WRI Insights

While leaders in Washington, D.C. grapple with a potential national economic crisis, in Florida, mayors and citizens are taking action—on climate change and sea-level rise, that is. Florida Atlantic University (FAU) will host its second annual [Sea Level Rise Summit](http://www.ces.fau.edu/SLR2013/) this week, bringing together national and international experts to discuss the impacts of sea-level rise and storm surge on local and national economies.

Securing clean water is becoming increasingly difficult in the United States. Infrastructure like dams and treatment plants [are aging](http://www.infrastructurereportcard.org/drinking-water/), water demand [is increasing](http://www.drinktap.org/home/water-information/conservation/water-use-statistics.aspx), and more frequent extreme weather events like wildfires and flooding are [driving up the cost](http://efc.web.unc.edu/2012/10/23/rates-flood-rising-water-bills/?doing_wp_cron=1371055436.2617371082305908203125) of water management. It’s a complex problem, but one of the potential solutions is decidedly low-tech: Invest in nature.

Under the new leadership of Dr. Jim Yong Kim, the World Bank Group continues to reinvent itself to meet the challenges of global development. That reinvention will continue this Saturday, when the Board of Governors is expected to endorse [a new strategy](http://web.worldbank.org/WBSITE/EXTERNAL/DEVCOMMEXT/0,,pagePK:64000837~piPK:64001152~theSitePK:277473~contentMDK:23470472,00.html) for the institution. If properly implemented across the Group, the strategy could help boost the institution’s contribution to equitable and sustainable development. Two areas of focus will be especially important, including how the Group handles its work on climate change and selects its investments.

You may notice that WRI.org is sporting a bold, new look today. That’s right—we’ve redesigned our website! We hope this much-needed redesign will better display our wealth of research products and resources, as well as improve the user experience. Read on for more information about why we redesigned WRI.org—and how the new website will benefit you!

*For further reading, see our op-ed in the [Jakarta Post](http://www.thejakartapost.com/news/2013/10/10/asean-leaders-can-act-reduce-fires-haze.html).* Less than four months ago, millions of people across Singapore, Malaysia and Indonesia were choking on the [worst air pollution](http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424127887323566804578552814001080862.html) ever recorded in Southeast Asia as hundreds of fires burned across Sumatra. The fires caused serious damage, eliciting a [public health emergency](http://zeenews.india.com/news/south-asia/malaysia-faces-upsurge-in-haze-related-health-complications_857430.html), closing schools and harming tourism and other [businesses](http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424127887324577904578558413711997252.html). This week the Sultan of Brunei is hosting many of Asia’s heads of state for the [23rd Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) Summit](http://asean-summit-2013.tumblr.com/). Preventing new fires and haze are high on the agenda. Key decisions and actions are urgently needed from the presidents and prime ministers this week.

Communities across the world continue to experience weather-induced food shortages due to drought, floods, devastating wildfires, and other climate change impacts. This week, the Board of the [Green Climate Fund (GCF)](http://www.gcfund.net/)[is meeting](http://www.wri.org/blog/2013/10/5-areas-action-set-green-climate-fund-ambitious-path) to discuss how the GCF will receive and disburse money through various financial inputs and instruments.

Expectations are running high as the Board of the Green Climate Fund prepares for its fifth meeting in Paris this week. The GCF must make progress towards five key issues at next week’s meeting in Paris.

The world continues to see [the “costs” of fossil fuel use](/news/2013/09/new-report-connects-2012-extreme-weather-events-human-caused-climate-change) in the form of climate change impacts like heat waves, floods, and [extreme weather](/news/2013/07/timeline-look-extreme-weather-and-climate-events-2013). While these costs are often overlooked in traditional economic modeling, [a new book](http://www.imfbookstore.org/ProdDetails.asp?ID=ESRLIEA) from the International Monetary Fund (IMF) quantifies them.

An old Wall Street adage says “the market hates uncertainty.” Well, businesses received an unambiguous message last week with the [latest](http://www.ipcc.ch/news_and_events/docs/ar5/press_release_ar5_wgi_en.pdf) Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change report.

While working on tracking adaptation finance for our [Adaptation Finance Accountability Initiative](/project/vulnerability-and-adaptation/finance) project, we often get the question “[What is adaptation finance](/publication/weathering-the-storm)?” or “What counts as adaptation finance?” To our embarrassment, we still [don’t](/publication/monitoring-receipt-of-international-climate-finance-by-developing-countries) have a clear answer to either question, other than “Well… finance that funds efforts to adapt to the impacts of climate change qualifies as adaptation finance.” We aren’t the only ones who struggle to define the very issue on which we work. Even some of the definitions that the [Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development](http://www.oecd.org/dac/environment-development/rioconventions.htm) (OECD) and [multilateral development banks](http://climatechange.worldbank.org/sites/default/files/Joint%20MDB%20Report%20on%20Adaptation%20Finance%202011.pdf) are developing do not provide a complete answer to the question of what types of investment are considered to be adaptation finance. We decided to do some soul-searching on this subject. While it’s still too complicated to provide a cut-and-dry definition of adaptation finance, we identified three common traits surrounding the issue: Adaptation finance is context-specific, dynamic, and not just about finance.