The WRI Ross Center Prize for Cities is the premier global award celebrating and spotlighting transformative urban change, and its winner for 2020-21 has been announced. Which finalist won the $250,000 first prize? The 5 finalists were from Ahmedabad in India, London in the UK, Rosario in Argentina, Kibera in Kenya, and Monterrey in Mexico. Each would have been a worthy winner, each finding innovative and inspiring ways to meet environmental urban challenges in equitable and sustainable ways. For more on the Prize go to https://prizeforcities.org, and the Cities Program part of www.wri.org. less

If you were a farmer and the climate changed, what would you do about it? At first you might simply try small experiments to adapt – after all, farmers are used to annual variations in the weather. But what about if the changes aren’t just annual variations, but are serious shifts in weather patterns associated with climate change? Drier weather, higher temperatures, more frequent storms, prolongued periods of rainfall. These issues are the subject of a new WRI report, "Food systems at risk: transformative adaptation for long term food security". In this podcast two of the authors, Rebecca Carter and Tyler Ferdinand, talk to Nicholas Walton about why transformative adaptation is happening, what the challenges are, and how it can be made more effective. less

The WRI Ross Center Prize for Cities is the premier global award celebrating and spotlighting transformative urban change. The five finalists for the 2020-21 prize come from five very different urban environments - in Kenya, Argentina, Mexico, India and the United Kingdom - but all demonstrate how effectively innovative ideas can tackle inequality and climate change. In this podcast we hear about all five finalists, and what makes each of them special. Anne Maassen, WRI's global lead on the prize, explains the challenges faced by residents in each of the five urban areas, and the solutions they've come up with. For more on the prize, including videos of each of the finalists, go to www.prizeforcities.org. The winner is due to be announced on June 29th 2021. less

This is a special World Ocean Day podcast that was orginally for the WRI Ocean program and the High Level Panel for a Sustainable Ocean Economy. It's with Carlos Manuel Rodriguez of the Global Environment Facility, and it's about what he's learned about the ocean from his decades of surfing, especially off the coast of Costa Rica. Go to oceanpanel.org or @oceanpanel on Twitter if you're interested to find out more. less

Cameroon sits just north of the equator, right on the edge of the vast Congo River basin. It has around 20 million hectares of tropical forest, mainly in the south, but according to data on Global Forest Watch it has lost nearly 4 percent of its primary forest since 2002. Knowing this about what's happening to Cameroon's forest is one thing, however, and doing something about it is another. Or is it? This podcast is about how satellite data translates into action to protect the forests on the ground. Nicholas Walton talks to an NGO worker, a journalist and a WRI staff member, all in Cameroon, and a WRI researcher who has analyzed the relationship between forest loss data and action. Useful links: * Learn more about Global Forest Watch’s Small Grants Fund and Tech Fellowship programs: www.globalforestwatch.org/grants-and-fellowships/about/ * Learn more about Global Forest Watch’s impact assessment: www.globalforestwatch.org/blog/data-and-research/glad-alerts-reduce-deforestation-africa/ * WRI's recent podcast analysing the latest tree cover loss figures: https://soundcloud.com/world-resources-institute/big-ideas-into-action-14-global-tree-loss-data-for-2020 * WRI's podcast page: www.wri.org/podcasts less

Ensuring that women have equal access to land rights, as well as a strong and respected voice in decision making, makes an enormous difference to the prosperity of communities across the world. This episode examines the issue, following the WRI report "On Equal Ground". This episode features women in Mexico, Cameroon and Indonesia, explaining why this issue matters, especially at a time when the Covid pandemic is harming economic life and land is being sold to large-scale commercial agricultural companies. The WRI report can be found here: https://www.wri.org/research/equal-ground-promising-practices-realizing-womens-rights-collectively-held-lands less

The Leaders Summit called by President Joe Biden was in effect an opportunity to accelerate the response to the climate crisis - but did it achieve what it set out to? Where does it leave us on the road to Glasgow and COP26? Nicholas Walton spoke to Helen Mountford, our Vice President for Climate and Economics, and David Waskow, the director of the International Climate Initiative at WRI. Further reading: https://www.wri.org/insights/leaders-summit-climate-offers-jolt-momentum-global-action less

