This study provides an integrated approach using geographical information system (GIS) based on a multi-criteria approach (MCDA) to assess coastal vulnerability, resulting from human activity, population density, erosion, and climate change-induced sea level rise. A coastal vulnerability index (CVI) for erosion and floods was calculated and mapped (∼24 km in length; ∼400 m in width, and 11.47 km² in surface) for the lagoon barrier of Nador located on the Mediterranean coast of Morocco. Results suggest that 54% (∼13 km) of the shoreline is moderately vulnerable, while 42% (∼10 km) is highly vulnerable and only 4% (1 km) present a low vulnerability. The vulnerability map of the socio-economic activities indicates that most wetlands and forest areas 83% (∼31 ha) and 50% (∼440 ha) respectively, present low vulnerability. 52% percent of artificial areas (∼23 ha), 73% of agricultural land (∼128 ha), and 41% of natural areas (∼363 ha) present moderate vulnerability. However, the level of vulnerability of the remaining artificial and agricultural areas classifies from high to very high. The north-western sector was classified as the most vulnerable area, characterized by an erosion (−0.6 m/yr to −1.20 m/yr) for 70% of this area, while the south-eastern part shows a low to moderate vulnerability marked by an erosion (−0.1 m/yr to −1m/yr) for 40% of this area. Coastal vulnerability maps have potential as decision tools to prepare and respond to sea level rise, and identify exposed coastal zones, as such contributing to national climate action and disaster risk reduction sustainable development goals (goals 13 and 11, respectively).

Climate finance investments and international policy are driving new community-based projects incorporating payments for ecosystem services (PES) to simultaneously store carbon and generate livelihood benefits. Most community-based PES (CB-PES) research focuses on forest areas. Rangelands, which store globally significant quantities of carbon and support many of the world's poor, have seen little CB-PES research attention, despite benefitting from several decades of community-based natural resource management (CBNRM) projects. Lessons from CBNRM suggest institutional considerations are vital in underpinning the design and implementation of successful community projects. This study uses documentary analysis to explore the institutional characteristics of three African community-based forest projects that seek to deliver carbon-storage and poverty-reduction benefits. Strong existing local institutions, clear land tenure, community control over land management decision-making and up-front, flexible payment schemes are found to be vital. Additionally, we undertake a global review of rangeland CBNRM literature and identify that alongside the lessons learned from forest projects, rangeland CB-PES project design requires specific consideration of project boundaries, benefit distribution, capacity building for community monitoring of carbon storage together with awareness-raising using decision-support tools to display the benefits of carbon-friendly land management. We highlight that institutional analyses must be undertaken alongside improved scientific studies of the carbon cycle to enable links to payment schemes, and for them to contribute to poverty alleviation in rangelands.

Deserts are critical environments because they cover 41% of the world’s land surface and are home to 2 billion residents. As highly dynamic biomes desert expansion and contraction is influenced by climate and anthropogenic factors with variability being a key part of the desertification debate across dryland regions. Evaluating a major world desert, the Gobi in East Asia, with high resolution satellite data and the meteorologically-derived Aridity Index from 2000 to 2012 identified a recent contraction of the Gobi. The fluctuation in area, primarily driven by precipitation, is at odds with numerous reports of human-induced desertification in Mongolia and China. There are striking parallels between the vagueness in defining the Gobi and the imprecision and controversy surrounding the Sahara desert’s southern boundary in the 1980s and 1990s. Improved boundary definition has implications fGobi; desert boundary; expansion and contraction; Aridity Index; NDVI; Mongolia; China or understanding desert “greening” and “browning”, human action and land use, ecological productivity and changing climate parameters in the region. The Gobi’s average area of 2.3 million km² in the 21st century places it behind only the Sahara and Arabian deserts in size.