This Guidebook, which is based on the outcome of a UNEP pilot project that was carried out in three South East Asian countries in 2009-2010 - Cambodia, Lao PDR and Vietnam - is intended to serve as a tool to help decision-makers and legal drafters to incorporate measures for adapting to the adverse impacts of climate change into their national sustainable development policies, plans and programmes by creating the necessary legal, regulatory and institutional framework for such action.

This report outlines the outcomes of a one day stakeholders workshop organised by CEPT University’s Centre for Urban Equity (CUE), that took place on 29 August 2011. The objective of the workshop was to discuss indicators for sustainable transport that cover environmental, economic and social concerns.

The tiny fraction of freshwater not bound up in ice sheets and glaciers comprises only a very small fraction of total global water volume (about 0.79 %). Global use of that freshwater, however, has been growing at roughly twice the rate of global population for the past century. Even so, this volume of unfrozen freshwater is still more than adequate to meet all human needs. However, this essential resource, which is mostly stored as groundwater, is distributed quite unevenly around the globe.

In this new report UNEP argues that the ecological health and economic productivity of marine and coastal ecosystems can be boosted by shifting to a more sustainable economic paradigm that taps their natural potential - from generating renewable energy and promoting eco-tourism, to sustainable fisheries and transport.

Efforts to limit climate change generally focus on reducing carbon dioxide emissions caused by burning fossil fuels. However, another byproduct of fossil fuel combustion is black carbon, a major component of soot. Sources include diesel truck and car engines as well as wood fires, kilns, and stoves. Particles of black carbon in the atmosphere absorb sunlight and can have significant effects on the temperature, as do ozone, methane and other chemicals.

Efforts to limit climate change generally focus on reducing carbon dioxide emissions caused by burning fossil fuels. However, another byproduct of fossil fuel combustion is black carbon, a major component of soot. Sources include diesel truck and car engines as well as wood fires, kilns, and stoves. Particles of black carbon in the atmosphere absorb sunlight and can have significant effects on the temperature, as do ozone, methane and other chemicals.

Through the air, over land and in water, over ten thousand species numbering millions of animals travel around the world in a network of migratory pathways. The very foundation of these migratory species is their connection to places and corridors across the planet. The loss of a single point in their migration can jeopardize the entire population, while their concentrations make them highly vulnerable to overharvesting and poaching.

Women are often in the frontline in respect to the impacts of a changing climate. Globally the world is seeing increasingly frequent droughts and floods which are having economic but also profound social consequences. The women and people of Asia are currently at greatest risk with over 100 million people affected in this region annually. Adaptation, vulnerability and resilience of people to climate change depend upon a range of conditions.

The third annual report of the UNEP Bilateral Finance Institutions (BFI) Climate Change Working Group shows total climate change financing for 2010 was USD 15.7 billion. That amount includes nearly USD 12.9 billion for mitigation and nearly USD 2.9 billion for adaptation. Altogether, the BFI group members accounted for more than a third of all public climate finance (USD 39 billion) in 2010.

Scientific evidence and new analyses demonstrate that control of black carbon particles and tropospheric ozone through rapid implementation of proven emission reduction measures would have immediate and multiple benefits for human well-being.