Air quality is critical. Air pollution is linked to more than six million deaths a year , and it affects everything from the health of our lungs to the health of our planet. So what can be done about it? This podcast looks at the Clean Air Catalyst, a new initiative from WRI, along with the US Agency for International Development, the Environmental Defence fund and other partners. For more go to https://wrirosscities.org/our-work/project-city/clean-air-catalyst less

Here at WRI we’re used to talking about big ideas, big concepts and big things – from the climate to the ocean to the great cities and forests. But what about the people that we work with, those people all around the world who face the great environmental challenges of our age and are looking for solutions? Over in WRI Brasil, some of our colleagues came up with a way to put some of those people squarely in focus, in a series of videos and longform articles that they’ve called Faces of Restoration. You can see them at www.wri.org/faces-restoration less

After eight and a half years Andrew Steer, our President and CEO, is leaving WRI, to lead the Bezos Earth Fund. What has he learned about how environmental challenges can be met and what makes him optimistic for the future? Lawrence MacDonald, WRI's Vice President for Communications, probes Andrew's views on everything from the role of communities in fixing the environment to the way businesses and finance have changed their attitudes over the past few years. less

Every year the World Resources Institute analyses the latest data on how much of the world's tree cover has been lost in the previous calendar year. This year, the figures for 2020 make grim reading. Although there are some bright spots, the overall picture is going in the wrong direction, and there is evidence that a negative feedback loop is emerging between climate change and forest loss. To find out more go to www.globalforestwatch.org. less

Food loss and waste is a big deal. It means that a third of the food the world produces never gets eaten, and that carries a cost in terms of carbon, food security, biodiversity loss and health. A quarter of all water used by agriculture is in turn lost because it's used to grow food that's not eaten. So what is to be done? In this podcast I turned to Liz Goodwin, WRI's lead on food loss and waste for the overall picture. I heard from Toine Timmermans of Wageningen University about how behaviour change makes a difference in reducing the amount lost. Yolanda Kakabadse - Ecuador's former environment minister and the former president of WWF International - told me about where the main problem was in Latin America, and measures being taken to stop it. I also took a quick look in my fridge to see how much I was contributing to the problem. For more, go to https://champions123.org/ and www.wri.org/our-work/topics/food, and follow WRI's food program on https://twitter.com/WRIFood. Liz is https://twitter.com/LizGoodwin and Toine is https://twitter.com/ToineTimmermans. less

In February 2021 Texas was hit by extremely cold weather. People died, transport ground to a halt, and the state's energy system failed. Demand spiked as people tried to keep warm, just as vital parts of the infrastructure froze. In this WRI Big Ideas Into Action podcast we're looking at energy resilience. What are the lessons of Texas, and - as the world pushes towards low-carbon and renewable energy - what's the situation elsewhere in the world? We hear from WRI experts in both India and the US about what can be done and what is being done. For more, go to WRI's energy program - www.wri.org/our-work/topics/energy - and take a look at the blog post on the main lessons from Texas - https://www.wri.org/blog/2021/02/strengthening-us-energy-resilience-texas-storm less

What are the stories to watch in 2021? Every year the World Resources Institute comes up with the questions to ask, the challenges to face and the opportunities to seize. WRI's president, Andrew Steer, has just given the first public presentation of Stories To Watch 2021, and shortly afterward he spoke to the presenter of Big Ideas Into Action, Nicholas Walton. You can find Andrew's full presentation at https://events.wri.org/c/stories-to-watch-2021 less

Adaptation is a vital tool to help combat the impacts of climate change, helping us to prepare for everything from changing weather patterns to rising sea levels. This podcast looks at Locally-Led Adaptation, which involves local communities in the process, giving them a say in what happens and how. We hear why this is critical from WRI practitioners and activists at the local level, from South Africa to India. less

It's now five years since the Paris Agreement, a landmark moment in the fight against climate change. The Agreement's aim is to help countries towards their climate targets, taking into account related issues like finance and adaptation. But after its first half decade is it a success? WRI's Yamide Dagnet was there, and in this short podcast she gives her professional - and personal - assessment. less

The 14 serving national leaders of the Ocean Panel have announced their headline commitment: to sustainably manage 100% of their national waters - an area equivalent to the Exclusive Economic Zones of the whole of North, South and Central America, plus the Caribbean, combined. In this special podcast we have a short interview with the co-chair of the Ocean Panel's expert group, Jane Lubchenco, explaining what this involves and why they have done it. less

