Insights: WRI's Blog

Entrepreneurs across Africa are growing businesses that revitalize degraded land and fight climate change, while turning a profit and creating jobs. Investors and lawmakers should pay attention.

African countries face some of the highest water risk in the world, now exacerbated by climate change. But management and investment are often bigger challenges. Tackling them can strengthen economies and build countries' resilience to climate change.

While the number of people without electricity has dropped, experts predict that more than 600 million will still lack power in 2030. Nine out of 10 of them will live in sub-Saharan Africa.

Deforestation rates in the Congo Basin — historically lower than in the Amazon and southeast Asia — are on the rise. It's not just a problem for the 80 million people who rely on the forests for food and livelihoods; research shows the world's second-largest rainforest regulates weather patterns across Africa.

When palm oil companies forcibly took communities' land in Liberia, lawyer Alfred Brownell tried to stop them. He received threats to his life and had to escape the country — but he's not done fighting.

Structured around recordings from Bergen's visits to central Africa—think elephants, song and markets—this podcast explores her unique role within WRI, working for more sustainable forest management in the Congo Basin.

Solar power provides Kenya's health clinics with critical services like reliable electricity and the ability to safely store vaccines. And there's another bonus: increased profits.

As climate impacts like drought and extreme rain hit parts of Africa, entrepreneurs are finding ways to climate-proof their land and agricultural businesses. Two companies at the recent Land Accelerator in Nairobi explain what adaptation measures they are taking.

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

Charcoal production is destroying mountain gorillas' habitat in Virunga National Park. Pastureland is pushing into protected forests in Brazil. Satellites are watching these and other threatened forests.