WRI is committed to producing high-quality research, including reports, issue briefs, guidebooks, working papers, technical notes, and practice notes. Our research publications are subject to peer review, and are held to traditional "academic" standards of excellence, such as objectivity and rigor. We also ensure that all of our research publications are timely, fit for audience, and rooted in a strategic plan for achieving positive change in the world. If you notice an error in our research or have concerns about quality, please contact the authors and copy Vice President for Research, Data and Innovation Janet Ranganathan.
All of our research is freely available to download.
The World Resources Report is the flagship publication of World Resources Institute. The inaugural edition, An Assessment of the Resource Base that Supports the Global Economy, was published in 1986. Subsequent editions have been published at regular intervals and have provided in-depth analyses of issues ranging from human health and the environment to climate change, ecosystem services and environmental governance. Every World Resources Report builds on a strong evidence base to develop fresh insights that can help decision-makers evaluate and implement the most effective solutions.
Sustainably feeding nearly 10 billion people by 2050 is possible – but it will require significant innovation and investment by the public and private sector.
The World Resources Report: Towards a More Equal City focuses on helping cities in rapidly urbanizing regions alter their development trajectories as demand for infrastructure and services grow.
In this decade of action for delivering the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), the ability of African governments to meet ambitious goals in poverty reduction, health care delivery, education, and other services that depend on access to electricity will be severely compromised if adequate...
We urgently need to understand how to improve energy access through demand-based approaches. This new study discusses how to implement demand-based approach by examining the results of a pilot project, in which health-care providers in Kenya were able to select renewable energy options to...
Today, about 840 million people lack access to electricity. To effectively expand energy access, government planners need to understand and have access to data and analytical tools that capture key attributes of the unserved and under-served populations they are trying to reach. This paper...
This case study in the World Resources Report, “Towards a More Equal City,” examines transformative urban change in Johannesburg, South Africa, through transit-oriented development (TOD). The paper reviews the evidence on whether Johannesburg’s TOD strategy...
A small but growing number of cities are adopting more inclusive approaches to informal workers and this offers important lessons for cities that seek a more equal, productive and environmentally sustainable future.
Informal workers account for 50 to 80 percent of urban employment and...
For communities across sub-Saharan Africa, a consistent and affordable supply of electricity can open new possibilities for socioeconomic progress. Mini-grids—electrical generation and distribution systems of less than 10 megawatts—can play a role. These decentralized technologies are expected...
Millions of residents in some of the fastest growing cities in the world don’t have access to clean, reliable energy, and the challenge of reaching them is not getting easier. In 2012, only 58 percent of the urban population had access to electricity in low-income countries, and nearly 500...
Encroaching on Land and Livelihoods examines whether national expropriation laws in 30 countries across Asia and Africa follow the international standards established in Section 16 of the Voluntary Guidelines on the Responsible Governance of Tenure of Land, Fisheries, and Forests in the...
Scaling Up Regreening: Six Steps to Success highlights the benefits of “regreening” and its widespread adoption in Senegal, Burkina Faso, Niger, Mali, northern Ethiopia and Malawi, and identifies six steps to scale up regreening practices in Africa and beyond.
Version française...
This working paper reports on a series of three regional workshops in which participants from governments in Latin America, Africa and Asia reflected on the main technical, policy, and capacity challenges to monitoring climate finance, and exchanged experiences on efforts that are under way in...
In this working paper, Installment 4 of Creating a Sustainable Food Future, we examine the role of four improved land and water management practices and the effect they...
The United Nations projects that world population will rise from just over 7 billion in 2012 to nearly 9.6 billion by 2050. This paper examines the nature of the population challenge globally, the effect of population growth on food demand in Sub-Saharan Africa, and the potential benefits―in...
The Orange-Senqu River Basin (ORB) Study provides details of the data, sources, methodology, and maps for 14 water-related indicators across the Orange-Senqu River Basin in Southern Africa. The ORB Study is primarily designed for research organizations for analysis and research purposes.
Climate change vulnerability and food insecurity often have common root
causes. Accordingly, measures that address these causes can reduce both
problems at once. This is especially important for the many countries in sub-Saharan Africa that face truly daunting agricultural challenge...
This working paper explores some of the key issues emerging around the effective financing of carbon dioxide capture and storage (CCS) demonstration projects in developing countries. It presents a series of options and recommendations to international policymakers and agencies working to support...
This Forest Note summarizes findings from case studies of
three rural councils in Cameroon regarding implementation of the government's annual forestry fee revenue-sharing system from 2000-2002.
This report presents the findings of research on critical incentives and disincentives to legislative representation in Africa and provides a number of policy and program recommendations.
Outlines some of the issues and ongoing initiatives associated with the stepwise approach to sustainable forest management in Central Africa.
Environmental challenges, from deforestation to overexploited fisheries, threaten to unravel decades of hard-fought sustainable development gains in Africa, Asia and Latin America. Yet poor communities across the developing world – those whose lives and livelihoods heavily depend on natural...
