Stories: People & Ecosystems

A new study by WRI and other researchers finds that much of the world’s deforestation is isolated in a handful of “hotspots,” not spread out over many nations and many locations.

What is Reefs at Risk and why is it unique?

Surging energy prices are renewing calls to open highly sensitive Arctic areas to oil exploration. One condition of access should be greater public oversight.

Africa: Atlas of Our Changing Environment, a new United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) report, uses more than 300 satellite images to tell the story of Africa’s environmental transformation.

Coral reefs are a vital part of the Caribbean’s marine environment, and are integral to the economies of many of the region’s small island states. WRI’s economic valuation methodology can help decision-makers in the region better understand the enormous economic value the reef provides and use this data to make better-informed coastal policy.

A new book, compiling the work of 18 global experts, lays out policy, institutional, and governance recommendations to respond to global ecosystem degradation.

The Aral Sea, on the border of Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan, is a cautionary tale about how changes to ecosystems can have far-reaching impacts on the communities that depend on the services they provide.

Today is the International Day for Biological Diversity. We are increasingly finding that “biological diversity”—life on earth, including the variability among living organisms within species and between species—is essential to human well-being.

In Central America, the Maya Nut is making it clear that trees are worth more standing than cut down.