Projects in People & Ecosystems

Biofuels have huge potential for renewable energy development. This project assesses the impact of biofuel production on the environment and agricultural structure, and how policy influences feedstock production, technology change and the environment.

Pioneering efforts to quantify the risks posed to reefs and the value they provide to people and nature.

The Corporate Ecosystem Services Review (ESR) is a structured methodology for corporate managers to proactively develop strategies for managing business risks and opportunities arising from their company’s dependence and impact on ecosystems.

Documenting—in easy-to-understand terms—how global fishing trends are affecting global fish stocks and fishers, and how consumer choices can make a difference.

EarthTrends influences policy and research with a comprehensive on-line collection of data and analysis about the environmental, social, and economic trends that shape our world.

Supporting the sustainable management of coral reefs and mangroves by quantifying their economic value.

The goal of this project is to change how decision makers think about ecosystem services: from protecting ecosystems from development to investing in ecosystems for development.

The Ecosystem Services Indicators Project is a partnership to develop a rigorous set of data indicators and frameworks to help integrate the ecosystem services approach with diverse public- and private-sector policy processes.

WRI seeks to increase the ability of governments, businesses, and civil society to protect intact forest landscapes, manage working forests more effectively, and restore deforested lands.

Engage experts and policymakers in a dialogue on the need for and use of poverty maps, allowing visualization of the incidence and magnitude of poverty across space linking poverty to environmental issues. Increase supply of spatial indicators of poverty.

WRI and its partner environmental NGOs in Russia have begun the development of a methodology to assess the terrestrial footprint of the oil and gas industry on the Russian landscape.

Ecosystems provide many tangible benefits–or “ecosystem services”–to people around the world. WRI is helping governments, businesses, and multilateral development banks include these ecosystem services in their decision-making, with the ultimate goal of reducing ecosystem degradation around the world.

Encourage the development of environmental markets, such as nutrient trading, to provide cost-effective solutions for improving environmental quality.

The Pilot analysis of global ecosystems (PAGE) provides a “big picture” view of ecosystems using indicators and maps at global and continental scales.

The MA was a four-year international effort to assess the conditions and trends of the world’s ecosystems and the links to human well-being. This project will broadly disseminate the MA findings and seek to translate them into action.

Increase effectiveness of poverty reduction efforts through spatial analysis of ecosystem services. Policymakers will understand and act on linkages between poverty and ecosystem services and improve implementation of national strategies and plans.

Diverting oil palm plantations onto degraded lands in Indonesia to combat illegal logging, protect the environment, and create sustainable livelihoods.

Raising awareness of threats to coral reefs and providing information and tools to manage coastal habitats more effectively.

Improving access to information on coral reefs in Belize in support of better management of coastal resources.

Raising awareness about human pressure on coral reefs in Southeast Asia and providing specific information and tools to manage coastal habitats more effectively.

Improving coastal resource management and coral reef protection by providing comprehensive information on threats to coral reefs, the value of goods and services provided by these ecosystems, and economic losses that will result from their degradation.

WRI’s Southern Forests for the Future project seeks to raise awareness of the threats facing the forests of the southern United States and lay the foundation for increasing the acreage that is conserved or managed in a sustainable manner.

This project’s goal is to reverse the impacts of aquatic eutrophication by assessing its global extent, identifying its causes, and providing policy strategies and solutions.

This project seeks to improve coastal resource management and coral reef protection by providing comprehensive information on land-based sources of threat to the Mesoamerican Barrier Reef.

Improving coastal resource management and coral reef protection by providing comprehensive information on land-based sources of threat to coral reefs.