The Africa Adaptation Programme (AAP) has been designed to support the long-term efforts of targeted countries to further develop their capability to successfully identify, design and implement holistic adaptation and disaster risk reduction programmes that are aligned with national development priorities. This report provides insight into the Africa Adaptation Programme (AAP) and its related country project profiles. The AAP has shifted into implementation, with Namibia and Tunisia as the first countries to complete national inception workshops. Eighteen out of the total twenty programme countries will complete national inception processes and start full-fledged implementation in the coming months.

The purpose of this scorecard is to assist governments, donors and NGOs to investigate and record significant aspects of aProtected Area (PA) financing system –its accounts and its underlying structural foundations – to show both its current health and status and to indicate if the system is holistically moving over the long-term towards an improved financial situation. The scorecard is designed for national systems of PAs but could be used by sub-national eg state, regional or municipal or networks of Marine Protected Areas (MPAs).

This publication is the fourth in a series of knowledge publications prepared by the UNDP-GEF International Waters programme that document and highlight key results and achievements at the project and portfolio level, comprising four ‘signature’ programme areas: Large Marine Ecosystems; Lakes, Rivers and Aquifers; Integrated Water Resources and Coastal Area Management; and Global Programmes. The portfolio continues to make progress in sustaining the world’s most significant shared water systems for the billions of people who depend on these ecosystems for their livelihoods and security.

UNDP promotes equitable access to water resources and water and sanitation services as a fundamental requisite for human development. In a rapidly changing world, UNDP's Water Governance Programme catalyzes efforts towards the achievements of the MDGs. The document provides a brief overview of UNDP's Water Governance Programme.

The report provides the status and trends of biodiversity offset and compensatory mitigation programs by geographical region. It summarizes the total active programs and developing activities, and broad metrics like total known payments and land area protected. It also analyzes the characteristics of offset programs and looks at recent developments in nascent and existing programs in the region.

This document provides a detailed report and recommendations of the 2010 Forest Carbon Work group to the Director of the Department of Ecology and the Commissioner of Public Lands. The recommendations relate to the critical role Washington’s forest lands will play in addressing the challenge of climate change; appropriate responses to pressure for conversion of working forest lands to non-forest uses; and the role of ecosystem service markets, including carbon offset markets, and other incentive systems in bringing about desired results. The 2010 Work group included some members of a similar 2008 Work group and built on the results of that 2008 effort. The report appendix contains purpose statements by each participating interest, explaining its rationale for participation. In light of the 2010 Work group emphasis, this document focused on three topics: Forest carbon considerations in avoiding forest land use conversion; incentives to reward forest landowners for providing ecosystem services, including carbon storage and improvement of forest health; and features of forest carbon offset protocols and registries that are appropriate for use by forest offset project developers in Washington State.

The objective of ‘Green Economy in a Blue World’ is to analyse the challenges and opportunities of a potential transition towards a green economy in key sectors heavily linked to the marine and coastal environment – the blue world. The report will also analyse the necessary policy and institutional adjustments required for a green transition and will highlight several transformative action items that could come out of Rio+20 to accelerate transition to ocean sustainability. The key sectors (chapters) covered include Fisheries, Transport (shipping), Tourism (coastal), Energy, Marine mineral resources, and ocean nutrient pollution.

The National Climate Assessment (NCA) Report Series summarizes regional, sectoral, and process-related workshops and discussions being held as part of the third NCA process. This workshop focused on techniques for quantitatively valuing climate impacts and adaptation in the context of the upcoming NCA. The workshop was held in Arlington, VA on January 12-13, 2011. Volume 8 of the NCA Report Series summarizes the discussions and outcomes of this workshop.

On May 22, 2010, President Barack Obama announced the creation of the National Commission on the BP Deepwater Horizon Oil Spill and Offshore Drilling: an independent,nonpartisan entity, directed to provide a thorough analysis and impartial judgment. The President charged the Commission to determine the causes of the disaster, and to improve the country’s ability to respond to spills, and to recommend reforms to make offshore energy production safer. This report is the result of an intense six-month effort to fulfill the President’s charge. The Commission’s report offers the President, policymakers, industry, and the American people the fullest account available of the largest oil spill in U.S history: the context for the well itself, how the explosion and spill happened, and how industry and government scrambled to respond to an unprecedented emergency.