This report addresses the mitigation of short-lived climate forcers (SLCFs) and its key role in air pollution reduction, climate protection and sustainable development. SLCFs are substances in the atmosphere that contribute to global warming and have relatively short lifetimes in the atmosphere. The focus is on three SLCFs -- black carbon, tropospheric ozone and methane -- because reducing them will provide significant benefits through improved air quality and a slowing of near-term climate change.

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The Information Office of the State Council, China's Cabinet, on Wednesday published a white paper titled New Progress in Development-oriented Poverty Reduction Program for Rural China, outlining the nation's poverty reduction efforts in the past decade.

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Report released by the United Nations Environment Programme and the International Water Management Institute, discussing a needed "radical overhaul" in agriculture for ecosystem protection.

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Natural disasters like the “El Niño” phenomenon often hit hardest on the poor. Yet, it is often difficult to separate the effects on living conditions resulting from inclement weather from general inadequacies in infrastructure and lack of economic development. This study proposes methodologies to identify different types of risks associated with natural disasters and to establish degrees of vulnerability to such risks by geographical areas and population groups. It finds that most economic costs in Ecuador relate to losses of agricultural production and damages to infrastructure.

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Natural disasters are by no means new, yet the evolving understanding of their relevance to economic development and growth is still in its infancy. This paper summarizes the state of the economic literature examining the aggregate impact of disasters. The paper reviews the main disaster data sources available, discusses the determinants of the direct effects of disasters, and distinguishes between short- and long-run indirect effects.

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This paper uses simple regression techniques to make an initial assessment of the monetary damages caused by the January 12, 2010 earthquake that struck Haiti. Damages are estimated for a disaster with both 200,000 and 250,000 total dead and missing (i.e., the range of mortality that the earthquake is estimated to have caused) using Haiti’s economic and demographic data.

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Women make significant contributions to the rural economy in all developing country regions. Their roles differ across regions, yet they consistently have less access than men to the resources and opportunities they need to be more productive. Increasing women's access to land, livestock, education, financial services, extension, technology and rural employment would boost their productivity and generate gains in terms of agricultural production, food security, economic growth and social welfare.

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The ninth biennial issue of State of the World's Forests, published at the outset of 2011, the International Year of Forests, considers the theme 'Changing pathways, changing lives: forests as multiple pathways to sustainable development'. It takes a holistic view of the multiple ways in which forests support livelihoods. The chapters assembled for this year's State of the World's Forests highlight four key areas that warrant greater attention: regional trends on forest resources; the development of sustainable forest industries; climate change mitigation and adaptation; and the local value of forests.

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Against a backdrop of global economic uncertainty, this issue of The State of World Fisheries and Aquaculture highlights the major role and challenges facing fisheries and aquaculture worldwide. With a steadily rising demand for fish and fish products, the supply of fish as human food hit a record high in 2008, underlining its significance in contributing to food security and nutrition as a source of high-quality, affordable animal protein in particular.

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This report explores the potential for mitigating the impacts of climate change by improved management and protection of marine ecosystems and especially the vegetated coastal habitat, or blue carbon sinks. The objective of this report is to highlight the critical role of the oceans and ocean ecosystems in maintaining our climate and in assisting policy makers to mainstream an oceans agenda into national and international climate change initiatives. While emissions' reductions are currently at the centre of the climate change discussions, the critical role of the oceans and ocean ecosystems has been vastly overlooked.

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