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This technical document addresses the issue of ecosystem management. In particular, it presents four key messages, namely that: biodiversity is key to climate change adaptation; a different set of policy directions, changed incentive structures, reduced or phased-out perverse subsidies, and increased engagement of business leaders is required to work towards “holistic economics”; environmental limits need to be established to ensure society remains within them in order to achieve sustainability; and ecosystem-based adaptation (EBA) is an emerging approach that works with nature to help vulnerable communities and build resilience to climate change.

The analytical report examines the effect of patents on the worldwide transfer of clean energy technologies (CETs), including solar photovoltaic, geothermal, wind, and carbon capture. Key findings from the study include: Japan, the US, Germany, the Republic of Korea, France and the UK are the source of almost 80% of all CET innovations developed; there is a correlation between increased patenting activity and the adoption of the Kyoto Protocol; limited licensing activity is observed in entities located in developing countries, and confined mainly to China, India and Brazil.

This document summarises the findings of the report “Patents and Clean Energy: Bridging the Gap between Evidence and Policy”. This study examines the effect of patents on the worldwide transfer of clean energy technologies (CETs), including solar photovoltaic, geothermal, wind, and carbon capture. It analyses 400,000 patent documents identified from a pool of 60 million patents as its basis.

This technical document calculates the cost of global environmental damage and examines its importance for the economy, capital markets, companies and institutional investors. According to the publication, costs associated with environmental externalities are high and increasing. Environmental costs are caused by greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, overuse of water, pollution and unsustainable natural resource use. The publication presents annual environmental costs for the global economy in 2008 and projected costs for 2050.

This analytical report illustrates how public finance can catalyze climate action by 1) piloting innovative ways to leverage both climate and development finance; 2) exploring new opportunities to expand the scope for market mechanisms; and 3) strengthening the capacity to facilitate access to resources and their effective use. The arguments are supported by a range of case studies.

This analytical report examines the challenges of monitoring financial flows related to climate change. The first part focuses on tracking, monitoring, and reporting various types of flows, primarily from official development assistance (ODA) and other public sources but also from private sources. The second part explores possible ways of tracking additionality in ODA flows, with the aim of stimulating a global discussion on this issue.

This analytical report lays out how resources provided through the Global Environment Facility (GEF), carbon finance, and the Clean Technology Fund (CTF) can be fit together to make a wider range of mitigation projects financially and economically attractive. It considers six projects that are using resources from one or all of these sources in combination with development finance to advance low-carbon development.

This technical document highlights key findings of the Health and Environment Linkages Initiative (HELI), and introduces a “tool-kit” to support integration of environment and health considerations into decision-making. This publication represents the culmination of a two-year process of working with stakeholders to identify: current gaps in knowledge and tools that preclude better decisions; strategies for addressing those gaps; a clearinghouse of linked health and environment knowledge and resources; linked health and environment guidance on assessment procedures; and pilot-testing of the approaches in the field.

This analytical report addresses the complex relation between human activity and the natural environment. It claims that socially and environmentally sustainable economic development can be realized by adopting an appropriate mix of technologies, policies, and practices that explicitly recognize the inextricable linkages among the environmental systems and the basic human needs. Furthermore, the report presents the means by which interlinked global environmental issues can be confronted in an integrated manner. 

This analytical report aims to summarize the latest knowledge and field experiences on the linkages between environment, conflict and peace-building, and to demonstrate the need for those linkages to be addressed in a more coherent and systematic way by the United Nations, Member States and other stakeholders.

This policy document presents the Global Green New Deal (GGND). This has three main objectives. Firstly, it should make a major contribution to reviving the world economy, saving and creating jobs, and protecting vulnerable groups. Secondly, it should promote sustainable and inclusive growth and the achievement of the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), especially ending extreme poverty by 2015. Finally, it must reduce carbon dependency and ecosystem degradation, key risks along a path to a sustainable world economy.

This analytical report is the outcome of collaborative research between the WTO Secretariat and UNEP. It reviews how trade and climate change policies interact and how they can be mutually supportive. The aim is to promote greater understanding of this interaction and to assist policy-makers in this complex policy area.

This story book is part of the Tunza Environmental Series for Children. In this publication young Ting uses the Possible Future Transporter to see the future 50 years from now. She can select different scenarios. Only the best one, where the current way of living is modified and climate change contrasted, shows a healthy environment in which humans can live safely. With this publication series United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) hopes to inspire caring for the Earth through creative literature that sparks the interest and awareness of children, their parents and teachers.

This booklet is a simplified guide to the IPCC’s “Special Report on Carbon Dioxide Capture and Storage”. UNEP has produced this short public information document with the aim of making the Report’s technical findings more accessible to the general reader.

The story book is part of the Tunza Environmental Series for Children, sponsored by UNEP. With this publication series UNEP hopes to inspire caring for the Earth through creative literature that sparks the interest and awareness of children, their parents and teachers.

This story book is part of the Tunza Environmental Series for Children. It tells the story of Tore, a boy who lives in a village in the Arctic and notices unusual changes in the surrounding natural environment. In particular, the temperature is higher and the ice is melting rapidly. After some adventures, Tore becomes aware of the problems caused by climate change and promotes the use of renewable energy in his village. With this publication series the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) hopes to inspire caring for the Earth through creative literature that sparks the interest and awareness of children, their parents and teachers.

This magazine is the December 2009 release of the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP)’s quarterly that features authoritative articles on the theme of environment and development by world scientific and political leaders. This issue focuses on the COP15/MOP5 with articles from the Secretary General Ki-Moon, Lars Rasmussen, Yvo de Boer and Gordon Brown.

This technical document is a compendium that reviews some 400 major scientific contributions to the current understanding of Earth Systems and climate that have been released through peer-reviewed literature or from research institutions over the last three years, since the close of research for consideration by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) Fourth Assessment Report.

This activity report presents the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP)’s strategy to assist countries best realize a low carbon, resource efficient Green Economy for the 21st century. The strategy identifies three priority areas that match calls for international guidance, the urgent need for action at a national level on climate change and the organization’s skill set, experience and mandate. Those areas are: ecosystems-based adaptation, reduced emissions from deforestation and forest degradation (REDD and REDD+), clean technology readiness.

This activity report on climate neutrality draws upon the experiences of nearly 200 participants of the Climate Neutral Network (CN Net) led by the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP), which includes countries, regions, cities, companies and organizations that are moving towards low-carbon economies and societies. The 10 case studies presented examine the areas of transport, building and construction, food, banking and finance, media and advertising, event management, energy, and information and communication technologies.