This policy paper focuses on the depletion of fisheries in the past 20 years, and the urgent need for governments to implement existing policies within the sustainable development framework put forward at the Earth Summit in 1992. It highlights gaps in ocean management, and aims to inform discussions and negotiations in the run-up to the Rio+20 conference in June 2012.

The authors urge the international community to implement commitments made as part of the Earth Summit, the World Summit on Sustainable Development, the Convention on Biological Diversity and the Millennium Development Goals. They also identify eight additional areas for action by the international community as part of a 'pathway to a green economy'.

The paper singles out marine fisheries and marine biodiversity as two key elements of discussions at Rio+20, and argues that there can be no green economy without a blue economy and sustainable marine ecosystems.

This report presents two case-studies that illustrate problems arising from subsidising fertiliser and electricity for groundwater irrigation in India — a policy put in place in the 1960s to boost food production and food security. It aims to analyse why subsequent reforms of these policies have done little to resolve economic and environmental problems; identify reforms that could prove successful; and outline political processes that could help achieve them.

Using India's experience, it highlights political challenges of using subsidy policies that could also be relevant to other countries.

This analysis is based on a literature review and interviews with stakeholders. The report also presents the conceptual framework, and gives an overview of fertiliser policy in India: how it has evolved, the stakeholders involved in the political process, and the policy implications of subsidy reform. Case-studies of electricity supply in Andhra Pradesh and Punjab are used to demonstrate policy reform feasibility.

The report concludes that for both electricity supply and fertiliser policies, various reforms could be adopted that are unlikely to face significant political obstacles. It argues that experimental and research-based knowledge could be used more effectively.

This policy brief, published by the Global Canopy Programme, proposes a system called Proactive Investment in Natural Capital (PINC), to reward countries for conserving large areas of tropical forest that act as 'global utilities' providing ecosystem services essential for preserving global food and energy security.

The authors suggest that the system, could complement current proposals for reducing emissions from deforestation and forest degradation (REDD). They argue that REDD could encourage countries with historically low deforestation rates to destroy their forests. They point out that if REDD successfully brings deforestation rates down — to zero eventually — then in the long-term, countries will not be able to receive payments for reducing deforestation.

The alternative, PINC, would build on existing systems that pay for ecosystem services, such as eco-certification, although scaling-up funding for standing forests is still a challenge, say the authors. To be effective, PINC requires capacity building and improved governance across the world. Land tenure reform will be needed in many countries, as will local participation in decision making and training in forest management. But, if appropriately designed, PINC could provide local communities with co-benefits such as poverty alleviation and biodiversity conservation.

This report highlights the key findings of the Health and Environment Linkages Initiative, set up by the WHO and UN Environment Programme to identify ways of integrating environment and health considerations into decision-making. The report outlines the ways in which health and environment linkages are usually defined and framed by policymakers, and describes the most common institutional and political barriers they face.

A review of formal impact assessment tools is given, along with a 'menu of options' for good practice application of impact assessment. The report highlights the importance of measuring the impacts of decisions made in terms that can be understood by policymakers. And it offers guidance on how to combine health and environment issues with economic considerations, describing real-world experiences from Jordan, Thailand and Uganda.