Bibliothèque

The analytical report makes a strong case for trade and investment in climate-smart goods and services, in particular climate-smart technologies, that are clean and contribute to energy efficiency and conservation or use renewable energy. This would result in a triple win for economic growth, trade and environment. The publication therefore discusses a holistic policy approach to promote trade and investment in climate-smart goods and services, including regional cooperation.

This policy document includes a roadmaps that explores the opportunities that a low carbon green growth path offers to the Asia-Pacific region. It articulates five tracks on which to drive the economic system change necessary to pursue low carbon green growth as a new economic development path. In particular, it highlights that the “visible structure” of the economy, comprising such physical infrastructure as transport, buildings and energy systems, together with the “invisible structure”, which encompasses market prices, governance, regulations and lifestyles, have to be re-oriented towards resource efficiency. The roadmap provides policymakers in the region with a comprehensive list of policy options and practical implementing strategies as well as examples of successful practices, woven through more than 100 fact sheets and case studies.

This technical document includes a study on cost elements of reducing emissions from deforestation and forest degradation, including the role of conservation, sustainable management of forests and enhancement of forest carbon stocks (REDD+) in Tanzania. The main product of the cost elements study is a comprehensive Excel-based calculation tool, which enables project managers to estimate the cost elements of REDD+ within their project context. This document introduces the tool and explains its functions and possibilities.

This manual has been developed to present a concise set of options and policy suggestions for countries and interested stakeholders on promoting more efficient lighting. It provides best practices and case studies from programmes throughout the world and addresses technology, policy, consumer and environmental protection issues as well as climate change. This toolkit has been conceived as a means to promote an integrated policy approach. This ensures that areas sometimes overlooked in national phase-out programmes are considered and implemented to support a national efficient lighting strategy. An integrated policy approach encompasses: minimum energy performance standards; supporting policies; monitoring, verification and enforcement; and environmentally sound management.

This analytical report assesses existing synergies between livestock and the renewable energy sector. It considers the potential benefits that could arise from the interaction of these sectors in areas  such as mitigation of greenhouse gas emissions, environmental preservation (soil restoration), and availability of clean, affordable and reliable energy sources (for example biogas). It outlines livestock’s potential as a renewable energy source, through the use of cost-effective technologies such as biogas systems that can stem methane emissions from livestock manure by recovering the gas and using it as an energy source in alternative to wood/charcoal or fossil fuel. It also explores the climate change scenario, considers viable applications of Renewable Energy Technologies (RETs) addressed for small-scale farmers and livestock keepers at different levels of the value chain and examines how this can provide multifunctional benefits for households, community and the environment.

This analytical report focuses on exploring an increasingly important question: how can developing countries effectively integrate Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs) tools within climate change adaptation and mitigation strategies? The contribution of this report is two-fold. It presents the potential of ICTs towards adaptation and mitigation through the concrete case of Ghana, illustrating the challenges and opportunities faced by developing countries in this field. The report complements this analysis by offering concrete lessons learned and practical suggestions aimed at developing country decision makers and practitioners, thus fostering the adoption of novel, ICT-supported approaches to climate change adaptation and mitigation. This document is composed of two reports that present complementary views on the challenges and opportunities posed by climate change to developing countries in the fields of adaptation and mitigation.

This analytical report discusses the role of Information and Communication Technology (ICT) in the smart grid with a view of energy efficiency, with the ultimate goal of hindering climate changes. This is done by starting from the consideration that ICT equipment consumes energy too, and this extra energy consumption could be quite significant. This leads to the conclusion that any ICT architectural choice and any implementation should focus first on its own efficiency. This report also underlines that the risk of having an ICT infrastructure with a negative energy efficiency balance often comes from the “scale” factor: this means small and low-power devices may have a huge energy footprint when they are massively deployed. Furthermore the report gives a brief understanding about the possible path toward a “green” ICT, which is the implementation of power-aware and conscious devices for communication and information management.

This activity report describes activities relating to greenhouse gas (GHG) inventory reviews conducted during the period November 2011 to October 2012 and to activities planned for 2013. It also provides information on the training activities under the Convention and under the Kyoto Protocol, the meeting of inventory lead reviewers, progress made in updating the roster of experts and progress made in the maintenance and development of the GHG information system, including the Common Reporting Format (CRF) Reporter.

This analytical report is a collection of evidence-based papers by scholars and practitioners that explore the interconnections between gender equality and sustainable development across a range of sectors and global development issues such as climate change and energy, but also health, education, food security, human rights, consumption and production patterns, and urbanization. It provides evidence from various sectors and regions on how women’s equal access and control over resources not only improves the lives of individuals, families and nations, but also helps ensure the sustainability of the environment. The papers in this publication make detailed recommendations for policy makers and practitioners to ensure that policies and programmes effectively integrate gender equality and that women participate fully and meaningfully.

This activity report outlines the proceedings of a hands-on training workshop for the Africa region on national greenhouse gas inventories, conducted in Swakopmund, Namibia, from 23 to 27 April 2012, by the Consultative Group of Experts on National Communications from Parties not included in Annex I to the Convention (CGE), in collaboration with the Technical Support Unit for the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change Task Force on National Greenhouse Gas Inventories. It also summarizes the feedback and recommendations from the participants of the workshop, the updated CGE training materials, and the financial and technical issues relating to the preparation of national communications.

