UNEP

Published almost at the halfway point of the 2011–2020 Strategic Plan for Biodiversity, this fourth edition of the Global Biodiversity Outlook (GBO-4) provides a timely report: on progress towards meeting the 20 Aichi Biodiversity Targets and potential actions to accelerate that progress; on prospects for achieving the 2050 Vision on ‘Living in Harmony with Nature’; and on the importance of biodiversity in meeting broader goals for sustainable human development during this century.

The UNESCO World Heritage List includes 217 properties recognized for their outstanding natural heritage values. Despite UNESCO estimating that up to a quarter of these World Heritage sites are under development pressure from existing and future activities of extractive industries, to date there is no reliable analysis of the extent of overlap on a global scale.

Despite the impressive number of legal texts and many good intentions, real progress in solving the environmental challenges themselves has been much less comprehensive. This report outlines findings from a UNEP study that has catalogued and analyzed existing "Global Environmental Goals" contained in the international agreements and conventions. It highlights gaps in our ability to measure progress, including the absence of clear numerical targets and important data gaps on many issues.

Published to coincide with the Rio+20 Conference on Sustainable Development, UNEP's 2012 Global Environmental Outlook (GEO-5) calls on world leaders to take immediate action to address international environmental degradation and turn world-wide discussion of sustainable development into practice. GEO-5 builds on the findings of previous GEO reports, outlines the current state of the environment, projects future environmental trends and focuses on the smart policies that could put the world on the path to a sustainable future. 

Wetlands have been the focus of conservation and restoration efforts for over a century, and governments, international actors (NGOs and academia) and local communities around the world are now increasingly engaging in wetland restoration or avoiding wetland degration activities for climate change mitigation. Yet despite the rapidly growing attention on wetland activities for climate mitigation, finding the appropriate funding sources to set up a wetland carbon project or develop a national wetland carbon program is often a challenge.

Asia has a rich cultural and natural heritage, but rapid development, population growth and an erosion of traditional practices are resulting in habitat loss and degradation, which is putting protected areas in Asia at risk and leading to serious decline in the biodiversity they harbour. This report assesses progress towards the achievement of elements of Aichi Biodiversity Target 11, part of the Aichi Biodiversity Targets set by the Convention on Biological Diversity's Strategic Plan for Biodiversity, in 24 selected countries in East Asia, South Asia and Southeast Asia. 

This study identifies and assesses the diversity of ecosystem services, and in turn the benefits that World Heritage sites can deliver to society and the economy through direct and indirect use or through inherent 'non-use' values. It also aims to increase awareness and understanding of the multiple services and benefits that ecosystems can provide as well  as their contribution to the well-being of local, national and global communities.

The Protected Planet Report series, launched in 2012, helps track international progress towards achieving Aichi Biodiversity Target 11 - a target for the global protected area network and for other related targets. One of the key messages of the 2012 Protected Planet Report was that a better understanding and more complete overview of each element of Target 11 would be helpful. The 2014 Protected Planet Report provides just such an overview by summarizing current knowledge and progress towards each element of the overall target. 

Our oceans and coasts are the origin of life on earth, an important food source, and crucial for the global ecological equilibrium,  yet despite their global significance, marine and coastal ecosystems face a wide array of threats. It was in the spirit of making enhanced concerted efforts at the global, regional, national and local levels that the Blue Solutions Initiative was created.

This study focuses on pastoralism's current and future potential for securing sustainable managment and green economy outcomes from the world's rangelands. It synthesises existing evidence and uses practical examples from mobile pastoralism in Europe, Latin America, North America, Central, Western and Southern Asia, Australia and throughout Africa to both demonstrate the system's inherent characteristics for adaptive sustainability and some of the key opportunities and challenges for promoting development in rangelands.