Governance

Ensuring development benefits people and the planet through transparent and accountable governance.

5 Maps Show How Important Indigenous Peoples and Local Communities Are to the Environment

New data on the LandMark platform backs up what research already shows: Indigenous Peoples and local communities are some of the best environmental stewards.

Transparent, effective, accountable governance is critical to ensuring that development benefits people and the planet. The Governance Center of Excellence works with civil society, governments, development agencies, businesses, and other institutions to improve decision-making processes and legal frameworks. Our goal is to empower people and strengthen institutions to foster environmentally sound and socially equitable decision-making.

In many countries, citizens and communities face social and environmental injustices that can leave them without a say in the development decisions that affect their lives and the resources they depend on.

As a global leader on environmental governance, the Governance Center uses data and research to institutionalize fundamental democratic principles - such as transparency, participation, and accountability - into decision-making processes, policies, and legal frameworks. The Governance Center is divided into five practice areas—climate resilience, environmental democracy, energy governance, natural resource governance and urban governance— where our work is concentrated on six priority issues: climate, energy, food, forests, water, and cities.

Top Governance Outcomes

What's a top outcome?

Top outcomes are WRI's biggest success stories. They occur when our analysis, solutions, or partnerships result in significant change in the world.

Featured Expert

Davida Wood

Lead, Energy Access and Governance

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September 04, 2018 Event

What About the Women? Film Screening of Indigenous Fight to Forest Rights

In a short documentary film, "Abadiat", independent filmmaker Purabi Bose explores the struggles of adivasi, indigenous women in India, who seek recognition of their rights to community lands and forests.
August 27, 2018 Event

Greening Governance Seminar Series: Reducing Land Rights Inequity between Communities and Companies

This event highlights the challenges Indigenous Peoples and communities face in acquiring legal rights to their land, the loopholes companies can often take, and ways countries can simplify complex procedures.
August 24, 2018 Blog post

Thanks to Climate Change, Oranges Are the New Coffee in Costa Rica

Costa Rican coffee farmers are shifting to citrus trees as climate change and declining coffee prices challenge their profitability. Some prime coffee-growing areas will become unsuitable within a few decades.
August 24, 2018 Publication

Sourcing Legally Produced Wood

This publication updates the 2014 version of Sourcing Legally Produced Wood, which provided information on illegal logging and associated trade, public and private procurement policies, export country logging and log export bans, and introductory guidance to the wood products legality legislation in the United States, the EU, and Australia.
August 22, 2018 Publication

Mapping Social Landscapes: A Guide to Identifying the Networks, Priorities, and Values of Restoration Actors

This guidebook provides actionable, user-friendly strategies to improve natural resource governance by showing how to identify the networks, priorities, and values of relevant actors. The methodologies allow environmental practitioners to be more strategic in building resilient communities.
August 21, 2018 Event

Regional Action on Environmental Democracy to Fulfill the Vision of the 2030 Sustainable Development Goals Agenda

Building on the signing of the Escazú Agreement in Costa Rica on March 4, 2018, WRI will host an event to encourage additional countries to sign and ratify the Agreement — a vital international treaty that guarantees protections of the environment and the strengthening of human rights for environmental defenders.