WRI Insights

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.

The [CIFs](https://www.climateinvestmentfunds.org/)—a pair of multilateral climate finance funds designed to help developing countries pilot low-carbon, climate-resilient development—have been called a “[living laboratory](http://www.worldbank.org/en/news/press-release/2011/06/24/african-efforts-on-climate-action-get-boost)” for climate finance. Because they are one of the largest international climate finance funds and have been in operation for six years, other emerging funds can learn from their experiences. In particular, the [Green Climate Fund](http://www.wri.org/tags/green-climate-fund) (GCF)—which is expected to become the main vehicle for securing and distributing global climate finance—can benefit from the lessons coming out of the CIFs experience. We provide a few takeaways that provide lessons for the GCF.

Brazil [spent billions of dollars](http://uk.reuters.com/article/2014/06/05/uk-brazil-worldcup-infrastructure-idUKKBN0EG24F20140605) on World Cup infrastructure, and many are [understandably questioning](http://www.nytimes.com/2014/06/29/sports/worldcup/world-cup-2014-residents-wonder-how-new-stadiums-will-benefit-region-after-cup.html?_r=0) the long-term benefits these investments will bring to local communities. While many of these criticisms are justified, if one looks beyond the shiny new stadiums—namely, to the city streets—a more positive story emerges. World Cup-related investments helped finance sustainable transport systems that will benefit Brazilians long after the final whistle blows.

While the climate change debate continues in some quarters in Washington, the impact of sea-level rise cut across political divides at the [“Rising to the Challenge” conference](http://www.timesdispatch.com/news/state-regional/bipartisan-group-discusses-threat-of-rising-sea-levels-in-hampton/article_e6733cb8-007f-11e4-8e90-0017a43b2370.html?mode=jqm) in Norfolk, Virginia, earlier this week. Members of Congress and Virginia mayors from both political parties joined military and state and local officials to discuss the challenges sea level rise presents to the [Hampton Roads area](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hampton_Roads), as well as how to promote federal, state and local action. “We cannot afford to do nothing, it is time to act,” Mayor Sessoms said, underscoring that the impacts of climate change are not a political issue, but a backyard issue [threatening communities in Virginia](http://www.wri.org/publication/sea-level-rise-virginia).