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This analytical report discusses the link between climate change and cities. It focuses on three broad issues: how cities contribute to and are affected by climate change; how policy makers can use cities to change human behavior and improve technology related to climate change; how cities should use climate change as an opportunity to raise their profile, reinforce sensible policies, and move toward a more sustainable community and planet.

This policy document presents the Carbon Partnership Facility’s new strategies to develop emission reductions and support their purchase over long periods after 2012. The Carbon Partnership Facility aims to develop programmatic and sector-based approaches to carbon finance through a partnership which supports the development and implementation of larger scale and longer-term investment programs to significantly reduce greenhouse gas emissions.

This analytical report analyzes the linkage between gender and climate change. It focuses in particular on the socio-economic consequences of climate change and on the challenges to achieve gender equity in this context. Strategies for climate change adaptation and mitigation that take gender issues into account and recommendations for future action are also included.

This activity report includes the proceedings of the “UNESCO World Conference on Education for Sustainable Development – Moving into the Second Half of the UN Decade” held from 31 March to 2 April 2009 in Bonn, Germany. It brought together 900 participants from 147 countries. Also available in German.

This activity report presents the main activities and achievements related to the carbon funds and facilities managed by the World Bank during the period from January 1, 2009 through December 31, 2009. Guidelines and prosepcts for future action are also included.

This policy document introduces a city-wide approach to carbon finance. This proposes expansion of the CDM’s Programme of Activities approach to enable aggregation of city-based GHG mitigation reductions broadly covered by five sectors: energy, transport, solid waste, water and wastewater, and urban forestry. The city-wide approach to carbon finance gives cities greater flexibility to create a GHG mitigation program covering one, a few, or all sectors, as part of a single comprehensive effort.

This activity report presents the World Bank’s carbon finance operations and aims to highlight some of the most important lessons learned from the first ten years of experience. Carbon finance is an important revenue stream for greenhouse gas mitigation projects. However, there is still room for improvement. As it enters the second decade of carbon finance, the World Bank is taking stock of its experience and progress to date to inform future development and implementation of the mechanisms.

This activity report presents the initial lessons learnt from four pilot cities carrying out an assessment of their vulnerability to climate change: Esmeraldas in Ecuador, Kampala in Uganda, Maputo in Mozambique and Sorsogon City in the Philippines. It included an analysis of the existing institutional framework to address climate change and an analysis of the stakeholders currently involved in addressing climate change.

This analytical report includes a set of articles that attempt to broaden and deepen understanding across a wide range of population-climate change linkages. Taken together, they provide a substantive and methodological guide to the current state of knowledge on issues such as population growth and size and emissions, population vulnerability and adaptation, migration and urbanization and the data and analytical needs for the next stages of policy-relevant research.

This analytical report underlines that agriculture in developing countries must undergo a significant transformation in order to meet the related challenges of achieving food security and responding to climate change. This paper examines some of the key technical, institutional, policy and financial responses required to achieve this transformation. Building on case studies from the field, the report outlines a range of practices, approaches and tools aimed at increasing the resilience and productivity of agricultural production systems, while also reducing and removing emissions.

This visual aid document consists of a map featuring food insecurity in the world through the percentage of population undernourished and the hunger and climate vulnerability index. A short text explains the linkages between climate change and food security.

This analytical report presents a set of pilot climate risk assessment studies aimed to test and begin to develop methods and tools for evaluating climate risks to the private sector and to identify appropriate adaptation responses. This includes analyzing barriers and gaps preventing evaluation of risks and adaptation options, and understanding the roles of different stakeholders (private and public) in addressing those constraints. The studies also aim to provide information that reduces uncertainty about present-day and future climate-related risks to the pilot study clients.

This activity report focuses on the World Bank’s work to address climate change. It highlights leading investment and advisory projects from all regions, explaining the Bank’s role in filling the financing gap to promote sustainable development. It also shows how the World Bank is working with many partners, providing innovative business solutions for clients.

This analytical report presents and describes the World Bank’s carbon finance initiatives. The World Bank’s carbon finance products help the market grow by extending and expanding carbon finance to both developing countries and economies in transition—linking private sector buyers of carbon emission reductions with climate-friendly projects seeking financing.

This activity report introduces WHO Regional Office for Europe’s project “Protecting health from climate change. A seven-country initiative”. This project focuses on taking action against the health effects of climate change in seven European countries: Albania, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, the Russian Federation, Tajikistan, the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia and Uzbekistan. The project supports actions and pilot-tests some interventions in countries that are already experiencing climate-related problems (e.g. extreme events, water scarcity) that are projected to have severe health effects.

This technical document is an annual initiative of the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) Climate Change Working Group for Bilateral Finance Institutions to report on climate change financial flows to developing countries. The financial data reported and analysed in this report are provided by the participating finance institutions through a financial survey and interview process, as part of a growing global effort to make available comparable, transparent and accurate data on financing to address climate change mitigation and adaptation in developing countries.

This analytical report highlights that Caribbean coastal communities will be severely threatened by the direct and indirect impacts of climate change which are projected to accelerate in the coming decades and compound the existing threats to natural systems and society. It focuses particularly on climate change projections for the Caribbean region under +2.0°C and +2.5°C global warming scenarios; the implications of ice sheet melt for global sea level rise (SLR); the projections and implications of SLR for the Caribbean region; and, using an actuarial approach, the quantification and magnitude of the losses and damages resulting from sea level rise and related coastal erosion.

This policy document introduces the UNESCO Climate Change Initiative. This was launched by Director-General Irina Bokova in Copenhagen during the 15th Conference of the Parties to the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change and seeks to reinforce the scientific, mitigation and adaptation capacities of countries and communities that are most vulnerable to the effects of climate change. The Initiative is based on four thematic areas: scientific, educational, environmental and ethical.

This policy document presents IFAD’s approach to address climate change and promote rural development in the context of increasing environmental threats. The goal of this strategy is to maximize IFAD’s impact on rural poverty in a changing climate. This is articulated in three statements of purpose: to support innovative approaches to helping smallholder producers – both women and men – build their resilience to climate change; to help smallholder farmers take advantage of available mitigation incentives and funding; and to inform a more coherent dialogue on climate change, rural development, agriculture and food security.

This analytical report explores potential synergies between food security, adaptation and climate change mitigation from land-based agricultural practices in developing countries, which could help to generate the multiple benefits needed to address the multiple demands placed on agriculture. It indicates promising mitigation options with synergies, options that involve trade-offs, possible options for required financing, and possible elements in designing country implementation processes.