Latest Documents

Insights blog: Rice and risks in the Mekong River Delta

The wet and verdant expanse of the Mekong Delta’s rivers and farms is a veritable rice bowl for the world. Not only do the region’s paddies produce half of Viet Nam’s rice crop yearly, the country is the world’s third largest rice exporter, with 17% of world exports of paddy rice. Our analysis identifies Viet Nam as facing the world’s fourth highest water risks for rice production.

Policy Paper: Reforming agricultural subsidies to support biodiversity in Switzerland - Country Study

This paper analyses the reform of Switzerland’s agricultural policy framework, which reoriented subsidies to better target policy objectives, including for biodiversity; and outlines the process involved in designing and implementing the reform as well as its environmental and socio-economic impacts. The country study draws on the 2017 OECD report The Political Economy of Biodiversity Policy Reform.

Policy Paper: Sustaining Iceland’s fisheries through tradeable quotas - Country Study

This paper analyses the reform undertaken by Iceland to avert a looming crisis and restore fish stocks to sustainable levels; and outlines the process involved in designing and implementing this reform. It also reflects on the challenges encountered and the environmental, economic and social impacts of the reform. This country study draws on the OECD report "The Political Economy of Biodiversity Policy Reform".

Observer article: Under the sea

With marine biodiversity deteriorating at an alarming rate, there will soon be little left of the “octopus’s garden” that The Beatles once sang about. According to "Marine Protected Areas: Economics, Management and Effective Policy Mixes", pollution, overfishing and rising temperatures have damaged or destroyed 60% of the earth’s marine ecosystems.

Water Charges in Brazil - The Ways Forward

"Oceanfill": Yet another dumping ground - Observer article

The world’s oceans are being damaged by a constant and unprecedented accumulation of waste known as marine debris. The waste, mostly from effluent human activities, is brought to the oceans through currents and often carried far from where it originated.

Indicators on Terrestrial and Marine Protected Areas: Methodology and Results for OECD and G20 countries - Environment Working Paper

This paper details a methodology for calculating the extent of terrestrial and marine protected areas recorded in the World Database on Protected Areas by country, type and IUCN management categories. The method allows the data on protected areas to be summarised in a harmonised and more detailed way than is currently available, without requiring any additional reporting by countries.

Improving Domestic Financial Support Mechanisms in Moldova's Water and Sanitation Sector

Groundwater Allocation - Managing Growing Pressures on Quantity and Quality

The Land-Water-Energy Nexus - Biophysical and Economic Consequences