Blog Posts: forest restoration

On the edges of Tambopata National Reserve, one project shows how agroforestry can reduce greenhouse gas emissions and boost local economies.

Initiative 20x20 aims to restore 20 million hectares (49 million acres) of degraded land in Latin America. In this conversation with WRI Senior Fellow Walter Vergara and Etienne Demarais, CEO of URAPI Sustainable Land Use, we hear how they plan to get there.

For the cash-strapped government of Rio de Janeiro, restoring forests around the city is a smart investment. New research shows that forests can provide Rio with better water quality at lower cost.

In two of Indonesia's prized parks, forest restoration only took off when drivers of degradation were addressed. In one instance, that meant providing affordable health care.

The Forest Resilience Bond, backed by several foundations, an investment company and even an insurer, provides an innovative way to bring down costs to utilities and other stakeholders.

Social network analysis has been used in fields as diverse as epidemiology and counterterrorism. Now, WRI experts have devised a guidebook for applying social network analysis to environmental interventions and sustainable development.

We need to accelerate our climate action. Virtuous cycles between levels of government are already speeding the pace of progress and innovation.

Restoring forests in 4,000 targeted hectares would over time reduce sediment pollution by a third and turbidity by half in São Paulo's stressesd water system.

Countries are joining the restoration movement, and especially the Bonn Challenge. But few have yet aligned their restoration and climate commitments. Doing so would make the planet greener—and the air cleaner—faster.

Most climate change solutions focus on mitigation—ways to slash emissions as quickly as possible, such as by adopting renewable energy. But research shows these aren't enough. To prevent the worst impacts of climate change, the world will need to reach net-negative emissions, a point at which we're actually removing more carbon from the air than we're putting in.