What will a Joe Biden presidency mean for the environment, for climate action, for energy, for technology? How will this tie in with recovery from the covid crisis, and what does it mean for the rest of the world? In this special episode we sift through the issues with WRI experts Andrew Steer, Helen Mountford, Dan Lashof, Lori Bird, Christina deConcini and Joe Thwaites. For more on what a Biden presidency means for the environment, including a blog post setting out our recommendations for his ten priorities, go to www.wri.org. less

Nearly 800 million people around the world lack secure access to the energy they need. Health services, schools, businesses and farms all need reliable electricity if they are to work properly. So how do you improve access to energy? This episode of WRI's 'Big Ideas Into Action' podcast is about electricity access, and about using data to match up opportunity with potential impact. From India we hear about hospitals in Jharkhand and emergency flood shelters in Assam, and from East Africa we hear about helping businesses and farmers use energy to flourish. This is the last in this relaunched series of WRI podcasts, which has taken in the sustainable ocean economy, restoration in Rwanda, how to solve water-based conflict, helping communities combat pollution, road safety – and now energy access. There’ll be another series along again in a while, and maybe the occasional special program when the occasion – and events in the wider world – demands it. If you go to the podcast bit of WRI.org you can find back episodes – or even better, subscribe to Big ideas into action on whichever podcast service you use. Useful links: WRI’s work on energy access: www.wri.org/our-work/topics/energy-access Energy for development: www.wri.org/our-work/project/energy-development-initiative Blog: Solar Power: A Rural Indian Hospital’s Key to Fighting COVID-19 Tool: Energy Access Explorer: https://www.wri.org/blog/2020/07/renewable-energy-rural-hospital-coronavirus Commentary: A New Nexus Approach To Powering Development: https://www.wri.org/news/new-nexus-approach-powering-development WRI Energy on Twitter: https://twitter.com/WRIEnergy WRI Energy newsletter: www.wri.org/sign-wri-energy-news-and-updates less

Is a city truly sustainable if pedestrians, cyclists and children are being killed and injured on its roads? Over 55% of the world's people now live in cities, but while this has brought opportunities it's also meant traffic jams, pollution and road accidents. They’re now the number one killer of children and young adults between the ages of 5 and 24. In this WRI 'Big ideas into action' podcast we look at the impact of road safety, its connection to urban development and sustainability issues, and ask what can be done to make roads safer. We hear from Istanbul, Addis Ababa and Bogota about the work the WRI Ross Center for Sustainable Cities is doing, and why it matters. Useful links: www.wri.org/our-work/topics/sustainable-cities wrirosscities.org https://wrirosscities.org/our-work/topics/health-and-road-safety https://twitter.com/WRIRossCities https://prizeforcities.org/ https://prizeforcities.org/project/sarsai less

Millions of people in low and middle income countries around the world are affected by problems such as pollution in the air, the soil, the water, but don’t know what they can do about it. In the fourth of this relaunched series of WRI's Ideas Into Action podcasts we take a look at WRI's STRIPE project, which is helping people around the world combat pollution. In this podcast we hear about the challenges facing fishermen in Indonesia and communities in Mongolia, and we hear from a Jamaican lawyer who has helped reduce the health problems near bauxite mines. We also get the big picture from Liz Moses of WRI, and hear just how dangerous it can be to stand up for your environmental rights, from the woman who founded the STRIPE project. STRIPE stands for Strengthening the Right to Information for People and the Environment – and the project empowers communities to improve their environmental health through the right to access information. This if the fourth in this series of Big Ideas Into Action. You can read more about them at www.wri.org/podcasts. For more about the STRIPE toolkit: www.wri.org/publication/toolkit-for-community-led-action STRIPE infographic: https://www.wri.org/resources/data-visualizations/strengthening-right-information-people-and-environment WRI Governance: www.wri.org/our-work/topics/governance WRI Governance Twitter: https://twitter.com/WRIGovernance STRIPE video about Mongolia: www.youtube.com/embed/6D13ubSdkOo WRI blog about Mongolia: www.wri.org/blog/2020/mongolia-mining-pollution-environmental-justice Blog about Indonesia: https://icelindonesia.files.wordpress.com/2013/08/stripe-report-indonesia_final.pdf Jamaica Environment Trust www.jamentrust.org/ less

