An essential guide for those dealing with the Cape Water Crisis and for general water saving in South and southern Africa, a notoriously water-scarce region.

Three provinces in South Africa have been declared national disaster zones because of drought. The way we think about water needs to change, and fast. This is especially true for those of us who have running water and flush sanitation piped into our homes. For millions of South Africans, water is already a precious resource that costs toil to collect and fuel to heat. Our middle-class expectations that water will gush steaming from our dozens of indoor taps 24/7 are going to look as bizarre to future generations as the spectacle of Cleopatra bathing in asses’ milk. Our Roman-orgy relationship with water is over.

This book will hopefully help to alleviate water panic and distress. A “can-do” compendium, it’s meant to be a guide, not prescriptive – not all solutions or tips are one-size-fits-all. Think of it as an ally in your fight to save water and part of your survival kit, along with the first-aid box; Valium for water-worriers.

In this urgent, authoritative book, Bill Gates sets out a wide-ranging, practical - and accessible - plan for how the world can get to zero greenhouse gas emissions in time to avoid a climate catastrophe.

Bill Gates has spent a decade investigating the causes and effects of climate change. With the help of experts in the fields of physics, chemistry, biology, engineering, political science, and finance, he has focused on what must be done in order to stop the planet's slide toward certain environmental disaster. In this book, he not only explains why we need to work toward net-zero emissions of greenhouse gases, but also details what we need to do to achieve this profoundly important goal.

He gives us a clear-eyed description of the challenges we face. Drawing on his understanding of innovation and what it takes to get new ideas into the market, he describes the areas in which technology is already helping to reduce emissions, where and how the current technology can be made to function more effectively, where breakthrough technologies are needed, and who is working on these essential innovations. Finally, he lays out a concrete, practical plan for achieving the goal of zero emissions-suggesting not only policies that governments should adopt, but what we as individuals can do to keep our government, our employers, and ourselves accountable in this crucial enterprise.

As Bill Gates makes clear, achieving zero emissions will not be simple or easy to do, but if we follow the plan he sets out here, it is a goal firmly within our reach.

Do you love living in the city but dream about growing your own wholesome fruit and vegetables? South Africa’s organic gardening guru, Jane Griffiths, shows you just how easy it is to achieve a flourishing food garden, no matter how small your space.

Jane’s Delicious Urban Gardening is packed with inspirational ideas and practical information on all aspects of urban eco living.

In her trademark sensible and easy-to-follow style, Jane provides a wealth of tips and suggestions for:

• growing organic vegetables just about anywhere – from containers to edible walls, from raised beds to rooftops, from community gardens to neglected pavements
• planting and maintaining a space-efficient urban orchard
• converting an existing lawn or tennis court into an instant edible oasis
• keeping urban bees, hens and aquaponic tanks
• harvesting rainwater and recycling grey water
• introducing solar power into your home
• converting a chlorinated swimming pool into a wetland-filtered haven.

Illustrated with hundreds of beautiful colour photographs, Jane’s Delicious Urban Gardening is essential reading for anyone wanting to live a more sustainable, productive and healthy lifestyle in the city.

It is predicted that we will lose all of our commercial fish species by 2048. Within the next 60 years all of our planets topsoil is expected to perish. How did we come to this? What are the forces at play that have led us on such a destructive and unsustainable path? Why has the environmental movement taken so long to gain necessary traction?

The answers to these important questions have surprisingly been difficult to find. Very few resources provide the necessary exploration of the broad range of environmental challenges that face our world, nor the solutions to these overwhelming obstacles. Our unstainable methods of consumption have reached an all-time high, and our planet is suffering a great deal as a result. The driving forces behind these high levels of consumption – population growth and increased demand- are leading us into an uncertain future. It is now clear that drastic transformation is needed. It was the unintended consequences of innovation that led us into this situation. But as it stands, innovation will be the primary key to leading us out of it.

Green Is Not A Colour sets the bar straight. By cutting to the very root of the problems we face, we are able to see how the environmental crisis is inextricably linked to every aspect of our lives. By identifying the opportunities- both readily available and in development-that provide the solutions to these problems, the book reveals how human ingenuity will prove to be a powerful tool in steering us onto a sustainable path.

Capitalism’s addiction to fossil fuels is heating our planet at a pace and scale never before experienced.

