Platform for African – European Partnership in Agricultural Research for Development

Tuesday, October 26, 2021

Land & Carbon Lab: Addressing the global land squeeze for climate, biodiversity and people


25 October 2021
Land & Carbon Lab: Addressing the global land squeeze for climate, biodiversity and people

VIDEO FORTHCOMING

Land is vital but finite. How can we reconcile humanity’s competing land demands with the need to combat climate change, protect biodiversity, and improve people’s lives?

WRI’s new Land & Carbon Lab initiative is harnessing the data revolution to monitor the pulse of the planet’s land and its nature-based carbon. The initiative will provide decision-makers everywhere with the actionable information they need to address the global land squeeze—to combat climate change, protect biodiversity, and improve people’s lives.

WRI and partners, including scientists and technologists, discussed plans to build and deploy a comprehensive global land monitoring system. There was also the preview of new data, including trees in mosaic landscapes, forest carbon fluxes and global land cover – showcasing the information that will ultimately create unprecedented transparency about what is happening to the world’s land at any point on the planet, at any time.
  • Andrew Steer, President & CEO, Bezos Earth Fund
  • Crystal Davis, Director of Land & Carbon Lab, WRI
  • John Brandt, Data Scientist, WRI
  • Jorge Pérez Rubio, President of the Interethnic Association for Development of the Peruvian Rainforest (AIDESEP)
  • Marcos Sossai, Manager of the Reflorestar Program, Sate Environmental Agency of Espirito Santo, Brazil
  • Marine de Bazelaire, Group Advisor on Natural Capital, HSBC
  • Matt Hansen, Co-Director, University of Maryland GLAD Lab
  • Nancy Harris, Land & Carbon Lab Research Director, WRI
  • Pablo Vieira, Global Director, NDC Partnership
  • Rebecca Moore, Director of Google Earth and Earth Engine
  • Tom Bewick, Peru Program Director, Rainforest Foundation US
Shared resources
Preliminary tree cover data developed by WRI shows where billions of these trees — previously invisible to governments, investors and the public — are growing across 1.4 billion hectares of Africa and Latin America (an area 40% larger than the entire United States). Most importantly, this “trees in mosaic landscapes” data gives credit to the undervalued and underfunded local communities who work to protect and restore these ecosystems.

Best in Class Data to Monitor the World's Land
Land & Carbon Lab is partnering with leading scientists and technologists to build a comprehensive monitoring system for the world’s land and its nature-based carbon. Our high-resolution geospatial data will help decision-makers everywhere address the global land squeeze and accelerate nature-based solutions to climate change.

Related: 
28 October 2021. High-level launch event for the State of Climate Action 2021 report, which will answer these fundamental questions. Developed by partners contributing to the Systems Change Lab, the report identifies 40 indicators across key sectors that must transform to address the climate crisis and assesses how current trends stack up against targets for 2030 and 2050 to limit warming to 1.5 degrees C. The analysis will highlight both encouraging bright spots that are witnessing exponential change as well as sectors that are well off track and demand urgent attention.

Coming out just before the G20 Summit and the COP26 climate summit, the State of Climate Action 2021 report will arm countries, businesses, philanthropists, and others with a clear-eyed view of where we stand sector-by-sector, and what supportive measures and finance are necessary to accelerate the world toward a safer, prosperous and more equitable future.
Speakers
  • Andrew Steer, President and CEO, Bezos Earth Fund (moderator)
  • Nigel Topping, United Nations High-Level Climate Champion
  • Naoko Ishii, Executive Vice President, University of Tokyo Center for Global Commons
  • Ani Dasgupta, President and CEO, World Resources Institute
  • Surabi Menon, VP, Global Intelligence, Climate Works Foundation
  • Niklas Höhne, Partner, New Climate Institute
  • Bill Hare, CEO, Climate Analytics
  • Sophie Boehm, Research Associate, World Resources InstituteWanjira Mathai, Vice President and Regional Director for Africa, WRI
  • Moderated by Craig Hanson, Vice President for Food, Forest, Water and the Ocean, WRI


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