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"The Digital Revolution and Sustainable Development: Opportunities and Challenges" At the High-Level Political Forum under the auspices of ECOSOC: 12 July, 2019

Socio-ecological production landscapes and seascapes (SEPLS) can contribute to global goals for biodiversity conservation and dealing with climate change, while also contributing locally to human security and wellbeing. SEPLS are, however, under threat around the world. SEPLS have been promoted under the Satoyama Initiative by the International...

Food production and productivity improvements have contributed to lifting millions of people out of poverty and reduced hunger and malnutrition, but are associated with patterns of land intensification that have degraded agricultural land and caused great environmental harm. Underlying drivers affecting land conversion to and from agriculture...

Outline - Plastics are everywhere and make up a large proportion of the waste stream. While plastic litter is a visual and physical environmental contaminant, especially in rivers and the marine environment, less visible microplastics are of increasing concern. Current control measures are often limited to banning single-use plastics, like plastic...

This paper explores the current understanding regarding the Circulating and Ecological Economy (CEE) and the Regional/Local CES concepts put forward by Japan’s Fifth Basic Environment Plan. The CEE and the Regional/Local CES advance a low-carbon, self-reliant, and decentralised society based on living in harmony with nature. The Regional/Local CES...

The Global Environment Outlook (GEO) is the result of a consultative and participatory process to prepare an independent assessment of the state of the environment, the effectiveness of the policy response in addressing environmental challenges and the possible pathways to achieving various internationally agreed environmental goals. The GEO is a...

This report demonstrates that changes in consumption patterns and dominant lifestyles are a critical and integral part of the solutions package to addressing climate change. The report fills a gap in the existing research by establishing global targets for lifestyle carbon footprints, examining current consumption patterns and their impacts on...

This policy brief surveys the trends and issues related to international material recycling routes for plastic scrap exported from Japan that have been rapidly changing since 2017, considers potential future developments, and proposes policy recommendations for securing a stable and environmentally sound material recycling process for plastic scrap...

The 2030 Agenda, with its 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), 169 targets, and 232 indicators, agreed by all countries, are intended to “transform the world”. This report examines the ability of the SDGs to actually trigger this transformation and to suggest some key actions to make the SDGs more transformative. It examines the roles of key...

Many policymakers are responding to the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) by integrating multiple economic, social and environmental concerns into their development plans. Much of the recent research on SDGs has sought to help policymakers with this cross-sectoral integration by developing evidence-based models and analytical frameworks that can...