As Cape Town hosts the Adaptation Futures conference, WRI experts highlight actions that nations can take now to prevent devastating losses from climate events.

Community forestry has long been hailed as a strategy for reducing poverty and improving conservation by empowering communities to directly manage their forest resources, but it is a recent experiment in the Democratic Republic of Congo. A recent visit to North Kivu showed signs of progress.

Participatory budgeting programs can empower the poor to allocate funding to projects that will help them in their daily lives. But when these programs lack legal safeguards, changing political tides can draw funds and commitment away, undermining their effectiveness.