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The Prince's Charities - International Sustainability Unit

The Agriculture Programme has undertaken research on the sustainability and resilience of food systems at a global level.  “What price resilience?” sets out that the resilience that is required within food production systems to cope with increasingly severe and frequent shocks is also a prerequisite for economic, social and political security.

“What price resilience?” highlights the need to develop a comprehensive understanding of the true costs of agriculture once ‘externalities’ associated with pollution, water depletion, soil degradation, biodiversity loss and greenhouse gases have been taken into account.  The results of an economic analysis of the costs and benefits of eight conventional food production systems and sustainable alternatives are presented

The Prince's Charities - International Sustainability Unit

This report presents the analysis and findings of the ISU’s research and consultative work in seeking to understand what is necessary to achieve more sustainable fisheries worldwide. The report sets out case studies and thematic analysis in order to provide context for the work of the ISU Marine Programme. It also sets out the economic, social and environmental case for change.

The Prince's Charities - International Sustainability Unit

The world is at a juncture where future financing for forests and REDD+ seems uncertain, and there is a clear risk of a narrative of disappointment setting in. These pressures demand a redoubling of international efforts.

In light of the new challenges and the lessons learned, this paper suggests several pathways to be considered for the next phase of financing of efforts to protect forests, and to enable forest countries to adopt alternative development pathways in which deforestation is reduced. These pathways include the need to:

The Prince's Charities - International Sustainability Unit

In order to ensure global food security and avert dangerous climate change, the world faces the pressing dual challenge of both protecting its remaining rainforests and enhancing food production in sustainable and resilient ways. Successfully achieving this would provide multiple co-benefits, including safeguarding the well-being and livelihoods of forests peoples; protecting the biodiversity and ecosystems provided by forests; and reducing rural poverty.

International Policy Centre for Inclusive Growth (IPC-IG)
United Nations Development Programme (UNDP)

Although gender considerations are relatively new in the climate change discourse, it is hardly surprising that they have been at the heart of recent activism and policy advocacy efforts by multiple actors. Socio-economic research and evaluations of development effectiveness both confirm that access to resources and the agency to use them are influenced by gender roles, responsibilities and differential access to opportunities and influence

The findings of this research reveal the key role of informal and formal institutions in the local responses to climate change and, correlatively, the need for institutional strengthening as well as innovation in the existing ‘traditional’ coping strategies for climate shocks and hazards. The research findings also highlight the importance of gender inequalities as major social barriers to the development of adequate adaptation strategies by and for women.

Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ) GmbH

The objective of this study is to identify the key opportunities for green growth in Egypt, discuss the framework conditions necessary for achieving them, and make policy recommendations. Green growth opportunities are defined as those which achieve the triple goals of (i) economic growth, (ii) social inclusivity, and (iii) environmental sustainability or improvement. The social dimension is addressed by prioritising these opportunities in terms of their potential to generate jobs, thus allowing the benefits of these new opportunities to be shared in a socially inclusive manner.

International Labour Organization (ILO)

This paper describes how International Labour Standards could be made more relevant to climate change in terms of its impact on employment and the labour market. It addresses the transition to a low carbon economy through a framework of policy coherence and good governance using International Labour Standards as guidelines for supporting not only the social dimension of sustainable development, but the economic and environmental ones as well.

 

International Labour Organization (ILO)

The 21st century faces two defining challenges: the first is to avert dangerous climate change and a deterioration of natural resources which would seriously jeopardize the quality of life of present and future generations. The second is to deliver social development and decent work for all. Green jobs and the promotion of the green economy have become the key drivers for achieving an economic and social development that is also environmentally sustainable.

United Nations Development Programme (UNDP)

Poverty reduction and economic growth can be sustained only if natural resources are managed on a sustainable basis. Greening rural development can stimulate rural economies, create jobs, help maintain critical ecosystem services and strengthen climate resilience of the rural poor. In the context of this report, greening rural development refers to five broad green outcomes: improved natural resource conservation; increased efficiency of resource use; reduced negative environmental impacts; strengthened climate resilience of communities; and contribution to climate change mitigation. According to the report, these outcomes can be delivered by rural development schemes by a) investing in regenerating natural resources, b) mobilising and developing the capacities of community institutions to utilise natural resources in a sustainable manner, and c) aggregating ‘small initiatives’ in several locations to improve natural capital on a macro-scale.

This summary was prepared by Eldis.

Global Environmental Change (Elsevier)

The green growth concept has both strategic and analytical merit. It has strategic merit by turning a negative debate about a costly constraint (on emissions) into a narrative about potentially attractive opportunities. Authors like Barrett believe that this might change the dynamics of the international negotiations.

Analytically, green growth applies a new, richer and more diverse set of economic tools to a burning issue. This has implications on policy design. The ‘green growth’ narrative reinforces, rather than diminishes, the need for collective action. The economic opportunities that green growth may bring do depend on a joint understanding by a sufficiently large number of players that this is the way to go. This makes green growth a classic collective action problem.