Extreme weather patterns, rising sea levels and accelerating feedback loops are a commonplace feature of our lives. The number of environmental refugees is increasing and several island states and low-lying countries are becoming vulnerable. Corporate-induced climate change has set us on an ecocidal path of species extinction. Governments and their international platforms such as the Paris Climate Agreement deliver too little, too late. Most states, including South Africa, continue on their carbon-intensive energy paths, with devastating results. Political leaders across the world are failing to provide systemic solutions to the climate crisis. This is the context in which we must ask ourselves: how can people and class agency change this destructive course of history?

The Climate Crisis investigates ecosocialist alternatives that are emerging. It presents the thinking of leading climate justice activists, campaigners and social movements advancing systemic alternatives and developing bottom-up, just transitions to sustain life. Through a combination of theoretical and empirical work, the authors collectively examine the challenges and opportunities inherent in the current moment.

Most importantly, it explores ways to renew historical socialism with democratic, ecosocialist alternatives to meet current challenges in South Africa and the world.

Cette publication vise a eclairer le concept de regime foncier applicable a l'eau et ses ramifications pratiques. Elle s'appuie sur des etudes et des analyses recentes qui ont contribue a mettre en evidence les principaux elements constitutifs du regime foncier de l'eau.

Pastoral systems have evolved to function with the natural environment and therefore with variability. By identifying variability as an entry point, this paper aims at (i) engaging FAO in the mainstreaming of pastoralism by establishing the understanding of pastoralism, and its systematic inclusion in the normal operations of FAO, and at (ii) presenting an evidence based narrative on pastoralism to a specialists' audience. Two main points are made in this document: First, pastoral systems are emblematic of farming with nature. Second, pastoral systems make use of variability in inputs (the environment) by matching it with variability in their own operational processes (flexibility in movements, animal breeds, labour force, etc.) in such a way as to reduce the variability in outputs (animal production and health, household's food security, etc).Since 2015, the Pastoralist Knowledge Hub (PKH) has helped creating an institutional space for connecting and coordinating work on pastoralism within FAO. An Inter-Departmental Working Group on Pastoralism has been formed. The conceptual framework of this paper and early versions have benefited from comments and guidance of FAO staff as well as of specialists of pastoralism worldwide

This publication looks into sustainable options for producing fruit and vegetables, from both farm-level and policy perspectives, covering genetic resources, seed systems, water, soil, pest control, and reduction of food loss and waste. It considers how to integrate small-scale farmers into socially inclusive value chains, including innovative post-harvest handling services and market linkages.

Cette publication decrit les options a envisager pour garantir la durabilite de la production de fruits et de legumes, tant au niveau de l'exploitation qu'en termes d'orientations politiques, en abordant des thematiques telles que les ressources genetiques, les systemes de semences, l'eau, les sols, la lutte contre les ravageurs et la reduction des pertes et du gaspillage alimentaires. Elle examine comment integrer les petits producteurs dans des chaines de valeur socialement inclusives, notamment en leur offrant des services post-recolte novateurs et des debouches commerciaux.

Esta publicacion estudia las opciones sostenibles para la produccion de frutas y hortalizas, tanto desde el punto de vista de las explotaciones como de las politicas, abarcando los recursos geneticos, los sistemas de semillas, el agua, el suelo, el control de plagas y la reduccion de la perdida y el desperdicio de alimentos. Considera como integrar a los pequenos agricultores en las cadenas de valor socialmente inclusivas, incluyendo servicios innovadores de manipulacion post-cosecha y vinculos con el mercado.

Afin de s'assurer que les modeles economiques relatifs aux services de location de materiel agricole sont rentables, durables et inclusifs, cette etude analyse cinq types de modeles economiques de prestataires de services de location et identifie les facteurs de succes de ces modeles ainsi que les points d'entree a l'investissement.

The Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) is a political and economic union of Arab states, namely Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and the Unites Arab Emirates. The GCC was formed in 1981 to strengthen the members' economic, social and political ties by harmonizing regulations in various fields including economy, finance, trade and customs. The region extends over a territory of 2 673 108 km2 and is home to about 50 million people.The common denominators of the GCC countries are limited natural fertile land, scarce water resources and harsh climate. Depending on the country, the agriculture sector may use as much as 75 percent of the national available water resources. This has enormous environmental costs and significantly affects the sustainability of overall development in the Arabian Peninsula.According to Al-Rashed and Sherif (2000), the lack of renewable water resources is one of the critical constraints to sustainable development in the GCC countries. Rainfall in the Arabian Peninsula is scarce and infrequent. Over-exploitation of fossil groundwater resources, mostly to meet irrigation demands and create greenery lands, has already affected the productivity of aquifers, both quantitatively and qualitatively, despite the fact that much of the freshwater demand in the GCC countries is already covered using desalinated water. Reducing water consumption and increasing water efficiency are essential to enhancing agriculture and moving towards increased self-sufficiency with the production of high-quality, safe and diversified foods in the GCC countries. Exploiting the full potential of protected agriculture should save significant amounts of water, which can be used not only for agriculture but for other needs as well

The Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) works towards ending hunger and poverty while using precious natural resources sustainably. The fisheries and aquaculture sector makes substantial contributions to food security, livelihoods and global trade. Global production of fish and other aquatic animals continued to grow and reached 179 million tonnes in 2018, and about 59.5 million people were engaged in the primary sector of capture fisheries and aquaculture.Fishery net exports generate significantly more revenue for developing countries than other agricultural commodities such as rice, coffee and tea. Millions of people are struggling to maintain reasonable livelihoods through the fisheries and aquaculture sector. These are the people who are the most vulnerable to the impacts of climate change.Climate change adds to the many threats and obstacles that already confront them in their day-to-day lives. Particular attention must be given to the most vulnerable if the sector is to continue to contribute to meeting global goals of poverty reduction and food security. This publication presents FAO's work on climate change and fisheries and aquaculture.It includes examples of FAO's support to countries so that they are better able to adapt to the impact of climate change in the fisheries and aquaculture sector. It also brings together FAO's most up-to-date knowledge on climate change, including a portfolio of adaptation tools and measures used to support countries' climate commitments and action plans

Intensifying water constraints threaten food security and nutrition. Thus, urgent action is needed to make water use in agriculture more sustainable and equitable. Irrigated agriculture remains by far the largest user of freshwater, but scarcity of freshwater is a growing problem owing to increasing demand and competition for freshwater resources. At the same time, rainfed agriculture is facing increasing precipitation variability driven by climate change. These trends will exacerbate disputes among water users and inequality in access to water, especially for small-scale farmers, the rural poor and other vulnerable populations. The State of Food and Agriculture 2020 presents new estimates on the pervasiveness of water scarcity in irrigated agriculture and of water shortages in rainfed agriculture, as well as on the number of people affected. It finds major differences across countries, and also substantial spatial variation within countries. This evidence informs a discussion of how countries may determine appropriate policies and interventions, depending on the nature and magnitude of the problem, but also on other factors such as the type of agricultural production system and countries' level of development and their political structures. Based on this, the publication provides guidance on how countries can prioritize policies and interventions to overcome water constraints in agriculture, while ensuring efficient, sustainable and equitable access to water.

Limitaciones cada vez mayores del abastecimiento hidrico amenazan la seguridad alimentaria y la nutricion. Por consiguiente, se hace necesario actuar con urgencia a fin de lograr un uso mas sostenible y equitativo del agua en la agricultura. La produccion agricola de regadio sigue siendo, de lejos, el principal usuario de agua dulce, pero la escasez de este recurso constituye un problema cada vez mayor debido al incremento de la demanda y a la competencia por su utilizacion. Al mismo tiempo, la agricultura de secano se enfrenta a la creciente variabilidad de las precipitaciones como consecuencia del cambio climatico. Estas tendencias exacerbaran las disputas entre usuarios del agua y la desigualdad en el acceso a los recursos hidricos, especialmente para los pequenos agricultores, la poblacion rural pobre y otras poblaciones vulnerables. En El estado mundial de la agricultura y la alimentacion 2020 se presentan nuevas estimaciones de la difusion de los problemas de escasez de agua en la agricultura de regadio y deficit de agua en la agricultura de secano, asi como del numero de personas afectadas. Se constatan diferencias importantes entre los paises y una considerable variacion espacial dentro de ellos. A partir de estos datos, se examina la forma en que los paises pueden determinar politicas e intervenciones apropiadas, las cuales dependeran de la naturaleza y la magnitud del problema, pero tambien de otros factores, como el tipo de sistema de produccion agricola, el nivel de desarrollo del pais y sus estructuras politicas. Basandose en este examen, la publicacion ofrece orientacion para que los paises puedan asignar prioridad a politicas e intervenciones destinadas a superar las limitaciones de la disponibilidad de agua en la agricultura y garantizar, al mismo tiempo, el acceso eficiente, sostenible y equitativo al recurso.

