project
Accelerating the transition to a global circular economy
Africa
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by Hayden Higgins - January 30, 2020Zoleka Mandela draws on her grandfather's legacy in speaking out against the injustice of the hidden epidemic that threatens children, especially in the developing world. In this podcast, she is joined by Claudia Adriazola-Steil, director for health & road safety at the WRI Ross Center for Sustainable Cities, as they discuss the unimaginable toll—emotional and economic—taken by road deaths, and what we can do to turn this loss into action.
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PACE, the Platform for Accelerating the Circular Economy, is pleased to announce that four new members are joining its board of directors. Coming from government, business and civil society, the new board members bring years of experience and leadership to help address the consumption challenge and speed up the transition to a circular economy.
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World Resources Institute (WRI) is pleased to name Wanjira Mathai as the Regional Director for Africa, and Vice President.
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What if we could predict violent conflicts before they arise and help stop them? A groundbreaking new tool, launched today by the Water, Peace and Security (WPS) partnership, can predict the risk of violent conflicts up to 12 months ahead of time.
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by Will Anderson - October 25, 2019Entrepreneurs 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.
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by Nathaniel Mason, Denali Nalamalapu and Jan Corfee-Morlot - October 07, 2019African 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.
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by Deborah Drew and Peter Boal - September 25, 2019Research shows that ambition to tackle big sustainability problems can emerge when the private and public sector recognize and reciprocate one another's efforts. Right now, one such "ambition loop," which aims to reduce deforestation related to your chocolate bars, is in danger of stalling out.
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by Leonardo Martinez-Diaz, Lauren Sidner and Jack McClamrock - September 2019This paper analyzes the three sovereign parametric disaster risk insurance pools serving developing countries: CCRIF SPC, the African Risk Capacity, and the Pacific Catastrophe Risk Insurance Company. It provides detailed recommendations for each of the pools and their stakeholders and broader recommendations to improve the availability of disaster risk finance for developing countries.
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Today, WRI and nearly 20 partners launched, Energy Access Explorer, a dynamic open-source platform which will equip energy planners, donors and clean energy entrepreneurs with the information they need to electrify East Africa.
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by Santiago Sinclair Lecaros, Benson Ireri, Dimitrios Mentis and Emily Kaldjian - September 04, 201911% of the world's population still lives without reliable electricity, most of them in sub-Saharan Africa. New data from Kenya, Tanzania and Uganda reveals an untapped solution: high potential for wind, solar and hydropower.
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by Dimitrios Mentis, Lily Odarno, Davida Wood, Fabian Jendle, Elise Mazur, Anila Qehaja and Francis Gassert - September 2019This paper introduces the methods and data used in Energy Access Explorer – an online, open-source, interactive platform that uses satellite imagery and local data to visualize energy supply and demand in East Africa, equipping electricity planners, investors and clean energy entrepreneurs with the data they need to close the electricity gap.
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by Tyler Ferdinand - July 09, 2019Herders in northern Kenya have raised cattle for generations, but their way of life is threatened by climate change. To adapt to rising temperatures and less predictable rain, those who can are turning to the more resilient camel. It's just one example of the kind of "transformative adaptation" that will be increasingly necessary in communities around the world.
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by Molly Bergen - July 09, 2019Deforestation 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.
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by Ayesha Dinshaw and Colleen McGinn - June 2019Measuring the impact of local adaptation programs is challenging, especially when decision-makers integrate climate resilience across broader sustainable development initiatives. New research from WRI examines these challenges – from balancing country-specific and portfolio-wide adaptation assessment needs to integrating resilience elements into existing development monitoring and evaluation systems – and offers methodological solutions that adaptation practitioners around the world can implement.
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by Anne Maassen and Jessica Seddon - May 15, 2019Positive change is happening in cities, but it’s often lost in a sea of bad news about air pollution, rising costs of living and traffic jams. Projects from Dar es Salaam, Medellín, Pune and more provide inspiration.
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by Marlena Chertock - May 01, 2019When 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.
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WRI will host conversations with two of the inspiring 2019 Goldman Environmental Prize winners, days after this year’s winners were revealed today.
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Urban transformation award goes to SARSAI for creating safer journeys to school in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania, and across Africa.