Posts tagged with 'trees'
In Sub-Saharan Africa, Nature-Based Solutions Take Root
In Sub-Saharan Africa, Nature-Based Solutions Take Root
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 ...
Climate Finance Is a Top Story To Watch in 2025
Climate Finance Is a Top Story To Watch in 2025
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, ...
How Cities Can Beat the (Extreme) Heat
How Cities Can Beat the (Extreme) Heat
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’s Cities Should Prepare for Hotter, More Hazardous Days Ahead
Europe’s Cities Should Prepare for Hotter, More Hazardous Days Ahead
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 ...
Amidst Record-Breaking Fires, Will Brazil Confront Its Climate Challenges?
Amidst Record-Breaking Fires, Will Brazil Confront Its Climate Challenges?
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. ...
What Happens When Extreme Heat and Air Pollution Collide
What Happens When Extreme Heat and Air Pollution Collide
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 ...
Greening the Jukskei River: Scaling Nature-Based Solutions for Climate Resilience in Johannesburg, South Africa
Greening the Jukskei River: Scaling Nature-Based Solutions for Climate Resilience in Johannesburg, South Africa
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 ...
A Community Program Is Transforming New York Schoolyards Into Climate-Resilient Spaces
A Community Program Is Transforming New York Schoolyards Into Climate-Resilient Spaces
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 ...
Unique and Irreplaceable Cities Making the Urban Amazon Visible
Unique and Irreplaceable Cities Making the Urban Amazon Visible
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 ...
As Water Shortages Plague Bogotá and Other Cities, Nature-Based Solutions Can Help
As Water Shortages Plague Bogotá and Other Cities, Nature-Based Solutions Can Help
Bogotá, Colombia is in the throes of a water crisis. After several months of dry weather caused by El Niño, the Chingaza reservoir system, which provides 70% of Bogotá’s water, reached its lowest level in history. The city’s over 8 million residents are ...
The Impacts of El Niño Go Far Beyond Water
The Impacts of El Niño Go Far Beyond Water
Over the past several months, the climate pattern El Niño has disrupted different regions and sectors across the world. Zimbabwe recently declared a state of disaster, due largely to El Niño-induced drought. The city government in Bogotá, Colombia, announced water rationing as reservoir levels ...
What Exactly Are 'Nature-based Solutions'?
What Exactly Are ‘Nature-based Solutions’?
In the Seychelles archipelago in east Africa, flooding and erosion caused by rising sea levels pose an imminent threat to the country’s many low-lying islands. At the same time its mangrove forests, which serve as a vital buffer against these ...
The Future of Extreme Heat in Cities: What We Know — and What We Don’t
The Future of Extreme Heat in Cities: What We Know — and What We Don’t
The past year registered record-shattering global temperatures. People around the world are already witnessing epic heat waves, wildfires and drought at 1.1 degrees C (2 degrees F) of global warming, compared to pre-industrial averages. With current policies putting the world on ...
Pink City to Green City: Building Jaipur’s Climate Resilience Through Nature-Based Solutions
Pink City to Green City: Building Jaipur’s Climate Resilience Through Nature-Based Solutions
India experienced almost one extreme weather event per day in the first nine months of 2022. And the state of Rajasthan is no stranger to this phenomenon, with its capital city, Jaipur, ranking 22nd on the Global Climate Vulnerability Index. ...
Big and Small Steps to Beat the Heat
Big and Small Steps to Beat the Heat
It’s an island no one in their right mind wants to be on, but sadly many of us increasingly find ourselves due to global warming. “Heat islands” are a concept British climatologist Gordon Manley came up with way back in ...
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