How much of a role does water play in conflict, and how do you solve such challenges? These are the key questions at the heart of the third "Big ideas into action" podcast from WRI. This week we focus on the work of the Water, Peace and Security partnership, drawing together everything from on-the-ground insights to AI and big data to identify where water stresses are likely to lead to conflict, and then help resolve conflicts once they have broken out. You can find more of our relaunched "Big ideas into action" podcasts at You can also find us at www.wri.org/podcasts. The paper mentioned, "Ending conflicts over water", can be found here: https://www.wri.org/publication/ending-conflicts-over-water You can follow the work of the Water, Peace and Security partnership at https://twitter.com/waterpeacesec and https://waterpeacesecurity.org The sounds from the war in Yemen that you can hear at the start of the podcast are from "Yemen's forgotten war", part of the BBC World Service's highly-recommended Assignment series of radio documentaries. You can listen to it in full here: - https://www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/play/p0325f2f less

What is landscape restoration, and what does it look like on the ground? In this second WRI "Big ideas into action" podcast we travel to Rwanda, to hear from the villagers, the entrepreneur and the woman working to educate the nation's schoolchildren about the importance of nature. Restoration is about far more than planting trees - it's about restoring degraded landscapes, growing those trees, repairing soils and harnessing nature as a solution to development challenges. As well as hearing from Rwanda's people, we'll get some expert context from WRI's Forests Program liaison on the ground and WRI Africa's regional director. We'll be bringing out one podcast a week for this first season of "Big ideas into action". You can also find us at www.wri.org/podcasts. For more about restoration in Africa, visit afr100.org or follow the team on Twitter at https://twitter.com/restoreforward and https://twitter.com/WRIafrica. less

Just what is a sustainable ocean economy, and should we get excited about it? That is the subject of the first in a relaunched series of WRI podcasts that now goes under the name of “Big ideas into action”. Put simply, a sustainable ocean economy is one where humanity effectively safeguards marine and coastal ecosystems, uses ocean resources such as seafood in a sustainable way, and ensures that benefits from the ocean and ocean industries are shared fairly and can last into the future. We'll be bringing out one podcast a week for this first season of "Big ideas into action". You can also find us at www.wri.org/podcasts. For more about the sustainable ocean economy, go to www.oceanpanel.org or follow them on Twitter https://twitter.com/oceanpanel. less

A high-level cast of experts looks at some of the big issues about building back better in the wake of the Covid crisis – including the impact on development and climate issues. This is a condensed version of a webinar that our climate team hosted at London Climate Action week – it starts with a quick fire question: How soon will the global economy recover from the Covid crisis? less

What is the role of finance and multilateral development banks in #BuildingBackBetter in the wake of the Covid crisis? Sir Suma Chakrabarti, the outgoing president of the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development, was the special guest at a WRI webinar looking into the priorities for the sector. less

The Covid-19 crisis has focused attention on the critical issue of air quality. Some places have experienced much cleaner air thanks to the lack of cars and buses, but at the same time we're now more aware of how much air pollution is a vital public health issue. We recently held a public webinar on these issue as part of our Build Back Better series, and this is a shortened version of what was discussed. less

How has the food system fared during the #Covid19 crisis? A recent WRI webinar explored that question, from Colombia to Nigeria to China, and across the globe. What failed and what succeeded, and what lessons did we learn about how the food system needs to work in the time of crisis. This is a shortened, condensed version of that webinar - you can hear the full-length version on the events page at wri.org. less

How - and why - do you build a sustainable ocean economy? WRI's Andrew Steer asks 4 experts affiliated with the High Level Panel for a Sustainable Ocean Economy (@OceanPanel on Twitter) what the transition to this would look like, and why it is so important for livelihoods, ocean life and the planet's climate. The speakers are Peter Thomson, Jane Lubchenco, Mary Ruckelshaus and Vidar Helgesen. 14 national leaders are part of the Ocean Panel. Together their countries account for 30% of the world's coastlines, 20% of the world's shipping fleet and 20% of the world's fisheries, and they are building momentum toward a sustainable ocean economy, where effective protection, sustainable production and equitable prosperity go hand-in-hand. The Blue Paper featured is 'The ocean transition: what to learn from ocean transitions' - please go to oceanpanel.org for more. less

WRI's Frances Seymour takes Nicholas Walton through the latest global tree loss figures from Global Forest Watch. The overall picture is bad, but there are positive signs in Indonesia and West Africa. Will the rest of the world learn from them? less