This guide supplements, as a sector module, the overarching guide, Enhancing NDCs: A Guide to Strengthening National Climate Plans by 2020 (Fransen et al. 2019), and will assist countries in enhancing their NDCs with clearer and more tangible forest and land-use sector contents.
land use
"If you want to change the world, it’s not a little bit like Archimedes said: ‘Give me a lever and I can tilt the world,’” says Paul Polman, chair of the Food and Land Use Coalition (FOLU). “Here you need a few levers to tilt the food system.” Polman and FOLU's Ed Davey explain how those levers can work, following a high-level meeting organized by WRI and WWF and attended by His Royal Highness the Prince of Wales.
This working paper is a contribution to the FOLU 2019 report, Growing Better: Ten Critical Transitions to Transform Food and Land Use. The paper answers four questions:
- Why are forests critical to economic development and human well-being?
- What public sector measures could conserve and restore forests?
- Why haven’t these public measures sufficiently worked at scale yet?
- How can one overcome the economic and political economy barriers to these measures?
As deforestation and land use issues get more global attention, leaders shouldn't forget the people living on these lands. A new report from the Food and Land Use Coalition outlines solutions that help rural and forest communities thrive.
Un nuevo informe del World Resources Institute (WRI) muestra que en muchos países, el proceso para formalizar los derechos de la tierra es extremadamente complejo, costoso y lento, y tarda hasta 30 años o más, pero las compañías normalmente pueden asegurarse derechos a largo plazo sobre la tierra desde un plazo de tan solo 30 días a cinco años.
Demand for biofuels has grown rapidly in the past decade, driving conversion of forests to produce food-based feedstocks. This paper highlights three competing views regarding how substituting biofuels for fossil fuels affects climate emissions, and the role of accounting for indirect land-use change in biofuels policies.
WRI is honoring Darren Walker, President of the Ford Foundation, and Feike Sijbesma, CEO of Royal DSM, at its 2017 Courage to Lead dinner, an event recognizing bold leadership that confronts pressing environment and human development challenges.
World Resources Institute (WRI) is celebrating 35 years of impact at its biennial Courage to Lead dinner honoring Darren Walker, President, Ford Foundation, and Feike Sijbesma, Chairman and CEO, Royal DSM, on Thursday, October 12 at Cipriani 25 Broadway in New York City.
Indigenous Peoples around the world are seeking formal recognition of their land rights. But this quest often brings a troubling "Sophie's choice": in getting their land officially registered and documented, communities often lose some of their rights to use it.
Rapidly growing cities are finding it increasingly difficult to provide their residents with core services, like housing, water, energy and transportation — a challenge that is exacerbated as the share of poor people living in urban areas grows. New research from the World Resources Institute finds that in most cities in the Global South, more than 70 percent of residents lack reliable access to basic services like livable, well-located housing; clean water; sustainable energy; and accessible and affordable transportation. The World Resources Report: Towards a More Equal City examines whether prioritizing access to core urban services will create cities that are prosperous and sustainable for all people.
An opportunity for the global community to come together to set the agenda for sustainable, equitable and prosperous cities of the future
The Global Forest Watch (GFW) Climate online platform catalyzes action on climate change by providing timely and credible answers to questions about the impacts of tropical deforestation on global climate change. Its wealth of data and analytical tools allow researchers, governments, donors, businesses, journalists, and civil society to access information on carbon dioxide emissions from tropical deforestation. This technical note outlines the initial scope of the GFW Climate platform and provides a brief summary of the data available on the site.
New research from World Resources Institute finds the average American could cut their diet-related environmental impacts nearly in half just by eating less meat and dairy. Shifting Diets for a Sustainable Food Future presents solutions to the challenge of feeding a growing population by reducing animal protein consumption, especially beef, and helping shift billions of people to more sustainable diets.
Overconsumption of protein occurs in all of the world’s regions, and it is rising in developing and emerging economies. In 2009, the average person in more than 90 percent of the world’s countries and territories consumed more protein than estimated requirements.
Like overconsumption of calories, overconsumption of protein widens the food gap. Furthermore, animal-based foods are typically more resource-intensive and environmentally impactful to produce than plant-based foods.
This analysis shows how, among high-consuming populations, the three diet shifts could significantly reduce per person agricultural land use and greenhouse gas emissions.
To help shift people’s diets, we propose a new framework based on proven private sector marketing tactics: the Shift Wheel.
New WRI research shows that diets high in meat and dairy strain land and water resources and fuel climate change. Paper author Richard Waite explains how he cut his diet's environmental footprint in half, even without going vegetarian or vegan.