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A dust storm looms. (Image: amazingsdj/Pixabay)
Finding

With Patchy Guidance, Companies May Have Climate Risk Blind Spots

Climate impacts can cause financial losses from property damage, disrupted supply chains and more. According to WRI research, businesses may lack the resources they need to properly assess the full gamut of physical climate risks.

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A cow grazes on a grassy hill, with forested hills in the misty background.
Commentary

Colombia Shows Leadership in the Race Against Climate Change

Colombia's new Nationally Determined Contribution to the Paris climate agreement is one of the most ambitious in Latin America. These three lessons from Colombia’s NDC could help other developing countries update their climate action plans.

Commentary
Community forest
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5 Lessons for Securing Women’s Collective Land Rights

Despite making up more than half of the world’s 3 billion rural people, merely 14% of agricultural landowners globally are women. Five communities offer lessons on how women can realize their rights to community land.

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Finding

Just 7 Commodities Replaced an Area of Forest Twice the Size of Germany Between 2001 and 2015

New analysis available of WRI's Global Forest review shows that just seven agricultural commodities — cattle, oil palm, soy, cocoa, rubber, coffee and plantation wood fiber — accounted for 26% of global tree cover loss from 2001 to 2015. The results underscore the outsized role a handful of commodities play in global deforestation.

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Women plant rice in Tamil Nadu, India.
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4 Urgent Actions Towards a More Sustainable Food System

2021 will bring trillions in stimulus spending as well as several high-profile events focused on food and land use. It's a prime time to invest in a fairer, more sustainable, more resilient food system.

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Woman stading next to a forest in Rwanda
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How Local People Are Mapping Billions of Trees on Their Land

Dry forests, farms and other areas with sparse tree cover can go uncounted by satellite technology. Local stakeholders can harness the power of Collect Earth to see where billions of trees are growing in landscapes around the world — and where land is under restoration.

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Prime Minister Mark Ruffe waving.
Commentary

Outcomes and Next Steps from the Climate Adaptation Summit

The Netherlands hosted the Climate Adaptation Summit 2021, marking the first time world leaders gathered at a global event focused solely on adaptation and resilience. What did the Summit deliver, and where do we go from here?

Commentary
Three men working on large wind turbine parts in a warehouse.
Commentary

What's Next for State Climate Action in the US? 7 Areas to Watch

With new federal leadership, U.S. states will need these seven high-impact policies to encourage and reinforce state-level climate action progress in 2021.

Commentary
farmers-drought-mozambique
Commentary

Confronting Simultaneous Climate, Public Health, and Economic Shocks in Developing Countries

Developing countries increasingly face the prospect of multiple shocks striking simultaneously or in rapid sequence, partly because of climate change. The current disaster risk architecture is not well suited to equip countries to cope with these compound shocks. We call for two major changes to the architecture to incentivize pre-disaster investment and adaptation.

Commentary
A young South African woman holds up a cloth face mask next to a sewing machine.
Commentary

Energy Access Is Key to Sub-Saharan Africa's Economic Recovery

As African governments design their economic recovery plans from the coronavirus pandemic, they must consider access to affordable and reliable electricity.

Commentary

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