Blog Posts: poverty

New WRI research shows that cities in sub-Saharan Africa and South Asia are expanding outward rather than vertically. As these places grow in population, continuing their unwieldy expansion outward could push them into economic, environmental and social crises.

When Kenya's Najile health clinic lacked electricity, clinicians couldn't vaccinate children or deliver babies at night. Rooftop solar panels changed everything.

Short-lived climate pollutants like hydrofluorocarbons, black carbon and methane aren't as well-known as carbon dioxide. But they have a powerful impact on the climate and on human health, and more countries need to develop plans to cut their emissions.

There is now widespread recognition that the poorest are at the frontline of climate change impacts. Low-income households have less capacity to adapt than those who are wealthier, and 75 percent of the extreme poor depend on activities such as agriculture that are highly sensitive to climate impacts. Unless we drastically change course, an additional 100 million people could live in extreme poverty by 2030 because of climate change,...

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

A new sugarcane plantation forced 600 Cambodian families off their land. Many lost all their belongings, and parents, unable to farm and afford school fees, sent their children to work in Thailand. It's a shocking story, but one that's all too familiar for the 2.5 billion people living on indigenous and community lands.

More than 60 percent of workers are members of the informal economy. Instead of ignoring the informal economy, cities should plan for it; doing so will increase sustainability and productivity while protecting some of the world's least-advantaged.

India plans to generate 160 gigawatts of wind and solar power by 2022, creating 330,000 new jobs. For the country's rural poor, these clean energy positions offer a lucrative alternative to subsistence farming.

Devastating floods in South Asia and Texas, storms in the Caribbean and fires in the American West foreshadow a perilous tomorrow if we don't tackle climate change today. Because in a very real sense, 2050 is now.

Indigenous Peoples and other communities rely on their collectively held lands for food, water, livelihoods and well-being. Yet around the world, these groups face barriers to legally registering and titling these lands—and it’s getting worse.