How can Nature Based Infrastructures (NBI) be a game-changer for women?

Women have long faced a greater burden from a changing climate compared to men, which exacerbates many other inequalities.
Women often face barriers to accessing and control over natural resources as well as being underrepresented in environmental decision making and natural resources management. Due to these disadvantages, women are less likely to benefit from NBI projects.

However, a recent IISD report illustrates why a gender-responsive approach toward ecosystem-based adaptation and NBI has proven benefits and shows how practitioners and policy-makers can implement it.

Hence, the upcoming NBI Global Resource Centre aims to work closely with women stakeholders, integrate their knowledge, and train them in NBI and climate adaptation.

Read the blog to find out more!

Cities contribute to 75% of energy-related GHG emissions, representing a powerful lever we have to drive decarbonization and build resilience.

More than 1,000 cities are now signed up for the Cities Race to Zero pledge, yet the roadmap continues to demand sustained commitment from all levels. Read more to discover what priorities stand our for cities and national governments in meeting the Paris goals.

A global agreement on Biodiversity cannot wait anymore.

The biggest biodiversity summit in a decade, Cop15 in Kunming, China, where world leaders were expected to strike a deal to halt and reverse the destruction of ecosystems by reaching a Paris-style agreement for nature was postponed until 2021 and now is likely to be delayed a fourth time as a result of the Omicron variant.

In the meantime, during the pandemic, the destruction of the world’s forests increased sharply. Dangerous levels of greenhouse gases continue to accumulate in Earth’s atmosphere as humans consume beyond planetary boundaries while the world’s governments have missed every single target they have set for themselves on averting the destruction of Nature.

“We’ll get it done. Come hell, high water … or Covid. When and how, I don’t know,” says Basile van Havre, co-chair of the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) working group responsible for crafting the Cop15 agreement.

A green economy transition in sub-Saharan Africa would enable women to benefit from primary-level jobs, but not higher-paying positions in the renewable energy, infrastructure, or transportation sectors. What needs to be changed to remove the constraints women face in accessing education, formal-sector work, and financing solutions?

Top 10 Water Stories of 2021

Pension Funds & Climate Risk

Nest, the £20bn UK government-backed workplace pension scheme, has sold its holdings in ExxonMobil and four other energy companies after criticising their progress on managing climate change risks.

Frustration over the response of some fossil fuel companies to the threat of catastrophic global warming is driving a small but growing number of influential pension funds to divest from businesses that are perceived as blocking progress towards a lower carbon economy.

“At Nest we aim to work with companies to encourage sustainable business decisions but will draw the line somewhere. The five companies being excluded have not done enough to convince us that we should remain shareholders".

Soil Degradation Is Undermining Food Security In The Caribbean

Curbing soil degradation is critical to the food security and ecological sustainability of the Caribbean— yet unsustainable land management practices, coupled with the pressures of climate change continue to impact soil health and threaten to rob the region of its prospects for a food secure future. Indeed, 14% of the two billion hectares of degraded land in the world can be found in the Caribbean region.

Regionally, unsustainable agricultural practices, which include tilling, deep root removal, slash and burn and indiscriminate use of harmful chemicals, have contributed to the degradation and depletion of 75% of natural carbon stocks and biodiversity from the region’s agricultural soils.

Given their strategic importance to economic growth, environmental health, food security and human development, land practices that regenerate and promote soil health should be non-negotiable.

Green Finance Platform 2021: Accelerating climate alignment through sustainable financial measures

With green finance taking centre stage at COP26, the Green Finance Platform is better positioned than ever to help align global financial systems with the Paris Agreement and Agenda 2030.

Our 2021 achievements:
▶️ Updated figures for the Green Finance Measures Database
▶️ Launch of the Sustainable Finance Policy Effectiveness Working Group
▶️ Support for the GEF Aligning Finance Policies project
▶️ New Knowledge Partners and continued knowledge management

? http://ggkp.org/ZbE

Great news for the internal Environmental and Social Sustainability of the United Nations!

The UN System Chief Executives Board for Coordination has endorsed the "UN Sustainability Strategy II" to mainstream sustainability considerations across all functions of the UN system and UN entities.

While the 2019 Sustainability Strategy I translated the vision into very precise commitments for greening the UN’s management functions, the new 2021 Sustainability Strategy II describes ten essential principles that should apply across the board, from the management of staff and facilities, to the implementation of programmes and to relationships with external partners and stakeholders.

I personally had the opportunity to work on it while interning at the UN Environment Management Group as well as contributing to its practical implementation while working at UNOPS.

Great job!

Indigenous communities face severe consequences of climate change. This study, conducted over a span of seven years, quantifies the effects of land dispossession on extreme climate change events.

The database catalogues and examines forced migration in the United States, and how it has influenced environmental processes over time. The research suggests that forced migration lead to conditions in which tribal lands experience increased exposure to climate change risks and hazards and diminished economic value.