This brochure presents the challenges that climate change poses to food security and introduces the concept of Climate-Smart Agriculture as well as the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) activities in this area.

This technical document proposes a rapid screening methodology to examine the 14 existing National Agriculture and Food Security Investment Plans (NAFSIPs) in Africa, prepared in the context of the Comprehensive Africa Agriculture Development Programme (CAADP), to ascertain their potential to generate climate change benefits. The screening showed that the activities planned would generate climate benefits in terms of adaptation to slow-onset climate change (60%), adaptation to extreme events (18%) and climate change mitigation (19%).

This technical document synthesizes the results of a literature review reporting the evidence base of different sustainable land management practices aimed at increasing and stabilizing crop productivity in developing countries. By assessing the impact of adopting sustainable land management practices on the level of food production, this paper highlights the state of knowledge on where synergies between food security and climate change mitigation in croplands are most likely to be found.

This technical document provides a brief review of the benefits from various agriculture-based practices and technologies that have the potential to increase food production and the adaptive capacity of the food production system, as well as reduce emissions or enhance carbon storage in agricultural soils and biomass, focusing in detail on empirical evidence concerning costs and barriers to adoption, both from household and project-level data. Findings indicate that up-front investment costs can be a significant barrier to adoption for certain investments and practices, and furthermore, the evidence also supports the hypotheses that opportunity and transactions costs across a wide range of investments and practices. Additionally, potential synergies between food security, adaptation and mitigation opportunities, as well as costs, can differ substantially across different agro-ecological zones, climate regimes, and historical land use patterns.

This technical document aims to highlight recent experiences with country-level implementation of Climate-Smart Agriculture (CSA) to identify some key lessons to incorporate in ongoing efforts to expand the use of the approach in developing countries. Section 1 describes the evolution of the concept of CSA since the Hague conference. Section 2 introduces the building blocks for developing a CSA strategy and combines them into a coherent framework. In sections 3 to 6 the paper goes into more depth on the building blocks, the data needed and potential approaches for prioritizing action. Finally section 7 provides some guiding principles on CSA investments. This background document has been prepared for the Second Global Conference on Agriculture, Food Security and Climate Change organized in Hanoi, Vietnam, from 3-7 September 2012.

This technical document examines how landscape approaches can be used in developing integrated multipurpose production systems that are environmentally and socially sustainable. It assesses the key policy, governance, financial and institutional interventions required, and looks at how a landscape approach can support the adoption of climate-smart agriculture and generate green growth. Finally, the paper considers how synergies between the agriculture and forestry sectors can be improved and how this can be facilitated through Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and Forest Degradation plus other sutainable forest practices (REDD+) implementation. This is a background document prepared for the Second Global Conference on Agriculture, Food Security and Climate Change, organized in Hanoi, Vietnam, from 3-7 September 2012.

This technical document stresses that while the effects of climate change on food safety, animal and plant health is a relatively new area of study, and information and data gaps persist, available evidence indicates that the effects are real and likely to increase in the future. In particular the document considers how climate change will affect sanitary and phytosanitary (SPS) risks in the future. It highlights the need to effectively regulate the interface between trade and SPS risks, as trade is crucial to ensure continued access to food as part of the response to climate change but improperly regulated trade may contribute towards the spread of SPS risks to new regions.

This technical document provides general and statistical information on forest products markets and related policies in the UN Economic Commission for Europe region (Europe, North America and the Commonwealth of Independent States). It includes discussions on carbon markets and renewable energy. The review begins with an overview chapter, followed by a description of the macro-economic situation. Next it includes an analysis of government and industry policies affecting forest products markets. Five chapters are based on annual country-supplied statistics, describing: wood raw materials, sawn softwood, sawn hardwood, wood-based panels, and paper, paperboard and wood pulp. Additional chapters discuss markets for wood energy, certified forest products, value added wood products, forest carbon and innovative wood products.

This technical document outlines the lessons that have been learned by a range of different stakeholders in Viet Nam, as a result of their involvement in different activities and discussions during Phase 1 of the United Nations Collaborative Programme on Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and Forest Degradation in Developing Countries (UN-REDD) country programme. They demonstrate a widespread appreciation of the inclusive nature of REDD+ discussions but also some persistent misunderstandings about the nature of REDD+, its likely benefits, and its limitations. The wealth of experience generated during Phase 1 of the Programme offers important lessons, both for the design of Phase 2 of the Programme in Viet Nam, and for other UN-REDD and REDD+ country programmes around the world.

This technical document presents the main findings, conclusions and recommendations from an assessment of the effectiveness of Training and Awareness Raising (T&AR) implemented by the The United Nations Collaborative Programme on Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and Forest Degradation in Developing Countries (UN-REDD) Viet Nam Programme between October 2009 and December 2011. It highlights key successes, concerns and recommendations including the important progress made in raising general awareness and a thorough “Free Prior, and Informed Consent” process, which was successfully completed in Viet Nam in 2010.