Sustainable Development Goal 16

WRI’s Governance Center supports all stakeholders — governments, civil society and private actors — in their quest to achieve climate resilience and sustainable development. To accelerate this transition, we focus on enhancing the capacity, inclusivity, transparency and accountability of institutions (SDG 16.5, SDG 16.6, SDG 16.7). Central to our effort is providing accessible public data about environmental risks and government responses (SDG 16.10) and ensuring responsive, inclusive and representative decision-making (SDG 16.7).

WRI works to combat environmental injustice, attacks on environmental defenders (SDG 16.1), and discrimination against disadvantaged and marginalized communities in decision-making (SDG 16.3, SDG 16.7, SDG 16.B), and also to improve access to information, promote transparency and establish environmental rights. With governments and other actors, we develop coalitions and partnerships for sustainable development, such as the Global Commission on Adaptation (SDG 16.8). WRI is part of the steering committee for the Defending Land and Environmental Defenders Coalition, which seeks to prevent attacks on environmental defenders.

Through The Access Initiative, WRI works with partners around the world to secure ratification of the Escazú Agreement, a treaty that guarantees environmental rights in Latin America and the Caribbean and protections for environmental defenders. WRI is also part of the secretariat of LandMark: The Global Platform of Indigenous and Community Lands, which provides maps and other critical information on collectively-held lands.