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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.
Hundreds of billions of dollars are lost each year because the United States taxes economically productive resources such as capital and labor. Pollution taxes offer an alternative source of revenues that reduce these losses and reduce pollution.
Drawing on interviews with technical experts in industry, government, and academia and a survey of private-sector trends, the authors document the growing influence of environmental considerations on technology development in a broad range of industries.
U.S. overdependence on motor vehicles stems in large measure from the failure to make car and truck owners pay the full costs of driving. Highway users, for example, pay only a fraction of the actual costs of highway construction, repair, and a host of other motor-vehicle-related services.
Widely recognized as an authoritative assessment of the world's natural resource base, World Resources reports are definitive references on the global environment, containing the latest information on essential economic, population, and natural resource conditions and trends for 153 countr
All life on Earth is part of one great, interdependent system. It interacts with, and depends on, the non-living components of the planet: atmosphere, oceans, freshwaters, rocks, and soils.
For nearly three centuries, a community in northern Ghana has preserved a small forest because it is believed to house a local spirit.
The authors review leading "paradigms" for environmental management and economic development and suggest practical steps for improved environmental information collection and for development of environmental indicators.
In theory, U.S. agriculture is a business enterprise like any other, so any decline of capital assets should figure in income calculations.
Say the words “extinction crisis,” and what most likely comes to mind first is a tropical forest in flames – an apt image when deforestation is the main force behind a species extinction rate unmatched in 65 million years.
Resolving global environmental and economic problems requires a new kind of international cooperation among nations. Only if the Northern industrialized nations set their own houses in order can this cooperation be achieved.
For many years the U.S. government has been collecting, analyzing, and reporting environmental statistics. Many of the key data series have become essential tools in studying environmental problems, tracking change, and developing strategies for action.
The values associated with biological resources range from ethical considerations to the direct and indirect impacts of the Earth's biotic wealth upon the lives of people on every continent.
Scientists now agree that we are polluting our atmosphere at such a rate that, without immediate action, Earth's surface temperatures could rise anywhere from 3 to 9 degrees Fahrenheit within the next 40 years, making the planet warmer than at any time in the last 2 million years.
The scientific evidence is growing that air pollution -- primarily ozone and acid deposition -- is causing extensive damge to vegetation in both Europe and the United States.
The Center for International Development and Environment of the World Resources Institute conducted a survey of U.S.-based organizations to solicit information about the biological diversity research and conservation activities that they had undertaken in developing countries in 1987.
As the 21st Century approaches, the world is being impoverished as its most fundamental capital stock--its species, habitats, and ecosystems--erodes. Not since the Cretaceous era ended some 65 million years ago have losses been so rapid and great.
Under current national income accounting practices, assets such as buildings and equipment are valued as productive assets and depreciated over time; natural resource assets are not. This asymmetry is the way national assets are treated sends misleading signals to policymakers.
This report summarizes forest and crop damage in the United States and Europe, examines the evidence connecting it to air pollution, and recommends that emissions of nitrogen oxides, sulfur oxides, and hydrocarbons be significantly reduced and non-fossil energy sources introduced.
