This report and its findings are based on field work by a team of international experts deployed by UNEP following its Governing Council’s Decision 25/12 in February 2009, requesting UNEP to assess the environmental damage and carry out an economic evaluation of the rehabilitation and restoration of the environment in the Gaza Strip following the escalation of hostilities in December 2008 and late January 2009.

This report explores the potential for mitigating the impacts of climate change by improved management and protection of marine ecosystems and especially the vegetated coastal habitat, or blue carbon sinks.

The objective of this report is to highlight the critical role of the oceans and ocean ecosystems in maintaining our climate and in assisting policy makers to mainstream an oceans agenda into national and international climate change initiatives. While emissions’ reductions are currently at the centre of the climate change discussions, the critical role of the oceans and ocean ecosystems has been vastly overlooked.

This publication provides guidance to the various stakeholders in the fisheries sector on the tools and actions necessary to address the challenges contributing to the global food crisis. The document reviews the complexities surrounding the current decline, and in some cases collapse, of global fish stocks.

Launched in February 2008, the Climate Neutral Network (CN Net ) is a global online campaign led by the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) to catalyze a low-carbon, climate neutral economy.

The United Nations organisations are responsible for an impressive number of meetings each year, ranging from small meetings of 10 people, up to large events with several thousand participants. These meetings take place in all parts of the world and in regions varying greatly in terms of environmental priorities, experience and infrastructure.

Behind the life cycle of a product, from the cradle to the grave, there is a story to tell. Not only about its potential impact on the environment, but as well in terms of social and socio-economic impacts - or potential impacts - of its production and consumption on the workers, the local communities, the consumers, the society and all value chain actors.

This report aims to understand how natural resources and the environment can be better protected during armed conflict by examining the status of existing international law and making recommendations on concrete ways to strenghten the legal framework and its enforcement.

The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change 4th Assessment Report (AR4) concluded that climate change will have significant impacts on many aspects of biological diversity: on ecosytems, species, genetic diversity within species, and on ecological interactions. This report reviews the literature since the AR4. It draws on recent research to summarise advances in our understanding of the impacts of climate change on biodiversity.

This publication is a completion report for “UNEP Support for Environmental Management of the
Iraqi Marshlands” project, which was one of the largest environmental projects conducted within
the framework of the United Nations Development Group (UNDG) Iraq Trust Fund. The Publication presents the background of the project, project activities, and major outputs and results. It also makes recommendations on additional initiatives to improve the environmental conditions for the Marshlands area as well as for the country.

The UNEP Year Book 2009 (formerly the GEO Year Book) presents selected new scientific findings and events of 2008 that are likely to shape important environmental issues and trends in the coming year of 2009.

Through the use of satellite data, photographs, graphics and site-specific case
studies, this 160-page atlas highlights environmental change in Kenya. It looks at the country's mountains, forests, water bodies and national parks, chronicling the evolution of the country's environment over the last few decades and the ecological challenges and opportunities facing the country.

The Climate Change Science Compendium is a review of some 400 major scientific contributions to our understanding of Earth Systems and climate that have been released through peer-reviewed literature or from research institutions over the last three years, since the close of research for consideration by the IPCC Fourth Assessment Report.