This report analyses the links between energy access, income and livelihoods. It examines the definition of energy access, and reintroduces — and updates — the concept of 'total energy access' as a progressive framework to measure how people use energy in a healthy and productive way.

It states that agriculture is one of the sectors hardest hit by unreliable supplies of electricity, and argues that, for smallholder farmers, more use of modern energy services at various steps along the value chain can contribute to increasing incomes.

The authors conclude that energy access cannot guarantee improved livelihoods without reliability, quality, and cost-effectiveness of energy supplies — combined with access to markets, networks, and sufficient demand. Their analysis also suggests that making the transition from traditional to modern energy supplies holds new opportunities to earn a living from supplying energy.

Reaching poor people with modern energy carries social, economic and environmental benefits, and stakeholders — national governments, donors, utilities, businesses and civil society, community groups, and individual consumers — have a crucial role to play in creating universal energy access.

This paper provides guidance for policymakers working on identifying low-carbon technologies, and discusses why they should put innovation at the centre of any green growth strategy. The authors argue that the need for innovation in the low-carbon power sector is critical in terms of preventing climate change and promoting development.

The paper explains the innovation process in the low-carbon power sector, and highlights participants and rules in the innovation process. It introduces the 'innovation ecosystems' approach — designed to capture the complexity of innovation processes — and to identify the services innovators need. The final section lays out a step-by-step process for identifying and making the most of opportunities in this sector. The authors conclude that innovation is key to using technology effectively and solving global problems requires everyone to live up to their potential as innovators.

This report examines the challenges of managing water resources for agricultural use — specifically in the context of food production — in the face of a changing climate. It provides an overview of climate change impacts in different parts of the world, details options for adaptation and mitigation, and offers practical recommendations on how developing countries can cope with these impacts.  

The report outlines methods to assess impacts on water and agriculture, and stresses that water and agricultural policies must be more closely aligned. It concludes with suggestions for action to help countries in carrying out such assessments and adapting agricultural water management. These include using methods such as decision analysis to improve predictions; developing and applying downscaling techniques to build capacity for better analyses and climate adaptation; and coordinating analyses of the level of investment required for different solutions.

This technical report examines methods for assessing the vulnerability of wetlands — particularly in the context of climate change — as part of a broader set of methodologies for wetland inventory, assessment and monitoring. It gives an overview of available approaches to assessing vulnerability, including the frameworks available to incorporate climate change risks into development planning and projects.

The report identifies challenges and information gaps that have emerged from vulnerability assessments, including "multiple vulnerabilities" a lack of reliable data or long-term monitoring, and differing perceptions of the need to address wetland vulnerability. It concludes that to provide the information needed for sound management vulnerability assessments will need a better understanding of the complexity of interactive pressures that affect wetlands, such as land use and pollution; to develop appropriate metrics to assess vulnerability to multiple pressures; and to bolster data on the sensitivity and adaptive capacity of wetlands.

This report, written by the Commission on Sustainable Agriculture and Climate Change of CGIAR, puts forward a set of evidence-based policy recommendations on how to achieve food security and environmental sustainability in the context of climate change.

Based on the commission's scientific assessment of the potential impact of climate change on agriculture and food security, the report suggests major local and global interventions that could transform the production, distribution and consumption of food to increase food productivity, reduce greenhouse gases and preserve natural resources. Key recommendations include the need to integrate sustainable agriculture into national and global policies, target vulnerable populations and sectors, and reduce waste in food systems.

The report also looks at a set of relevant policies and programmes currently being implemented in countries around the world, including smallholder investments in Bangladesh, and efforts to integrate sustainable food production into land use policy in Brazil.

This policy brief looks at the role of intellectual property rights in developing and accessing technologies for mitigation and adaption to climate change. It provides an overview of intellectual property rights as the main mechanism of encouraging technological innovation for responding to climate change, and describes the issues that prevent constructive discussion in the area. The brief brings together diverse perspectives to propose action, beginning with building trust and exploring potential policy options, challenging countries to go beyond their entrenched positions and thus enable productive climate talks. It concludes with a caution that without reaching a compromise, the impasse will prevent a significant move towards green technologies.

This paper aims to identify key components of effective renewable energy policy in developing countries. It draws from published research and case studies in 12 countries in Africa, Asia and Latin America to provide recommendations on how countries can maximise international support for the development and deployment of renewable energies.

The authors argue that the global energy system needs to change, and that developing countries are at the forefront of this challenge because they are expected to contribute 80 per cent of the world's capacity for new electricity generation over the next two decades. The authors conclude that donors should move beyond funding individual projects to support nationwide initiatives for renewable energy.

The report looks at what developing countries are already doing to deploy renewable energy; gives an overview of key principles of renewable energy policy; discusses lessons learned from existing initiatives; and identifies areas where international support could help.

This report outlines the first coherent strategy drawn up by the UN to address dryland management, taking into account environmental concerns and the well-being of dryland communities. It examines the relationship between drylands and climate change, food security and livelihoods, and highlights ways in which the UN is working to mainstream drylands into policymaking processes.

Climate change is already having an impact on crop yields and nutrition in areas that rely on rain-fed agriculture, according to the report, and these impacts will intensify by 2020 in parts of Sub-Saharan Africa, Asia and Latin America. The impacts of climate change may be most pronounced in Sub-Saharan Africa and South Asia, suggesting that those already vulnerable will be affected the most.

A key message is that the international community has an opportunity to address the underlying causes of dryland degradation. The report concludes that global cooperation must be intensified if the ten-year strategic plan of the UN Convention to Combat Desertification — whose aim is to tackle desertification and degradation — and the Millennium Development Goals are to be achieved.

