WRI Insights

Today is International Day of the World's Indigenous Peoples -- a good day to reflect on the achievements and challenges Indigenous Peoples still face, including the issue of legal security of land and natural resource rights. How well do national laws protect the interests of these historically marginalized communities?

With three months to go until the next international climate negotiations, many developing countries are working hard to live up to the promises made in the Paris Agreement. But many institutions in developing countries face challenges in accessing and effectively deploying international climate finance. Representatives of two groups from Africa -- the Senegal-based Centre de Suivi Ecologique and Kenya's National Environmental Management Authority -- got together in July to help each other tackle some of these challenges.

Under the landmark Paris Agreement on climate change, countries agreed to hold the increase in global average temperature to well below 2 degrees C (3.6 degrees F). While current national commitments are a substantial improvement, projected warming is still on course to produce dangerous climate impacts. Fortunately, several features of the Agreement can help strengthen national commitments over the long term.

While Latin America and the Caribbean have lost an area of land the size of Mexico to deforestation and degradation, all hope is not lost. Restoration success stories from three nations point to a way forward.

Nearly a year ago at the United Nations, world leaders endorsed the Sustainable Development Goals aimed at putting the world economy on a sustainable track. In July, much more quietly, the High-Level Political Forum on sustainable development convened at the UN to help make this promise a reality.

Communities in Kenya face several disparate climate change impacts, from severe droughts in some areas to flooding in others. CARE International Adaptation Planner Phillip Oyoo explains some of the challenges and solutions to building resilience.

Laws alone can't give women a voice in decision-making. New WRI research explores how gender equity policies can be better implemented in Mozambique, Tanzania and the Philippines.

The Paris Climate Agreement will only take effect once 55 countries representing at least 55 percent of global emissions formally join it. Recent action from Cameroon, Brazil, Iran and Ukraine make it more likely that will happen this year.

The world needs to add about a *billion* homes to meet the demand for urban housing. An "incremental" approach, where the urban poor work with the government in constructing their own homes slowly over time, can help.

A changing climate means less rain and lower water supplies in regions where many people live and much of the planet's food is produced, as clouds retreat toward the North and South poles. A new study shows this cloud shift is already taking place, with huge implications for agriculture, industry and municipal water provisioning.