Drylands cover 41% of Earth’s surface and are the largest source of interannual variability in the global carbon sink. Drylands are projected to experience accelerated expansion over the next century, but the implications of this expansion on variability in gross primary production (GPP) remain elusive.
Linear infrastructure development is an important driver of forest fragmentation leading to habitat and biodiversity loss as well as disruption of critical ecosystem processes. The tropical forests of India are increasingly impacted by infrastructure development. Little quantitative information is available on the extent of fragmentation due to linear infrastructure on these habitats.
Few studies exist that document how high-elevation Andean ecosystems recover naturally after the cessation of human activities and this can limit the implementation of cost-effective restoration actions. We assessed Andean forest (Polylepis stands) and páramo grassland recovery along an elevation gradient (3,600–4,350 m.a.s.l.) in the Yanacocha Reserve (Ecuador) where natural recovery has been allowed since 1995.
Mangroves cut across ecosystems, sectors, jurisdictions and governance regimes. While few countries have a specific mangrove law, many national and international regimes apply to or affect mangroves in some way.
The Department of Environmental Affairs in South Africa has been implementing a Natural Resource Management (NRM) programme that has been contributing towards the restoration of rangelands for several decades.
Both Ecosystem-based Adaptation and Climate Risk Finance & Insurance can be used to enhance adaptation, reduce and transfer risk, and build resilience to the growing impacts from natural and human-made hazards. There is a nascent and growing interest in where these strategies may intersect and be mutually beneficial for adaptation.
With their ability to mobilise 1.5 billion smallholder producers, forest and farm producer organisations (FFPOs) can help drive a paradigm shift away from large-scale monocultural systems, which are vulnerable to climate change and highly inequitable.