A window into what we are reading at the Wilson Center’s Environmental Change and Security Program

How One Loss and Damage Fund Bore Fruit (The Guardian)  

The Loss and Damage Fund established during the UN COP27 was a monumental breakthrough in the climate finance realm and aimed to provide financial assistance to vulnerable nations impacted by climate change. Such damage can be catastrophic. When Cyclone Freddy hit Malawi in 2023, it killed 1,200 people and displaced 659,000 more. The estimated economic loss exceeded $1 billion, and it landed especially hard on farmers—including the women who make up more than 70% of Malawi’s agricultural workforce. 

In 2023, I embarked on a journey with a group of energy policy researchers from Beijing to visit several Chinese coal cities. We wanted to understand the implementation of China’s decarbonization policies in the heartland of coal mining. As we drove into a coal-rich town in western Shanxi Province, the narrow roads were filled with loud rumbling coal trucks. Amid soot-streaked buildings, newer homes housed families who were relocated from areas affected by coal mining subsidence. The town’s existence hinged on coal. Yet, this dependency has an expiration date — the local mines will be depleted in 10 to 15 years.

Like bamboo sprouts after the rain, nuclear reactors are going up quickly across China. There are 36 reactors under development, and Beijing can approve as many as 10 new ones a year. Within a decade, China will likely pass the United States—which has 93 operating commercial nuclear reactors at 54 power plants—as the world’s biggest generator of nuclear power.

UNFPA’s State of World Population 2024 Report Highlights SRHR Inequalities (UNFPA)

Over the last 30 years, the world has made immense progress in improving sexual and reproductive health and rights (SRHR) for women and girls around the world. Since 1994, when governments agreed that SRHR was a cornerstone of international development at the Cairo International Conference on Population, rates of unintended pregnancies have fallen 20%, 162 countries have adopted anti-domestic violence laws, and maternal deaths have decreased by 34%.

When Russia launched its brutal invasion of Ukraine on February 22, 2024, Western nations supported Ukraine with military and financial aid. But over two years, the cost of the war has been devastating—not only in terms of lives lost, and injuries sustained, but also in the number of buildings destroyed. According to some estimates, more than 150K structures have been damaged in the conflict.

High in the remote mountains of western Fujian Province, Changkou—part of Sanming Prefectural City—became the first village to launch a new forestry carbon ticket system in May 2021. Changkou farmers have long received little benefit in managing forests because of fragmented forest land, high investment risks, and limited ownership rights. To solve those problems, the Sanming Forestry Bureau issued tickets to forestry farmers, granting them the right to earn carbon emission credits for protecting forest land and trees. 

Tracking signs and signals is one of the hallmarks of foresight professionals. They are always on the prowl for novel products and technologies that promise to change the world. Sustainable aviation fuel made from biomass or non-biological sources like CO2 is one innovation on their radar. The increasingly popular generative AI technology is another, especially since its proponents claim it will revolutionize early disease detection, unleash new forms of creative arts, transform engineering, and reshape architecture.