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Storing water will be vital to adapt to climate change, according to a new World Bank report. The world faces a water storage gap as demand for fresh water grows and glaciers, snowpack, and wetlands decline. A new approach that integrates built and natural water storage is needed to holistically manage water throughout entire water systems. In the 1960s, farmers…

Labour and skills shortages are a major concern in the agro-food sector across OECD countries. This challenge is compounded by the relatively small, and declining, contribution of agriculture to GDP, and the negative public perception of the sector with relatively low wages and limited career prospects. This paper reviews policies that have the potential to address labour and skills shortages in…

Across the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region, land is a scarce and valuable resource. The projected increase in land demand due to demographic trends, coupled with decreasing land supply due to climatic and governance factors, indicate a looming crisis happening at a time when the region is also facing dramatic social and political transformation. • Reserves for land cultivation…

Against a backdrop of ongoing conflict, natural disasters, and economic tumult—which helped the term “permacrisis” gain wide traction—international diplomats made significant and sometimes surprising steps forward in coordinating global environmental governance. After coordinated pressure from diverse G77 countries, climate negotiators agreed to establish a dedicated loss and damage fund…

Socioeconomic development needs to bring about real change for women. For this to happen, societies must realise that women’s empowerment and access to resources, particularly land ownership, are milestones that would eliminate many forms of underdevelopment and poverty.”Fuad Abu Saif Director General UAWC In the Arab region, as in other parts of the world, there is a growing…

The Global Commission on the Economics of Water today published “Turning the Tide: A Call to Collective Action”, a report which alerts the world to a growing global water crisis and lays out actions that can and must be taken urgently and collectively to arrest it. Failing which, they highlight, the world will also fail on climate action and on all the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals. …