Brazil's forests are its historic first line of defense against water stress and water-related natural disasters, but now these forests are under pressure. Will Brazil increase investment in its natural infrastructure to defend against water crises?
Imagine businesses that make money by improving the land and communities around them. Imagine an economy that rewards those who nourish and restore the environment. Here's what some of those businesses look like.
The new Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for the Trans-Pacific Partnership, signed by 11 nations last week, made changes to the 2016 text. The deletion of a few words is the difference between cracking down on illegal logging and letting it flourish—and it’s a direct response to U.S. withdrawal from the TPP.
Drought is fueling water shortages and food insecurity in Karangazi, Rwanda. Jean Baptise Mutabaruka knows that planting trees would help his community, but he's struggled to find funding.
Forested nations like Gabon are just starting to develop commodities like palm oil. But as more companies commit to eliminate deforestation from their supply chains, will Gabon get left behind?
Indonesia’s Geospatial Information Agency will announce results this week of a competition for mapping the nation’s peat. The winning team will receive $1 million. The world will receive the information it needs to start protecting these carbon-rich wetlands.
New WRI research examined businesses that are part of the burgeoning "new restoration economy." The results were clear: Restoring degraded landscapes can yield big returns.
This report profiles 14 businesses that restore land, highlighting four promising investment themes in land restoration: technology, consumer products, project management, and commercial forestry.
By many accounts, 2017 has been a disastrous year for important environmental and economic issues. But even the most adverse conditions may hold unexpected blessings. WRI President and CEO Andrew Steer assesses this last year and the opportunities ahead in 2018.
Indigenous Peoples and local communities are the world’s secret weapon to preserve forests and mitigate climate change, and LandMark — the first global platform to provide maps of collectively held indigenous and community lands — helps measure their impact.
While restoring degraded landscapes yields $7-$30 for every $1 invested, it still isn't receiving the funding it needs. That's where governments come in.
This report discusses the financial barriers and economic issues surrounding forest and landscape restoration. It encourages governments and practitioners to enact policies and financial mechanisms that will unlock capital and support restoration at scale.
Join the launch of WRI’s new report Roots of Prosperity: The Economics and Finance of Restoring Land at the Global Landscapes Forum in Bonn, Germany.
Deforestation from road building or expanding plantations isn’t typically spotted until a sizable patch of land disappears. But now satellites are watching.
The Atlantic Forest, stretching across the watersheds that supply drinking water to Sao Paulo, Rio de Janeiro, Vitoria and other cities, plays a crucial role in stabilizing local climates, increasing water flow in dry periods, purifying water and creating a buffer against floods.
This paper lays out a methodology for filtering millions of weekly deforestation alerts in order to find the most concerning areas of forest clearing.
Trees are renewable, so why not let them count under the proposed revisions to the EU renewable energy target? Here we answer this and other questions to demonstrate why burning trees for energy is not inherently climate-friendly.
Countries considering open data policies have to guard against falsification and misuse, but there are clear ways to avoid these problems.
Forests are more important to climate action than most people appreciate, argues Frances Seymour. They're a cheaper way to reduce emissions, and we already have the political frameworks in place to reduce deforestation.