Sierra Leone and Tanzania, two low-income countries vulnerable to extreme weather, shifting rainfall patterns, warming temperatures, sea level rise and deforestation, face difficult choices about how much to spend on data about climate change. New research offers some insights.
Governance & Access
Returning to WRI as a Distinguished Senior Fellow on forest and governance issues, Frances Seymour reflects on the impact of technology and international efforts to turn the tide on deforestation.
To help clarify heated debate over what drives deforestation in Indonesia, new analysis of Global Forest Watch data shows that most forest loss -- 55 percent -- occurs in legal concession areas, where some tree removal is allowed, but 45 percent happens outside these areas.
U.S. withdrawal from the Paris Agreement offers opportunities for India and China to lead on international climate action, but global progress is not yet matched by comparable leadership on domestic environmental policies in these two countries.
National policies encouraging women's political participation lack implementation guidelines they need to have effect.
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.
Many prominent U.S. corporations, opinion leaders and NGOs have announced their support of the Climate Leadership Council’s “carbon dividends” proposal. The proposal includes a tax on carbon dioxide emissions, the return of tax revenues to all Americans in the form of monthly dividend payments, and the rollback of some climate regulations, among other elements.
The Trump administration’s budget proposal for the State Department and USAID would eliminate funding for the Global Climate Change Initiative, which supports hundreds of climate change programs and advances U.S. interests around the world. As a former USAID Foreign Service Officer, WRI's Rebecca Carter draws on her experience to show these programs are great investments.
A critical way to protect forests is to determine how well companies are complying with concessions agreements that allow them to work on forested government land. Finding this out can be a challenge. A new WRI study shows Freedom of Information laws can help.
As more than 1,200 land rights experts converge on World Bank headquarters for the Annual Land and Poverty Conference, here are some important numbers about Indigenous and community land rights, the world's most common form of tenure.