Les contraintes croissantes qui pesent sur l'eau menacent la securite alimentaire et la nutrition. Il faut agir d'urgence pour que l'eau utilisee dans l'agriculture le soit de facon plus durable et plus equitable. L'agriculture irriguee reste de loin le principal utilisateur des ressources en eau douce, mais ces ressources font l'objet d'une demande croissante et d'une concurrence accrue qui creent des situations de rarete de plus en plus preoccupantes. L'agriculture pluviale, confrontee a la variabilite des precipitations sous l'effet du changement climatique, n'est pas non plus epargnee. Ces tendances ne feront qu'exacerber les conflits entre les divers utilisateurs et les inegalites dans l'acces a l'eau, en particulier au detriment des petits agriculteurs, des ruraux pauvres et des autres populations vulnerables. L'edition 2020 de La situation mondiale de l'alimentation et de l'agriculture presente de nouvelles estimations sur l'etendue de la rarete de l'eau dans l'agriculture irriguee et des penuries d'eau dans l'agriculture pluviale, ainsi que sur le nombre de personnes touchees. Ces estimations font apparaitre des ecarts considerables entre les pays et egalement entre les regions a l'interieur des pays. Les donnees rassemblees dans la presente edition servent de base a une reflexion sur les mesures que pourraient prendre les pays, compte tenu de la nature et de l'ampleur du probleme mais aussi d'autres facteurs tels que les systemes de production agricole, le niveau de developpement et les structures politiques. On trouvera aussi des indications sur les priorites qui pourraient etre suivies dans le choix des politiques et des interventions pour lutter contre les contraintes hydriques dans le secteur agricole tout en assurant un acces a l'eau efficient, durable et equitable.

Intensifying water constraints threaten food security and nutrition. Thus, urgent action is needed to make water use in agriculture more sustainable and equitable. Irrigated agriculture remains by far the largest user of freshwater, but scarcity of freshwater is a growing problem owing to increasing demand and competition for freshwater resources. At the same time, rainfed agriculture is facing increasing precipitation variability driven by climate change. These trends will exacerbate disputes among water users and inequality in access to water, especially for small-scale farmers, the rural poor and other vulnerable populations. The State of Food and Agriculture 2020 presents new estimates on the pervasiveness of water scarcity in irrigated agriculture and of water shortages in rainfed agriculture, as well as on the number of people affected. It finds major differences across countries, and also substantial spatial variation within countries. This evidence informs a discussion of how countries may determine appropriate policies and interventions, depending on the nature and magnitude of the problem, but also on other factors such as the type of agricultural production system and countries' level of development and their political structures. Based on this, the publication provides guidance on how countries can prioritize policies and interventions to overcome water constraints in agriculture, while ensuring efficient, sustainable and equitable access to water.

Intensifying water constraints threaten food security and nutrition. Thus, urgent action is needed to make water use in agriculture more sustainable and equitable. Irrigated agriculture remains by far the largest user of freshwater, but scarcity of freshwater is a growing problem owing to increasing demand and competition for freshwater resources. At the same time, rainfed agriculture is facing increasing precipitation variability driven by climate change. These trends will exacerbate disputes among water users and inequality in access to water, especially for small-scale farmers, the rural poor and other vulnerable populations. The State of Food and Agriculture 2020 presents new estimates on the pervasiveness of water scarcity in irrigated agriculture and of water shortages in rainfed agriculture, as well as on the number of people affected. It finds major differences across countries, and also substantial spatial variation within countries. This evidence informs a discussion of how countries may determine appropriate policies and interventions, depending on the nature and magnitude of the problem, but also on other factors such as the type of agricultural production system and countries' level of development and their political structures. Based on this, the publication provides guidance on how countries can prioritize policies and interventions to overcome water constraints in agriculture, while ensuring efficient, sustainable and equitable access to water.

Plastic bottles, cardboard boxes, aluminium cans... we all get through a lot of rubbish, but do you really know what happens after you put it in the bin? Are you even sure which bin it goes in? Recycling has never been more important - but it has also never been more complicated. Where do you put bottle lids? Why can't black plastic be recycled? What do you do with labels? The Rubbish Book answers all these questions and many more, providing you with all the information you need to become a true recycling expert, so you can help protect the planet with confidence. Written by an award-winning sustainability expert, it includes an A-Z of household items and whether they can be recycled; an in-depth look at the collection and sorting processes; a break-down of what the recycling symbols on our packaging actually mean; and an insight into the future of recycling and the new materials that will change the way we look at rubbish for ever.

