desertification affects 70 per cent of all arable lands on the planet in more than 100 countries. Inextricably linked to poverty, it is estimated that the livelihood of 250 million people are directly affected while another billion living in rural drylands are threatened by this phenomenon. This volume examines the United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification (UNCCD) signed in 1994. It…

Any sustainable response to land degradation must address the issue’s socio-economic, political, institutional, technical and scientifi c aspects. African countries, that are hardest hit by this phenomenon, have committed themselves resolutely to this long-term battle and, at the same time, are intensifying efforts to preserve natural resources and alleviate poverty. As the…

Developing countries, particularly those affected by drought and desertification, often find themselves confronted with the challenge of coordinating the implementation of the various environmental treaties at the national and local levels. More often than not the approach to implementation of these environmental Conventions is sectoral, and this leads to a compartmentalized outlook on key…

At the close of a 15-year regional programme to build institutional capacity for wetland resources management in West Africa, it was deemed essential to extract and review the lessons learned through this experience. This publication stems from the findings of a study carried out to analyse the experience as a whole and shed light on the successes, shortcomings, strengths and weaknesses of the…

Flood hazards and the risks they present to human health are an increasing concern across the globe, in terms of lives, well-being and livelihoods, and the public resources needed to plan for, and deal with, the health impacts. This book is the first detailed assessment and discussion of the global health implications of flooding and future flood risk. It combines an analysis of the…