Posts tagged with 'trees'
In the summer of 2024, Dutch citizens ranked climate change as the most serious problem facing the world. Just a few months later, they elected a national government that ran on a platform of pulling back its climate policies. This isn’t just ...
As cities try to restore the benefits of natural systems by mimicking how ecosystems function, one option they can use is nature-based solutions (NBS). However, cities often struggle to determine which types of interventions best suit their local context, due ...
In a city, a grassy park might be a place to stretch out with a book, an asphalt road your route to work, a building wall a canvas for a mural. But beyond their familiar roles, each of these surfaces ...
Nearly a decade ago, the world rallied around the Paris Agreement on climate change and the goal of holding global temperature rise to 1.5 degrees C (2.7 degrees F). Since then, the “1.5C goal” has become the world’s North Star ...
Sprawl is a known and widespread challenge for rapidly growing cities across the world. Unplanned, inefficient development encroaches on natural resources and ecosystems, often reaching far beyond established transit networks. Residents of sprawling urban areas often face socioeconomic vulnerabilities and ...
The way scientists and policymakers measure heat as they seek to combat rising temperatures across the world’s cities requires more nuance than just looking at the daily outdoor temperature. There are a variety of tools that can help show a ...
For the 21 million residents of Lagos, Nigeria, climate change is not a distant concept — it is a current reality. Over the past decade, the city has experienced devastating floods, exacerbated by the loss of over half of its wetlands ...
For more than 20 years, WRI has identified annual “stories to watch.” These are the year’s moments, issues and decisions that we believe will shape the future trajectory of the world. In the past, we’ve highlighted things like dangerous heat in cities, ...
In January 2024, the Central Business District of Cape Town, South Africa, endured a historically brutal day of heat: temperatures climbed to 44 degrees C – the highest ever measured in the city. But on that same day, people in other parts ...
Europe is the world’s fastest warming continent, which is severely impacting cities and leading to tens of thousands of deaths, rising hospitalizations, school closures and people adjusting their lives to avoid inhospitable outdoor conditions. The oppressive heat is being felt across the ...
Brazilians are currently living in a dystopian landscape. Thick smoke, oppressive heat and eerily orange sunsets blanket both major cities and small villages. Hundreds of cities are exposed to dangerous levels of air pollution while thousands of hectares of forest burn. ...
On July 22, the world experienced its hottest day in recorded history. The global average temperature reached 17.2 degrees C (62.9 degrees F), prompting UN Secretary-General António Guterres to issue a global call to action on extreme heat. The problem of extreme ...
Alexandra Township is a 20-square-block enclave in the heart of Johannesburg, South Africa’s northern suburbs. Established in 1902, the township was built to house 750,000 residents. Today, it is home to more than 1.2 million. Despite efforts to increase waste ...
In Brooklyn, one of New York City’s five boroughs, a new schoolyard features newly-planted native trees offering shade and bright playground equipment that sits adjacent to a track and turf field. Colorful murals celebrating the diversity of its Boreum Hill ...
Amazonian cities are diverse in opportunities and needs. The region’s biodiversity is among the world’s most important, but its cities’ sustainability challenges are less well-known. These jurisdictions require financial support and capacity building to create sustainable, conservation-oriented, equitable, urban green ...
