Developing countries

Global poverty, economist Collier points out, is actually falling quite rapidly for about 80% of the world. The real crisis lies in a group of about 50 failing states, the bottom billion, whose problems defy traditional approaches to alleviating poverty. Here, Collier contends that these fifty failed states pose the central challenge of the developing world in the twenty-first century.

Natural Resources Forum delivers cutting edge research on policy issues relevant to the sustainable development agenda. 

This study sheds light on how least developed countries (LDCs) can maximize pro-poor gains from tourism. It analyses LDCs’ tourism development aspirations as set out in the Diagnostic Trade Integration Studies (DTIS) that were completed under the Integrated Framework for Trade-Related Technical Assistance to Least Developed Countries (IF).

For a large number of developing countries, agriculture remains the single most important sector. Climate change has the potential to damage irreversibly the natural resource base on which agriculture depends, with grave consequences for food security.

This report is a comprehensive overview of country-led efforts on climate change adaptation supported by the UNDP-GEF partnership with financing from the GEF-managed LDCF, SCCF and SPA funds. It examines the strategies, approaches and impacts to date of UNDP’s adaptation programme and presents the preliminary achievements and lessons learned from projects in the UNDP-GEF portfolio (GEF-3 and GEF-4, 2006-2010).

This book demonstrates the commitment of countries worldwide to environmental protection through the testimony of nine national leaders, former heads of state and government, on the concept of "development without destruction". This publication was released ten years after the Stockholm Conference (1972) and also discusses the role and responsibility of UNEP.

As a policy research organisation, the International Institute for Environment and Development has evolved key concepts, theories and ways of working in sustainable development since 1973. The big idea we explore here is banking on biodiversity. This approach rests on the fact that much rural poverty is concentrated in the world’s biodiversity hotspots.

The key message of this publication is that the occurrence of the global economic and financial crisis and the interrelated climate, food, and water crises offers a window of opportunity to embark on a path of more resilient and sustainable economic growth. The key challenge is to avoid responding to the crises with measures that perpetuate economically, socially and environmentally unsustainable production and consumption patterns.