This report outlines the conceptual framework for sand and dust storms (SDS) hazard risk and vulnerability assessment and mapping in agriculture and provides the elements as part of SDS contingency planning process in agriculture in the Islamic Republic of Iran. Its main purpose is to provide an applicable procedure for using web-based data to reduce SDS risk and impacts on agriculture. This is a first attempt to develop a contingency plan for SDS risk reduction in agriculture using freely available remote sensing imagery and geographic information system (GIS) modeling. It includes a set of agriculture-specific indicators proposed to assess SDS risk and discusses the required steps for developing indicators and procedures.Furthermore, a methodology for SDS contingency planning in agriculture is described, including the legal and institutional frameworks in the Islamic Republic of Iran relevant for SDS intervention as well as the organizational responsibilities for implementing the contingency plan. It reviews the main action areas and challenges to be addressed in SDS contingency planning in agriculture for Ahvaz County. It provides an action framework for the identification and fine-tuning of SDS priority actions to be addressed and integrated into existing national and local SDS disaster risk reduction/management plans and/or sectoral development plans in the Islamic Republic of Iran.Due to the central position of the Islamic Republic of Iran in the global dust belt, it is highly impacted by sand and dust storms (SDS). Mitigating the adverse effects of SDS on agriculture remains very important as the country is highly dependent on the sector and the sector is both an anthropogenic driver of SDS as well as the yields and productivity of crops, trees and pastures are negatively impacted by SDS. With climate change it is expected that droughts and land use changes will increase the frequency and severity of SDS risks. Hence, urgent action is needed, whereby short-term responses require to be linked to long-term development actions for building resilience against SDS.

Sand and dust storms (SDS) are common in drylands with dust often transported over great distances, frequently across international boundaries. Such storms are important for ecosystem functioning, but they also create numerous hazards to society, in agriculture and other socioeconomic sectors. The yields and productivity of crops, trees, pastures and livestock are adversely affected by SDS. With climate change it is expected that droughts and land use changes will increase the frequency and risk of SDS.While agriculture is a major driver of SDS, agriculture is impacted by SDS and it is also part of the solution to combat SDS risks and mitigate their impacts. This guide aims to provide an overview of sand and dust storms and the impacts on agriculture and food systems. It gives a review of how agriculture can create SDS sources and highlights the impacts of SDS on agricultural production in source and deposition areas. It includes a range of high-impact, location- and context-specific practices to reduce SDS source and impacts on agriculture subsectors at local level, comprising technical and non-technical interventions. Moreover, it assesses how SDS risk is addressed at the policy level and discusses options for integrating SDS at national and regional levels into multi-hazard disaster risk reduction (DRR) and disaster risk management (DRM) strategies or sectoral development programmes, followed by conclusions and recommendations.Urgent action must be taken now. Short-term responses need to be linked to long-term development actions to enhance combating SDS. The adverse impacts of SDS are likely to become even more severe in the future, particularly due to climate change, unless appropriate interventions are made.

Ending poverty and stabilizing climate change will be two unprecedented global achievements and two major steps toward sustainable development. But the two objectives cannot be considered in isolation: they need to be jointly tackled through an integrated strategy. This report brings together those two objectives and explores how they can more easily be achieved if considered together. It examines the potential impact of climate change and climate policies on poverty reduction. It also provides guidance on how to create a “win-win†? situation so that climate change policies contribute to poverty reduction and poverty-reduction policies contribute to climate change mitigation and resilience building. The key finding of the report is that climate change represents a significant obstacle to the sustained eradication of poverty, but future impacts on poverty are determined by policy choices: rapid, inclusive, and climate-informed development can prevent most short-term impacts whereas immediate pro-poor, emissions-reduction policies can drastically limit long-term ones.

The State of the World's Land and Water Resources for Food and Agriculture is FAO's first flagship publication on the global status of land and water resources. It is an 'advocacy' report, to be published every three to five years, and targeted at senior level decision makers in agriculture as well as in other sectors. SOLAW is aimed at sensitizing its target audience on the status of land resources at global and regional levels and FAO's viewpoint on appropriate recommendations for policy formulation. SOLAW focuses on these key dimensions of analysis: (i) quantity, quality of land and water resources, (ii) the rate of use and sustainable management of these resources in the context of relevant socio-economic driving factors and concerns, including food security and poverty, and climate change. This is the first time that a global, baseline status report on land and water resources has been made. It is based on several global spatial databases (e.g. land suitability for agriculture, land use and management, land and water degradation and depletion) for which FAO is the world-recognized data source. Topical and emerging issues on land and water are dealt with in an integrated rather than sectoral manner. The implications of the status and trends are used to advocate remedial interventions which are tailored to major farming systems within different geographic regions.

This handbook is designed to guide public sector managers and development practitioners through the process of large-scale housing reconstruction after major disasters, based on the experiences of recent reconstruction programs in Aceh (Indonesia), Sri Lanka, Pakistan, Gujarat (India) and Bam (Iran).

The Global Food Policy Report is IFPRI’s flagship publication. This year’s annual report examines major food policy issues, global and regional developments, and commitments made in 2015, and presents data on key food policy indicators. The report also proposes key policy options for 2016 and beyond to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals. In 2015, the global community made major commitments on sustainable development and climate change. The global food system lies at the heart of these commitments—and we will only be able to meet the new goals if we work to transform our food system to be more inclusive, climate-smart, sustainable, efficient, nutrition- and health-driven, and business-friendly.

'Global Monitoring Report 2008', the fifth in an annual series, is essential reading for those who wish to follow the global development agenda and debate in 2008. The year marks the midpoint toward the 2015 deadline for achieving the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs). It is also an important year to work toward a consensus on how the world is going to respond to the challenge of climate change, building on the foundation laid at the Bali climate change conference in December 2007. The report spans this agenda. It provides a comprehensive assessment of progress toward the MDGs and related policies and actions. It addresses the challenge of climate change and environmental sustainability and assesses its implications for development. The report's assessment of MDGs at midpoint presents a mixed picture, one of both significant progress and formidable challenges. The first MDG, reducing extreme poverty by half, is likely to be met at the global level, thanks to a remarkable surge in global economic growth over the past decade. But, on current trends, the human development MDGs are unlikely to be met. Prospects are gravest for the goals of reducing child and maternal mortality, but shortfalls are also likely in the primary school completion. nutrition, and sanitation MDGs. The potential effects of climate change compound the challenge of achieving the development goals and sustaining progress. The report's messages are clear: urgent action is needed to help the world get back on track to achieve the MDGs; and urgent action is also needed to combat climate change that threatens the well-being of all countries, but particularly of poor countries and poor people. The goals of development and environmental sustainability are closely related, and the paths to those goals have important synergies.

The explosion on 26 April 1986 at the Chernobyl nuclear power plant and the consequent reactor fire resulted in an unprecedented release of radioactive material from a nuclear reactor and adverse consequences for the public and the environment. Although the accident occurred nearly two decades ago, controversy still surrounds the real impact of the disaster. Therefore the IAEA, in cooperation with other UN bodies, the World Bank, as well as the competent authorities of Belarus, the Russian Federation and Ukraine, established the Chernobyl Forum in 2003. The mission of the Forum was to generate 'authoritative consensual statements' on the environmental consequences and health effects attributable to radiation exposure arising from the accident as well as to provide advice on environmental remediation and special health care programmes, and to suggest areas in which further research is required. This report presents the findings and recommendations of the Chernobyl Forum concerning the environmental effects of the Chernobyl accident.