Human transformation of the Earth started much earlier than previously thought
Human activity probably started influencing climate already thousands of years ago. Permanent agriculture and livestock herding led to large-scale changes in natural ecosystems. This is concluded in a...
PBL publishes Policy brief on Action Agenda for Nature and People
The ‘Action Agenda for Nature and People’ of the UN Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) has potential to become a powerful vehicle for increasing the ambition level of global biodiversity policy...
Closing the emission gap between the Paris goals and national policies
We know there is a global emission gap between current policies, nationally determined contributions (NDCs), and the Paris Agreement goal to keep the global temperature rise this century well below 2...
PBL contributes to operationalizing the Action Agenda for Nature and People
PBL is exploring institutional options for the post-2020 global biodiversity framework. As part of this effort PBL has co-organised an international workshop (april 2019) to support the development...
The Netherlands has 85,000 circular activities, but new initiatives are struggling to break through
The Dutch economy has around 85,000 circular activities that employ around 420,000 people (4% of all jobs). While this shows that circularity has gained a foothold in the Dutch economy, the transition...
Agricultural productivity, land protection and dietary changes key for sustainable land-use future
In the transition to a more sustainable land future, our land footprint will, among many land-use change drivers, mainly depend on the interplay of population growth, agricultural efficiency, land-use...
Locating available space in urban areas; spatial density and mixed use
In urban regions in the Netherlands, the demand for housing, business locations, recreational areas and infrastructure is large, while space is only scarcely available. Locating that space and...
Nature’s decline ‘unprecedented’ in human history: 1 million species threatened with extinction
The current global efforts are insufficient to stop the unprecedented decline of nature: transformative societal changes are necessary to stop the loss of biodiversity and to recover nature. This is...
Transition to clean cooking good for people and planet
More than 700 million people in Sub-Saharan Africa still use traditional biomass (wood or charcoal) on open fires or inefficient traditional cookstoves for cooking. This results in serious health...
New UN report calls for wide-ranging innovations and integrative policies
The world is not on track to achieve internationally agreed environmental targets, such as those outlined in the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and the Paris Agreement. To get on track, wide...