In mid-November, the UN Population Fund (UNFPA) hosted a summit in Nairobi, Kenya to rally the political will and financial commitments urgently needed to implement the goals of the 1994 International Conference on Population and Development (ICPD) adopted by 179 governments in Cairo.

The effect of losing intact tropical forests is more devastating on the climate than previously thought, researchers report.

A new international study reveals that between 2000 and 2013, the clearance of intact tropical forests led to much higher levels of carbon being emitted into the atmosphere than first believed—resulting in a 626% increase in the calculated impact on climate.

Power relationships, local knowledge and transparency in integrated landscape approaches

Integrate knowledge holders. Understand power relationships and address imbalances to ensure marginalized groups are heard. Promote transparency in decisions and actions in landscape restoration work. Address governance and ensure transparency in motives and “political visions.”

A series of leaked emails was leapt on by climate-change deniers to discredit the data, but their efforts may have only slowed the search for solutions

The email that appeared on Phil Jones’s computer screen in November 2009 was succinct. “Just a quick note to encourage you to shoot yourself in the head,” it said. “Don’t waste any more time. Do it today. It is truly the greatest contribution to mankind that you will ever make.”

• When undisturbed tropical forests are lost the long-term impact on carbon emissions is dramatically higher than earlier estimates suggest, according to a new study.
• Between 2000 and 2013, about 7 percent of the world’s intact tropical forests were destroyed, leading not just to direct carbon emissions but also “hidden” emissions from logging, fragmentation and wildlife loss.

To more effectively guard forests and stem climate change, "simply designating a place as protected can't be the beginning and the end of a conservation effort"

LONDON - Expanding the planet's protected natural areas to safeguard vanishing forests and other ecosystems, and the species they protect, is unlikely to be effective on its own as human encroachment into reserves grows, scientists warned Tuesday.

One of the fundamental resources that is essential for the development and sustenance of people in Africa is land.
Land is very important because it forms the basis of agricultural production in the sub-region.

However, it has been very difficult for women to access land in the country, and the continent in general due to multiple issues most of which are embedded on patriarchy as a system which breeds gender inequality.

• Individuals from Indonesia and Liberia embroiled in land disputes with oil palm plantations have visited the Netherlands to call on the Dutch banks facilitating these companies’ operations to take action.
• The companies in question are PT Astra Agro Lestari in Indonesia and Golden Veroleum Liberia, both of which are owned by conglomerates based in secrecy jurisdictions and which have financial links to Dutch banks ABN AMRO and Rabobank.
• The banks say their relationship with the companies is only indirect, and as such they say there is little they

NAPLES - Organizations fighting for land rights from Italy, Palestine, Spain, Morocco, Moldova, Kosovo, Albania, Scotland and the Balkans will meet in Torrecuso, near Benevento, on October 10-12 for the annual assembly of the International Land Coalition (ILC).

The Regional Assembly gathers countries from Europe, the Middle East and North Africa that will examine problems and issues because, despite the diversity of their challenges, they share common issues and connections, organizers said.

In celebration of the 50th anniversary of New Communities Inc., the world’s first Community Land Trust, and as planners and community members alike gather to celebrate October 2-5 at the Reclaiming Vacant Properties Conference 2019 in Atlanta, Georgia, RioOnWatch issued a call for articles highlighting the

About 7 miles outside of Albany, Ga., Shirley Sherrod stands on a dock overlooking a tranquil pond, Spanish moss-draped Bald Cypress trees reflecting on the still green water.

"They're resilient whether you're in a drought or whether you are in a flood. They last. And that's the way we feel we are," Sherrod says. "We will last."

The climate crisis threatens to dramatically alter people's relationships with the land on which they rely. Meanwhile, many climate solutions are themselves land-intensive: solar and wind energy, carbon dioxide sequestration, and finding places for people displaced by climate change to live and grow food. The result is an ever-increasing competition for land, as well as governance and justice challenges that are both intractable and inextricably linked.