WRI Insights

Governments around the world legally recognize at least 513 million hectares of community forests, land held collectively by either rural populations or Indigenous Peoples. **This area stores about 37 billion tonnes of carbon—29 times the annual carbon footprint of all the passenger vehicles in the world.** *[Securing Rights, Combating Climate Change](http://www.wri.org/securingrights)*, a new report from WRI and the [Rights and Resources Initiative](http://www.rightsandresources.org/), shows that by protecting and expanding the amount of officially recognized community forests, national governments can meet their climate goals while also improving citizens’ livelihoods.

Mumbai, India can be a commuter’s nightmare. Downtown sits a full 10 miles from the residential core, and the two areas are poorly linked by public transport.

Where do U.S. power sector emissions come from? And how have they changed over time? Today, WRI released an update of its [U.S. state GHG emissions data](http://cait.wri.org/wri/US%20State%20GHG%20Emissions?indicator[]=Total%20GHG%20Emissions%20Excluding%20Land-Use%20Change%20and%20Forestry&indicator[]=Total%20GHG%20Emissions%20Including%20Land-Use%20Change%20and%20Forestry&year[]=2011&chartType=geo) via CAIT 2.0, our climate data explorer. These and other data provide valuable context in light of the EPA's [newly proposed emissions standards](http://www.wri.org/blog/2014/06/epa%E2%80%99s-new-clean-power-plan-both-achievable-and-economically-beneficial) for U.S. power plants.

Forest and bush fires, often associated with agricultural expansion and land conflict, can release a toxic haze that shuts down schools and airports, and sickens tens of thousands of people. Efforts to stop the fires have been hampered by a lack of high-quality evidence on where exactly the fires are and who could be responsible.

The world is on a path to need almost 70 percent more crops in 2050 than those it produced in 2006. To close that crop gap without large price increases or clearing more valuable forests and savannas, **[yields are going to have to grow](http://www.wri.org/publication/crop-breeding-renewing-global-commitment) 33 percent more in the next 44 years than they did in the last 44**. Using [advances in molecular biology](http://www.wri.org/publication/crop-breeding-renewing-global-commitment) to breed better crops can sustainably secure more of the global food supply.

Governments, civil society, and donors are working to strengthen community forest rights in many countries. A new report by WRI and the [Rights and Resources Initiative](http://www.rightsandresources.org/), [to be released](http://www.wri.org/events/securing-rights-combating-climate-change) on July 24th, shows governments can meet their climate change mitigation targets by protecting community forest rights.

As the world continues to warm, many academics [question](http://thinkprogress.org/climate/2012/12/03/1270911/as-global-co2-emissions-rise-scientists-warn-2-degree-target-is-nearly-out-of-reach-we-need-a-radical-plan/) whether the international goal to limit global temperature rise to 2°C [is still realistic](http://www.gispri.or.jp/english/symposiums/images110706/Prof_Yamaguchi.pdf). [New analysis](http://www.ecofys.com/files/files/act2015_analysis-of-the-three-propositions_draft.pdf) shows that achieving this goal is not only possible, it’s economically advantageous.

According to data from [Global Forest Watch](http://www.globalforestwatch.org/), an online mapping platform that tracks tree cover loss and gain in near-real time, industrial development and forest fires in Canada’s tar sands region has cleared or degraded 775,500 hectares (almost two million acres) of boreal forest since the year 2000. That’s an area more than six times the size of New York City. If the tar sands extraction boom continues, as many predict, we can expect forest loss to increase.

[Sixty percent of the largest U.S. companies](https://www.ceres.org/resources/reports/power-forward-why-worlds-largest-companies-are-investing-renewable-energy) have now set climate and energy goals to increase their use of renewable energy. The problem is that they face several market challenges in actually reaching these goals. That's where the new Corporate Renewable Energy Buyers’ Principles come in.

China and the United States [established eight new pacts](http://www.reuters.com/article/2014/07/08/usa-china-climatechange-idUSL2N0PJ20920140708) this week to reduce their greenhouse gas emissions. Half of these announcements focused on a single climate change mitigation measure—[carbon dioxide capture, utilization and storage (CCUS)](http://www.wri.org/tags/carbon-capture-and-storage-ccs). China and the United States are world’s leaders when it comes to CCUS research and development, and this week’s agreements build on a long history of CCUS collaboration between the two nations. In fact, China-US partnership on CCUS has in many respects now left the theoretical feasibility realm and entered the “steel-in-the-ground” phase.