WRI DIGEST

How A Massive Parks Program Revitalized Barranquilla, Colombia Once a powerful center of shipping, by the 2000s, Barranquilla, Colombia had declined. Neglected parks fell out of use and instead became hotbeds of crime. Informal settlements expanded. Deforestation was rampant. Then cameTodos al Parque, the city’s massive parks renovation program. Now, 93% of Barranquilla’s residents live within an 8-minute walk of a safe, revamped park. Crime has gone down, while the parks provide entertainment, jobs and host community services like clinics and markets. On February 1, 2023,Todos al Parque won the 2021-2022 WRI Ross Center Prize for Cities, which awards innovative projects that help cities thrive in turbulent times.Read more.

A community meeting in a park Photo by WRI Ross Center for Sustainable Cities

A community meeting in a park for the Asi Vivo Mi Barrio initiative, which uses the participatory design approach pioneered under Barranquilla, Colombia’s Todos al Parque program to engage residents in the planning of their neighborhood. Photo by WRI Ross Center for Sustainable Cities

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China’s Overseas Investments: What’s After Coal? After investing more than $50 billion over the last two decades, China recently announced it would halt building new coal power plants overseas. Many now wonder whether the country will redirect those investments to gas or to cleaner power sources. WRI experts explain why renewables are a better bet for China and its massive Belt and Road initiative.Read more.

Photo by Dan Gold/Unsplash

Big Moments for the Ocean in 2023 Research shows that 2022 was thehottest year on record for the ocean. Will things move in a more sustainable direction in 2023? WRI experts outline five critical opportunities this year to restore and protect ocean health.Read more.

Photo by NavinTar/Shutterstock

How Clean Energy Can Create Millions of New Jobs in the US In his 2023 State of the Union address on February 7th, U.S. President Joe Biden emphasized the significant number of jobs created during his presidency, with more to come as the country shifts to a greener economy. Indeed, WRI research shows that achieving the goals of the Inflation Reduction Act and the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law will generate an additional 900,000 jobs by 2035. With additional federal policies and domestic clean energy manufacturing, the U.S. could see nearly 6 million new jobs by 2035! Learn more.