Natural Resources

The loss of forests, fish stocks, fresh water sources, healthy soils, coral reefs, and wildlife impoverishes developing countries. These natural resources provide hundreds of billions of dollars of value to the world economy every year and are the foundation on which many developing economies around the world will grow. And because competition for natural resources—water, arable land and food—can lead to instability, conflict and mass migration, the National Intelligence Council anticipates that resource scarcities will increasingly define security challenges this century. Learn more

Disappearing Species

One-quarter of the world’s mammals and one-third of primates and amphibians are already severely endangered. Unless conservation activities increase dramatically, as many as two-thirds of all species could be near extinction by the end of this century. Three-quarters of the world’s terrestrial plant and animal species are in developing nations. The amount of natural habitat conserved in those regions during the next few decades will determine how many species survive. Learn more

Runaway Climate Change

The burning and clearing of forests, mostly in developing countries, releases 20 percent of global greenhouse gas emissions—more than the emissions from every car, truck and airplane on the planet. The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change and numerous other scientific authorities have said that it will be impossible to control climate change unless this critical source of emissions is addressed. Learn more