The Climate Technology Centre is seeking proposals for the development of relevant indicators and an environmental and climate change information system for Guatemala using open-source tools.
With the surge in bio-based activities around the globe, a new concept called bio-refining starts to emerge. IEA Bioenergy Task 42 on Biorefineries defines biorefining as “the sustainable processing of biomass into a spectrum of marketable products and energy”. A bio-refinery combines/integrates a series of biomass conversion technologies to produce a range of products and (base-)materials, such as food, feed, chemicals, materials, oil, gas, heat and/or electricity. The concept is similar to a conventional oil-refinery where multiple petroleum products and fuels are produced.
A global convergence toward Western-style diets that are high in calories, protein, and animal-based foods poses challenges for food security and sustainability. To quantify the benefits of shifting these consumers to more sustainable diets, several possible diet shifts are modeled. A framework is proposed to tackle the crucial question of how to shift people’s diets through the retail and food services sector.
The Water Supply Stress Index Model (WaSSI) is a web-based tool that can be used to project the effects of land use change, climate change, and water withdrawals on river flows, water supply stress, and ecosystem productivity (i.e. carbon sequestration dynamics) across the conterminous United States and Mexico. As water yield and carbon sequestration are tightly coupled, WaSSI is useful for evaluating trade-offs among management strategies for these ecosystem services.
Highlighting the contention that climate change itself is a major threat to biodiversity this report argues that protecting biological diversity may, in fact, help mitigate other impacts of climate change.
Reviews the current understanding of the relationship between land use (especially forestry), carbon dioxide emissions and the Kyoto Protocol agreementsTopics cover: how the global carbon cycle operates, and how this relates to forestry activitiesaccounting rulescomparison of the usefulness of models and ground-based assessments of changes in carbon stocksshort term prospects for policy implementationimplications for sustainable development
Land and forestry-based activities could in principle play important roles as climate change mitigation strategies. In practice, however, several questions have been raised about their feasibility. Therefore, understanding the processes and determinants of land use changes is critical. This paper aims to contribute to such understanding in the larger part of a larger project on sustainable development and economic growth. It begins with a dynamic model of land use.
Building capacities in the baseline methodology and assessment of greenhouse gas reductions and sequestration benefits of Clean Development Mechanism (CDM) projects are keys to the successful implementation of the CDM. This guidebook is aimed at addressing these important issues and to assist project developers in establishing baselines for CDM projects following important guidelines.
