Policy framework for pastoralism in Africa: Securing, protecting and improving the lives, livelihoods and rights of pastoralist communities

The Policy Framework for Pastoralism in Africa, as presented in this report, is the first continent-wide policy initiative aiming to secure, protect and improve the lives of African pastoralists. Pastoralists make crucial – but often undervalued – contributions to economies in Africa in terms of their production systems, culture, and animal and plant resources. Yet human development and food security indicators in many pastoral areas are among the lowest on the continent. The objectives of the framework are to protect the lives, livelihoods and rights of pastoral people, and to reinforce the contribution of pastoral livestock to national, regional and continent-wide economies

Beyond Scarcity : Water Security in the Middle East and North Africa

Water has always been a source of risks and opportunities in the Middle East and North Africa. Yet rapidly changing socioeconomic, political, and environmental conditions make water security a different, and more urgent, challenge than ever before. This report shows that achieving water security means much more than coping with water scarcity. It means managing water resources in a sustainable, efficient, and equitable way. It also involves delivering water services reliably and affordably, to reinforce relationships between service providers and water users and contribute to a renewed social contract. Water security also entails mitigating water-related risks such as floods and droughts. Water security is an urgent target, but it is also a target within reach. A host of potential solutions to the region's water management challenges exist. To make these solutions work, clear incentives are needed to change the way water is managed, conserved, and allocated. To make these solutions work, countries in the region will also need to better engage water users, civil society, and youth. The failure of policies to address water challenges can have severe impacts on people's well-being and political stability. The strategic question for the region is whether countries will act with foresight and resolve to strengthen water security, or whether they will wait to react to the inevitable disruptions of water crises

MATRIX Results II and Reference Report

As populations increase, especially in urban areas, the number of people affected by natural hazards is growing, as many regions of the world subject to multiple hazards. Although the volume of geophysical, sociological and economic knowledge is expanding, so are the losses from natural catastrophes. The slow transfer of appropriate knowledge from theory to practice may be due to the difficulties inherent in the communication process from science to policy-making, including perceptions by stakeholders from disaster mitigation practice regarding the usability of any developed tools. As scientific evidence shows, decision-makers are faced with the challenge of not only mitigating against single hazards and risks, but also multiple risks, which must include the consideration of their interrelations. As the multi-hazard and risk concept is a relatively young area of natural risk governance, there are only a few multi-risk models and the experience of practitioners as to how to use these models is limited. To our knowledge, scientific literature on stakeholders' perceptions of multi-risk models is lacking. In this document, we identify the perceptions of two decision-making tools, which involve multi-hazard and multi-risk. The first one is a generic, multi-risk framework based on the sequential Monte Carlo method to allow for a straightforward and flexible implementation of hazard interactions which may occur in a complex system. The second is a decision-making tool that integrates directly input from stakeholders by attributing weights to different components and constructing risk ratings. Based on the feedback from stakeholders, we found that interest in multi-risk assessment is high, but that its application remains hampered by the complexity of the processes involved

A Million Voices: The World We Want? A Sustainable Future with Dignity for All

This report by the United Nations Development Group (UNDG) collects the perspectives on the 'world we want' from over 1 million people around the globe. For almost one year, people have engaged energetically in 88 national consultations, 11 thematic dialogues, and through the MY World global survey. As member states consult on the shape and content of a successor framework to the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) beyond 2015, it is hoped that the opportunity to listen to these voices will contribute to reaching consensus on what is needed to move towards a common sustainable future