The Climate Change, Environment, and Natural Resources Management

One-third of the world’s population face water scarcity; 70 percent of the world’s fisheries are depleted or overexploited; soil degradation affects 30 percent of the world’s irrigated lands, 40 percent of rain-fed agricultural lands, and 70 percent of rangelands and every year 1.0 million people die prematurely from respiratory illnesses associated with air pollution.

Likewise, a delay in reducing green house gas (GHG) emissions is likely to significantly constrain opportunities to achieve lower stabilization levels and increase the risk of more severe and irreversible impacts.

Numerous other examples exist of natural resource depletion and worsening environmental quality that disproportionately affects the poor and compromises sustained gains in well being for this and future generations.

The environment, development and institutions are fundamentally interrelated, within a general context of sustainable development. Overuse, mismanagement, and contamination of natural resources are often the negative unforeseen consequences of development efforts characterized by unclear property rights, perverse economic incentives, poor governance, and badly designed production processes. A degraded environment stalls development, exacerbates social conflict, and undermines poverty reduction efforts and growth. These impacts are more acute where livelihoods directly rely on the services of natural assets

The Climate Change, Environment and Natural Resources (CCEN) Program at WBI aims to pro-actively promote environmental improvements to achieve stronger outcomes, as its contribution to sustainable development. Examples of outcome targets include:

• Quality of life – livelihoods, health, and vulnerability of the poor
• Quality of growth –  urban and rural space
• Quality of regional and global commons – climate change and environmental governance