All publications and documents

The ELD Initiative is a global endeavour focused on land degradation and sustainable land management in an economic context.The ELD Initiative aims to provide a methodology for total economic valuation that is both locally applicable and globally relevant, and based on peer-reviewed research and viable economic strategies. Land degradation is a serious global concern, particularly in light of…

The private sector has an important role in the management and use of land. Land serves as an essential asset for various industries either directly or indirectly through e.g. raw material availability, human resources or brand image. Degraded land is an under- performing asset which incurs expenses or losses. Utilising sustainable land management practices is an opportunity for the private…

One major front for action in the effort to reduce food wastage is developing better food harvest, storage, processing, transport and retailing processes, according to FAO's guide, Toolkit: Reducing the Food Wastage Footprint, and a summary report released on the environmental consequences of food waste. Harvest losses have several causes, including bad timing and poor conditions…

An important emitter of greenhouse gases (GHG), the livestock sector also has a large potential to reduce its emissions. This is the main conclusion drawn by the report “Tackling climate change through livestock”. This newly released report provides the most comprehensive global assessment made to-date of the livestock sector’s GHG emissions and its mitigation potential. It comes at a time…

Over the past decades there has been a dramatic change in understanding about how governance of protected areas impacts on the achievement of their conservation goals. IUCN has issued a typology of four different forms of governance of protected areas. Along with the familiar state-run protected areas, there are those established and managed by indigenous peoples or local communities, there are…

The ‘Improving Governance of Forest Tenure’ guide presents tools and methodologies to assess, establish and ensure tenure rights in forests. The guide emphasizes that tenure is a critical issue in forest management as it defines who has access to forest resources and, as such, is linked to decisions on forest use, management, access and withdrawal. However, the guide notes that there are many…