SDGs – Sustainable Development Goals

Cities: pushing for an ecosystem approach

Cities: pushing for an ecosystem approach

Cities as ecosystems? The benefits of this approach are manifold, including water purification, improved public health, reduced disaster exposure, enhanced resilience and social justice. But to move cities – and so the planet – into a sustainable future, this approach must become more integrated and pragmatic, and applied also in the global south, says on Nature Xuemei Bai, professor at the Fenner School of Environment and Society, Australian National University in Canberra.

Fish is life: insights from The State of World Fisheries and Aquaculture 2018

Fish is life: insights from The State of World Fisheries and Aquaculture 2018

Since 1961 the annual global growth in fish consumption has been twice as high as population growth, demonstrating that the fisheries sector is crucial in meeting the goal of a world without hunger and malnutrition. Data and in-depth analyses on global fish production, consumption and marketing rates, together with some first attempts at quantifying the possible future scenarios regarding the linkages of fisheries and aquaculture both to climate change and to other challenges, such as pollution. The current state of these two key sectors worldwide up to 2018 in the new FAO report.

Reasons to be positive about the future of the Ocean

There are growing threats to oceans, yet positive trends are kicking in, and prospects may be more optimistic than the current figures suggests. “We have a plan,” – United Nations Special Envoy Peter Thomson explains to Foresight – “and we are working to put it into practice.”

The United Nations Decade of Ocean Science, Frontiers of International Ocean Governance, CMCC, Foresight

The New Frontiers of International Ocean Governance

Oceans are facing increasing pressures: biodiversity loss, pollution, over-exploitation and illegal activities; and diverse impacts of climate change, such as ocean warming, acidification and rising sea level, are increasingly alarming. From the headquarters of international organizations as well as in the most vulnerable and ocean dependent countries, it is acknowledged that it is time to change the way we manage oceans and their resources in order to keep them healthy, productive, safe, secure and resilient.