Natural resource management: Sustainable agriculture  -  Fisheries  -  Forests

Brochure: OECD work on biodiversity and ecosystems

Biodiversity is fundamental to sustaining life, providing critical ecosystem services such as food provisioning, water purification, flood and drought control, nutrient cycling, and climate regulation. OECD work examines how to better conserve and sustainably use biodiversity, today and for future generations. 

Brochure: OECD work on water

Water is essential for life - for health - for human dignity - and for well-functioning ecosystems. One billion people are currently without clean drink water and 2.5 billion lack access to basic sanitation. The OECD is working to help developed and developing countries meet the water challenge.

Water Security for Better Lives

This publication examines the critical issues surrounding water security (water shortage, water excess, inadequate water quality, the resilience of freshwater systems), providing a rationale for a risk-based approach and the management of trade-offs between water and other (sectoral and environmental) policies. The report sets out a three-step process to "know", "target" and "manage" water risks: (1) appraising the risks, (2) judging the tolerability and acceptability of risks and weighing risk-risk trade-offs, and (3) calibrating appropriate responses.

Water and Climate Change Adaptation - Policies to Navigate Uncharted Waters

This report sets out the challenge for freshwater in a changing climate and provides policy guidance on how to navigate this new "waterscape". It highlights the range of expected changes in the water cycle and the challenge of making practical, on-site adaptation decisions for water. The report also highlights general trends and good practices drawn from the OECD Survey of Policies on Water and Climate Change Adaptation, covering all 34 member countries and the European Commission. Individual country profiles are available, which provide a snapshot of the challenges posed by climate change for freshwater and the emerging policy responses (on-line only).

Scaling-up Finance Mechanisms for Biodiversity

OECD work on "Scaling-Up Finance Mechanisms for Biodiversity" considers the opportunities for scaling-up finance for biodiversity from six so-called "innovative financial mechanisms", as classified under the Convention on Biological Diversity. These are: environmental fiscal reform; payments for ecosystem services; biodiversity offsets; markets for green products; biodiversity in climate change funding; and biodiversity in international development finance.