WRI Insights

Illegal logging drives deforestation in many countries, robbing national governments and local communities of valuable income and contributing to global biodiversity loss and climate change. Apart from its environmental and economic damage, illegal logging can fuel corruption, and is sometimes linked to organized crime and violent social conflict. A new guide, [*Sourcing Legally Produced Wood: A Guide for Business*](http://www.wri.org/publication/sourcing-legally-produced-wood-guide-businesses), provides four actions companies can take to source legal wood. The guide aims to help companies avoid illicit logging in their supply chains—both for the good of the world’s forests and their own bottom lines.

As California lawmakers move forward with potential solutions to the state’s current water shortage, it’s important to consider the full context of underlying reasons for California’s water vulnerability. Our research shows that about 66 percent of the state’s irrigated agriculture—its biggest water user—faces extremely high levels of baseline water stress. This means that more than 80 percent of the available water supply is already being used by farms, homes, businesses, and energy producers. It’s clear that even without drought, the state would be in trouble.

There’s a lot we can learn about the "carbon budget"—what it is, what the impacts will be if we exceed it, and how we can stay within it. WRI [created a new infographic](http://www.wri.org/ipcc-infographics) to help explain the complexities behind this critically important topic.

The UN has announced that March 21 be recognized as the [International Day of Forests](http://www.fao.org/forestry/international-day-of-forests/en/). In tandem with the celebration of forests worldwide, is an awareness that we are still losing forests and trees much faster than they can regrow. Many people are working to reverse tree cover loss in the world’s largest remaining forests. But several hugely important deforestation hotspots are still flying under the radar. These forest areas are seeing alarming trends and/or have lost much of their tree cover. We are using the latest data from [Global Forest Watch](http://www.globalforestwatch.org/), an online forest monitoring and alert system, to dive deeper into some under-reported deforestation hotspots.

WRI’s [Aqueduct project](http://www.wri.org/our-work/project/aqueduct) recently evaluated, mapped, and scored stresses on water supplies in the 100 river basins with the highest populations, 100 largest river basins, and 180 nations. We found that 18 river basins—flowing through countries with a collective $US 27 trillion in GDP—face “extremely high” levels of baseline water stress. This means that more than 80 percent of the water naturally available to agricultural, domestic, and industrial users is withdrawn annually—leaving businesses, farms, and communities vulnerable to scarcity.

The White House recently unveiled a new Climate Data Initiative. The initiative creates an online hub of government data on climate impacts, providing a detailed look at how a warmer world may impact critical infrastructure like bridges, roads, and canals. The platform provides a key tool for helping those at the frontlines of climate change—local communities.

The [India Greenhouse Gas (GHG) Program](http://indiaghgp.org/), launched in July 2013, aims to offer a meaningful starting place by providing a standardized method for companies to measure and manage their greenhouse gas emissions. Conceived in partnership with [WRI](http://www.wri.org/), [The Energy and Resources Institute (TERI)](http://www.teriin.org/index.php), and the [Confederation of Indian Industry (CII)](http://www.cii.in/), the program provides Indian businesses with tools and technical assistance to measure their emissions, identify reduction opportunities, establish short and long-term reduction goals, and track their progress based on the [GHG Protocol](http://www.ghgprotocol.org/), the most widely used emissions accounting and reporting standard in the world.

[More than 70 percent](http://www.thejakartapost.com/news/2013/01/17/the-woe-samarinda.html) of Samarinda’s land (the capital of Indonesia’s East Kalimantan province) is allocated to mining concessions, and little information is provided to citizens on companies’ compliance to safety and environmental health rules. In the hopes of preventing mining fatalities, the Mining Advocacy Network ([JATAM](http://english.jatam.org/component/option,com_frontpage/Itemid,1/)), a group of Indonesian NGOs and community organizations, requested information from the Indonesian government to determine what companies were doing to mitigate mines’ environmental and health impacts. This process prompted the STRIPE project, which will focus on building strong civil society coalitions to advocate for corporate disclosure of information.

The latest round of U.N. climate talks came to a close in Bonn, Germany last week, with negotiators agreeing to start drafting the [international climate agreement](http://www.wri.org/blog/qa-jennifer-morgan-how-do-we-secure-strong-international-climate-agreement-2015) set to be finalized in 2015. As negotiators look towards the next UNFCCC meeting in June, they’re faced with a key question: What does this agreement actually need to accomplish in order to help the world rise to the [climate change challenge](http://www.wri.org/blog/climate-change-reality-check)?

As China pursues shale gas exploration and development, it could draw some lessons—both positive and negative—from the experience in the United States. Indeed, it is in both countries’ interest that their businesses and governments collaborate to ensure that when and where shale gas is developed, it is done responsibly. In order to pursue shale gas development responsibly, three issues are emerging as potential hotspots for U.S.-China collaboration—environmentally smart development, energy security, and economy.