This year's edition of the report focuses on the costs of food price volatility, as well as the dangers and opportunities that high food prices present to poor countries. It outlines how food price volatility affects food security, offers policy options to reduce volatility cost-effectively, and suggests how countries can manage cost increases when they cannot be avoided.

A key message of the report is that increases in food prices are set to continue. The authors pinpoint contributing factors such as climate change-related increases in the frequency of extreme weather events, and stronger linkages between energy and agricultural markets because of growing demand for biofuels.

One of the key points made in the report is that large countries were able to insulate themselves from the crisis, but small countries dependent on imports, especially in Africa, were hard hit. Others include the importance of safety-net mechanisms for alleviating the impacts of food insecurity and laying the foundations for development, and that high food prices offer incentives for improving food security in the long term by increasing investment in agriculture.

In this review article, published after the Fukushima accident, medical scientists examine published information on the short- and long-term health risks of exposure to ionising radiation. The article describes two previous nuclear accidents — at Three Mile Island in the USA, and Chernobyl in Ukraine — and explains the types and doses of radiation that can damage biological systems. It discusses the mechanisms behind exposure, and radiation-induced illness and injury, including long-term cancer risks. The authors also review measures that can be taken to reduce the effects of radiation exposure, including potassium iodide tablets used in the aftermath of Chernobyl. The article stresses that clear communication on radiation exposure levels and health risks is a key component of the response to a nuclear incident.

This policy brief, from Harvard University, explores research and development (R&D), cost and performance issues that the nuclear power sector needs to consider if the industry is to meet the growing demand for carbon-free energy. Based on surveys it offers estimates of the costs and performance of this research, and potential benefits that could be gained over the next 20 years.

A key finding is that current levels of public investment in nuclear power technologies will not lead to a major reduction of the cost of nuclear plants by 2030. Instead, many of today’s R&D programmes are focused on capabilities such as extending uranium resources or improving waste management and safety. The authors acknowledge that the Fukushima accident has highlighted the need for better preparedness and has undermined confidence in nuclear energy. The report concludes that development of nuclear power should address issues aside from R&D such as getting public acceptance and support from governments.

This paper, published by the UK-based Institute of Development Studies, examines how disaster risks associated with climate change might impact electricity generation and energy planning — which is an emerging research and development agenda. The authors argue that energy researchers and policymakers have overlooked how changing disaster risks could affect electrical power production.

The report assesses the vulnerability of nuclear power as well as several other options for energy generation — including oil, natural gas, hydropower and bioenergy — and identifies the implications for energy policy and planning. It lists recommendations as to how policymakers could take into account the link between disaster risk management and low-carbon development to improve the capacity of developing countries to build resilience. Suggestions include completing environmental impact assessments when siting new power plants, establishing better links between energy, climate, and disaster policymakers, and planning climate change adaption strategies for electricity production.

This safety guide, published by the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), is designed to help countries prepare plans to improve their capacity to respond to nuclear or radiological emergencies whether as a result of an accident or malicious use of nuclear material. The guide can also be used to meet IAEA's safety requirements.

It outlines generic and operational criteria, according to specific radiation doses, to help policymakers decide between different courses of action to protect the public, emergency workers and the environment. It includes guidelines for assessing food and water contamination, and subsequent remediation measures, as well as on how to set safety perimeters around an incident depending on initial observations at the scene. The guide also outlines lessons learned from past experiences.

This report, published by the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), details a survey of all significant nuclear-related developments that took place in 2010 worldwide, and outlines how each of the developments has affected the work of the IAEA.

It provides updates on the status and trends in nuclear power, including plants that are under construction, and offers up-to-date details of global uranium resources, safety and emergency preparedness guidelines, and applications of nuclear technology in areas such as cancer treatment. Changes in nuclear law, proposals for nuclear waste management and the status of decommissioned sites are also discussed. The report concludes that countries, international organisations and civil society must work together and respond to future challenges collectively if nuclear energy is to benefit development.

This review article, published before the accident at Fukushima, discusses the immediate and long-term prospects of nuclear power development to meet future carbon-free energy needs. It explores opportunities and constraints of generating a nuclear power 'renaissance', and puts forward six possible options for building a sustainable nuclear energy industry.

The authors say that nuclear technology is at a crossroads, and if it is to move forward a two-stage strategy is needed. The first stage must involve developing or extending the life of the world’s existing nuclear plants over the next two years, to improve their efficiency and reliability. In the second stage, after 2030, the industry should look to build new nuclear power stations with large-scale fuel cycles that may include fuel reprocessing. They highlight measures that, if taken now, could make nuclear a viable energy option in the future.

This report, from the US-based Worldwatch Institute, provides qualitative and quantitative information about nuclear power plants in operation; under construction; and those being planned worldwide. It also includes an overview of reactions to the nuclear accident in Fukushima, Japan.

The authors analyse the economic performance of past and present nuclear projects, and compare them with other leading renewable energy sources. A country by country rundown of nuclear power projects can be found in the annex of the report.

Key findings suggest that nuclear power can no longer keep pace with the development of other renewable power sources. The report states that the nuclear industry had been in decline even before the Fukushima disaster because not enough new reactors are becoming operational, while existing reactors are aging rapidly. The authors believe that the disaster at Fukushima is likely to accelerate this downward trend.

This guide, published by the International Atomic Energy Agency, offers practical advice for policymakers, managers and advisers in countries that are setting up their first nuclear power plant, or those restarting an inactive nuclear programme. It provides information about the activities, responsibilities and desired attributes of those running nuclear plants, whether private companies or the state. It also describes the experience of countries that have built and operated nuclear power plants, and outlines how the owner and operator should interact with national authorities, nuclear and environmental regulatory bodies, the national grid, waste management, and emergency planning and response organisations. The report also provides examples of contracts that can be used in the process of setting up a power plant.