Insights: WRI's Blog

Studies found that marine resource utilization through traditional methods and local knowledge have resulted in stable fisheries stocks and marine conservation practices, a win-win for livelihood and environment. In Kaimana District, West Papua, Indonesia, coastal communities use local knowledge to manage their marine resources.

For years, airlines have experimented with biofuels, aiming to reduce both carbon emissions and their reliance on fossil fuels. It’s been a turbulent journey buffeted by inconsistent investment and the periodic lure of cheap oil.

Plastic pollution and dying coral reefs may dominate the news, but beneath the surface, ocean conservation is making headway. Examples from Indonesia, Norway, Africa and more reveal signs of progress.

This year, for first time ever, we have data on the extent (as of 2001) of tropical humid primary forests, areas of natural, mature forest cover that have not been cleared and regrown in recent history (less than 30-50 years).

Primary or old-growth rainforests store more carbon than other kinds of forests and provide homes for jaguars, orangutans, gorillas and other important species. So the fact that the world lost 3.6 million hectares of these forests in 2018 is a huge problem.

Blue carbon is a term given to carbon– sequestered, stored, or released – in marine and coastal ecosystems, including mangroves, seagrasses and tidal marshes. These ecosystems, storing the majority of carbon in the soil, bury atmospheric carbon ten times than their terrestrial counterparts per hectare annually.

Greta Thunberg, a 16-year old Swedish, inspires the Fridays for Future Climate Strike, a movement to skip schools on Friday to strike, pushing the government to urgently act on climate change. This movement sees many critics, but it might signal that climate is already in a very dangerous state.

Commitment to sustainability requires political will and collaboration between the grassroots and the elites to govern ecosystem services for balancing economic growth with environmental protection and social justice.

Indonesia has made remarkable economic progress over the past two decades, but to keep up growth while safeguarding public health and the environment, the country needs to switch paths. A new government report finds that smarter development, using less carbon, can deliver 6 percent GDP growth per year until 2045—while slashing Indonesia's greenhouse gas emissions.

Indonesia is one of few tropical nations actually decreasing deforestation. As a result, the country will earn its first payment as part of the UN's REDD+, a program where developed nations pay developing ones to reduce emissions by protecting forests.