IGES Policy Briefs

Greenhouse gas emissions from conventional municipal solid waste management in developing countries contribute significantly to global climate change. This policy brief provides the results of quantitative assessment of greenhouse gas emissions from different waste management options as well as from an integrated waste management system...

This policy brief introduces the roles that local communities can play in monitoring changes in forest carbon stocks. It discusses lessons learnt from the Community Carbon Accounting Project, which is training local communities in Asia-Pacific countries on forest monitoring, from the perspectives of sustainable development and carbon accounting.

Current waste management practices in cities in developing Asia are a threat to human health and to the environment. This policy brief focuses on biological methods with lower emissions of greenhouse gases (GHG), and argues that national and local governments have key roles to play in mainstreaming these methods. It also recommends policy packages...

This policy brief focused the seriousness of water energy nexus from long-term perspective especially in the water scarce countries like India. It deals with India as a case study country. The findings reveal that the integrated water-energy policies are essential for sustainable development in the water scarce countries.

The low-carbon technology transfer is a key to achieve environmentally sound development in Asia. This policy brief provides several options on how to promote this process. Remarks: Japanese version: http://enviroscope.iges.or.jp/modules/envirolib/view.php?docid=3979

The global community is expecting local governments to play an increasingly important role in promoting sustainable development. However, the ability of local governments to do so, especially in some developed countries, may be weakening due to a possible decline in citizen interest and support as well as worsening fiscal and other constraints...

This policy brief proposes a phased reform of the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) as one means of enhancing international environmental governance. The first phase would provide universal membership to UNEP's Governing Council, and in the second phase it would be upgraded into a specialised agency. If implemented, this reform could...

This policy brief gives an overview about the environmental performance rating and public disclosure (EPRD) programme and enumerates some lessons learnt from the past cases. It also gives several policy recommendations on how to use such a scheme to promote corporate environmental management on a larger scale in developing countries. Remarks...

The East Asia region has been a hot spot of economic growth, and a substantial amount of energy input is essential to fuel this growth. Given the diverse conditions of economic, demographic, physical and natural resources in this region, a harmonised and integrated energy market will be beneficial to secure an affordable and reliable energy supply...

In the last two decades policies based on extended producer responsibility (EPR) have been implemented for a wide range of products, especially in industrialised economies. Now, an increasing number of Asian economies similarly find themselves facing increasing amounts of difficult-to-treat waste and associated health, social and environmental...