Healthy ecosystems produce goods and services that provide livelihoods for people and the potential for economic development. These include fresh water, agricultural productivity, fisheries, forest products, energy and protection from natural hazards. But when human activity degrades the environment, these goods and services decline, hampering economic and social development and leaving rural, marginalized communities more vulnerable.
About conservation and social policy
IUCN and the Global Water Initiative partners conduct vulnerability assessment training
IUCN as part of The Global Water Initiative (GWI) conducted vulnerability assessment trainings across four countries in East Africa – Ethiopia, Uganda, Tanzania and Kenya. …
02 Dec 2009 | News story
IUCN launches Russian and Spanish versions of Sacred Sites Guidelines
IUCN launches today Russian and Spanish versions of its Sacred Natural Sites: Guidelines for Protected Area Managers – a landmark publication to support the protection of sacred places around the world. …
09 Nov 2009 | News story
Milestone Gender and Climate Change Agreement on Horizon
The Copenhagen agreement may be the first to recognize the gender dimensions of climate change, saving the lives of millions of women and children and taking a major step toward addressing the human impacts of climate change. …
05 Nov 2009 | News story
IUCN congratulates Nobel Prize winner
IUCN congratulates Professor Elinor Ostrom, a member of IUCN's Commission on Environmental, Economic and Social Policy, for winning the Nobel Memorial Prize in Economic Sciences. …
15 Oct 2009 | News story
Forest governance and climate policies
Fred Stolle of the World Resources Institute looks at the need for REDD to address forest governance issues as well as creating market incentives. …
01 Oct 2009 | News story
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Getting REDD right for forest people
Mark Poffenberger of Community Forestry International calls for the climate mitigation negotiations to take account of the rights and concerns of forest dependent people. …
01 Oct 2009 | News story
REDD: putting women at risk or providing opportunities?
Jeannette Gurung of WOCAN highlights some of the gender differentiated impacts of REDD.
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01 Oct 2009 | News story
Will REDD make a difference?
Arild Angelsen of the Norwegian University of Life Sciences and CIFOR gives a ‘cynical optimist’s’ view on whether REDD will work. …
01 Oct 2009 | News story
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Forests, people and climate change: the REDD solution
Major reductions in global greenhouse gas emissions are necessary if we are to avoid disastrous climate change. Given that deforestation and forest degradation account for up to 17% of man-made global greenhouse gas emissions, conservation and sustainable management of forests is a good place to start. …
01 Oct 2009 | News story
A new vision for drylands
Dr Mike Mortimore, a member of IUCN’s Commission on Ecosystem Management, outlines his vision for the world’s drylands and what’s needed to achieve it. …
02 Sep 2009 | News story
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