This planning tool seeks to propel and sustain investments by young agri-entrepreneurs at national or regional levels. It analyses current trends and the conditions young investors face while offering practical solutions to overcome the challenges identified. It also fosters decision-makers' ownership of the results through a participatory and inclusive process.The achievement of the first two Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) - end poverty and hunger by 2030 - requires substantial investments. To fully contribute to sustainable development, both public and private investments should be perfectly aligned with the SDGs. In this context, empowering youth to invest in their own farms and businesses along agricultural value chains should be a key component of sustainable development-centered investment promotion and mobilization strategy.The strategic planning process consists of four steps: identify priority actions; analyse context and existing services as well as institutional, policy, legal, and incentive frameworks; create a common vision of the optimal situation; and develop practical solutions to enhance sustainable and responsible investments by young agri-entrepreneurs

The purpose of the Livestock Activity Data Guidance (L-ADG) is to improve the accuracy of livestock emission estimates in national greenhouse gas (GHG) inventories, and enable countries to measure and report progress towards their Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs). Livestock emissions - including enteric fermentation, manure management and emissions from dung and urine deposited on pasture - account for about 11 percent of global GHG emissions.A recent review found that among 140 developing countries, 92 have included livestock-related emissions in their NDCs. However, very few have national GHG inventories that are able to track changes in livestock emissions resulting from mitigation policies and measures, which requires a Tier 2 approach as defined by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC). This occurs because a lack of activity data and incomplete or poor-quality data hamper the use of the Tier 2 approach.The L-ADG focuses on estimating activity data from the main ruminant types found in developing countries - cattle, sheep and goats - and provides guidance on how to: identify and assess the availability and quality of existing activity data; structure a Tier 2 inventory to make use of available data; compile activity data when data exists but is incomplete or of insufficient quality; estimate activity data when data is missing; and assess the quality of data and identify priorities for continuous improvement..

This paper considers how forest monitoring can inform problem-solving, especially on public policy. To examine the factors that determine whether or not forest monitoring results inform problem-solving efforts, a set of positive cases was selected, including Viet Nam and its forest transition in the early 1990s, to accelerate agricultural transition and expand a forest industry, and Cameroon, where important steps were taken to reform the forest concessions regime in the 1990s and 2000s.The adoption of the Sustainable Development Goals has reinforced the importance of science-policy linkages. In the forestry sector, efforts to reduce emissions from deforestation and forest degradation (REDD+) have created opportunities for forest monitoring capacity development over the past decade, which can further support forest management and domestic policy-making in addition to international reporting.The cases examined in this paper show that diverse types of data and analysis on forests contributed to informing both public policy and corporate activities. Information was tailored to the issues at hand and to those involved in decision-making, with operational decision-making using locally specific data, collected and analysed in a timely manner. Thematically rich datasets became the basis for detailed analysis - including through modelling - to identify solutions, and the data and analysis underpinned clear and intuitive messaging to place issues on the agenda of policy-makers

Intensifying water constraints threaten food security and nutrition. Thus, urgent action is needed to make water use in agriculture more sustainable and equitable. Irrigated agriculture remains by far the largest user of freshwater, but scarcity of freshwater is a growing problem owing to increasing demand and competition for freshwater resources. At the same time, rainfed agriculture is facing increasing precipitation variability driven by climate change. These trends will exacerbate disputes among water users and inequality in access to water, especially for small-scale farmers, the rural poor and other vulnerable populations.The State of Food and Agriculture 2020 presents new estimates on the pervasiveness of water scarcity in irrigated agriculture and of water shortages in rainfed agriculture, as well as on the number of people affected. It finds major differences across countries, and also substantial spatial variation within countries. This evidence informs a discussion of how countries may determine appropriate policies and interventions, depending on the nature and magnitude of the problem, but also on other factors such as the type of agricultural production system and countries' level of development and their political structures. Based on this, the publication provides guidance on how countries can prioritize policies and interventions to overcome water constraints in agriculture, while ensuring efficient, sustainable and equitable access to water.

These guidelines propose a harmonized international approach to assessing the environmental performance of feed additives in livestock supply chains, taking into consideration their impact all along the supply chain for large ruminants, pigs and poultry. Many categories of feed additives exist worldwide. Manufactured by a wide range of sectors, feed additives target different livestock species to pursue different objectives, ranging from improving nutrition and animal health to curbing emissions and preventing pollution. Research is active in this field and a growing number of additives are being developed and marketed. Feed additives carry both environmental burdens linked to their production and environmental benefits linked to their usage, yet environmental assessments have often failed to address this complexity. These guidelines strive for a more coherent inclusion of feed additives in environmental assessments of livestock production, in order to increase the understanding of their environmental impact and reveal possible synergies or trade-offs with other environmental criteria