The Club of Rome A not-for-profit organisation, independent of any political, ideological or religious interests. Its mission is to act as a global catalyst for change through the identification and analysis of the crucial problems facing humanity and the communication of such problems to the most important public and private decision makers as well as to the general public. The Great Rivers Partnership The Nature Conservancy and Caterpillar Inc., through its Caterpillar Foundation, have embarked on the Great Rivers Partnership, an ambitious effort to guide protection of the world's imperiled freshwater systems and transform the way large working river systems are preserved and protected. The purpose of the partnership is to create a new model for sustaining the world's great river systems and the plants, animals and people that depend on them. http://www.nature.org/aboutus/?src=home The Nature Conservancy the leading conservation organization working around the world to protect ecologically important lands and waters for nature and people. Since its founding in 1951, they've protected more than 117 million acres of land and 5,000 miles of rivers worldwide — and operate more than 100 marine conservation projects globally - working in all 50 states and more than 30 countries.
http://www.desertnet.de/ Desert*Net Germany The German Competence Network for Research to Combat Desertification. http://desertification.wordpress.com/ Desertification Gateway All about drought, desertification and poverty in drylands.
www.desurvey.net/ DeSurvey-IP A Surveillance System for Assessing and Monitoring Desertification.
http://www.earthportal.org/ Earth Portal The Earth Portal is a comprehensive resource for timely, objective, science-based information about the environment. It is a means for the global scientific community to come together to produce the first free, expert-driven, massively scaleable information resource on the environment, and to engage civil society in a public dialogue on the role of environmental issues in human affairs. It contains no commercial advertising and reaches a large global audience.
The Earth Portal has three components:
The Encyclopedia of Earth, with over 3,500 articles, is produced and reviewed by 1,000 scholars from 60 countries.
The EarthForum provides commentary from scholars and discussions with the general public.
The EarthNews offers news stories on environmental issues drawn from many sources.
http://www.gefweb.org/default.aspx Global Environmental Facility / GEF An independent financial organization that provides grants to developing countries for projects that benefit the global environment and promote sustainable livelihoods in local communities. established in 1991, helps developing countries fund projects and programs that protect the global environment. GEF grants support projects related to biodiversity, climate change, international waters, land degradation, the ozone layer, and persistent organic pollutants. http://www.iwrn.net/ Inter-American Water Resources Network Recognizing the need to strengthen water resources management, the mission of the Inter-American Water Resources Network is to build and strengthen water resources partnerships between nations, organizations, and individuals that transcend disciplines, political boundaries, and language barriers; promote education and the open exchange of information and technical expertise; and enhance communication, cooperation, collaboration, and financial commitment to the implementation of integrated water and land resources management within the context of environmental and economic sustainability in the Americas.
http://www.iwmi.cgiar.org/ International Water Management Institute One of 15 international research centers supported by the network of 60 governments, private foundations and international and regional organizations collectively known as the Consultative Group on International Agricultural Research (CGIAR) whose Mission is to improve the management of land and water resources for food, livelihoods and nature.
http://www.oas.org/ Organization of American States / OAS The OAS brings together the nations of the Western Hemisphere to strengthen cooperation on democratic values, defend common interests and debate the major issues facing the region and the world. The OAS is the region’s principal multilateral forum for strengthening democracy, promoting human rights, and confronting shared problems such as poverty, terrorism, illegal drugs and corruption. It plays a leading role in carrying out mandates established by the hemisphere’s leaders through the Summits of the Americas.
http://www.oxfamamerica.org/ OXFAM International A confederation of 13 organizations working together with over 3,000 partners in more than 100 countries to find lasting solutions to poverty and injustice.
http://www.syngentafoundation.org/ Syngenta / Foundation for Sustainable Agriculture Our goal is to improve rural livelihoods in semiarid parts of the world in sustainable ways. We wish to promote innovative methods and technologies to help farmers increase their food production and make a profit.
http://unep.org/ Environment Programme / UNEP To provide leadership and encourage partnership in caring for the environment by inspiring, informing, and enabling nations and peoples to improve their quality of life without compromising that of future generations.
http://www.fao.org/desertification/default.asp?lang=en Food and Agricultural Organization / UNFAO This site on desertification aims to assist national, regional and international stakeholders and networks involved in sustainable development of drylands and in particular in the implementation of the United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification (UNCCD). This site also contains technical and scientific data and information, available at FAO, as well as links to a number of highly informative Web sites on desertification.
http://www.ifad.org/governance/index.htm International Fund for Agricultural Development / IFAD A specialized agency of the United Nations was established as an international financial institution in 1977 as one of the major outcomes of the 1974 World Food Conference. Organized in response to the food crises of the early 1970s that primarily affected the Sahelian countries of Africa. Established to finance agricultural development projects primarily for food production in the developing countries. One of the most important insights emerging in advance of its creation was the realization that the causes of food insecurity and famine were not so much failures in food production but in structural problems relating to poverty and to the fact that the majority of the developing world’s poor populations were concentrated in rural areas.
http://www.unwater.unu.edu/ Water - Decade Programme on Capacity Development / UNWater The aim of the programme office is to strengthen the activities of the more than two dozen UN organisations and programmes already cooperating within the inter-agency mechanism known as UN-Water and to strengthen their activities and support them in their efforts to achieve the millennium goals related to water - not just as a matter of capacity development related to water but also of education, training and institutional development.
http://www.waterweb.org/ WaterWeb Consortium Created to promote the sharing of information concerning water and the earth’s environment, this organization seeks to create a global community, bringing together educational, governmental, nonprofit, & commercial entities interested in water research, conservation, and management. WaterWeb’s goals are to advance water related issues, promote the use of quality information, and share information with water use stakeholders and decision makers.
http://www.worldbank.org/ The World Bank A vital source of financial and technical assistance to developing countries around the world. We are not a bank in the common sense. We are made up of two unique development institutions owned by 185 member countries—the International Bank for Reconstruction and Development (IBRD) and the International Development Association (IDA). Each institution plays a different but supportive role in our mission of global poverty reduction and the improvement of living standards. The IBRD focuses on middle income and creditworthy poor countries, while IDA focuses on the poorest countries in the world. Together we provide low-interest loans, interest-free credit and grants to developing countries for education, health, infrastructure, communications and many other purposes.
