News
A Fighter for Forests
March 26, 2018
To close out National Women’s History Month and mark the recent International Day of Forests, Winrock honors the late Dr. Sandra Brown, a pioneering woman in the historically male-dominated field of environmental science. Dr. Brown made profound contributions to the science of the global carbon cycle, and co-authored work honored with the 2007 Nobel Peace […]
Safeguarding Sustainability
March 7, 2018
In the Maasai language, “Mara” means “spotted,” and as you look out over the plains of the Mara River Basin, you can see how the region got its name. The savanna is dotted with plants and animals alike: thorn trees and shrubs, lions, giraffes, migrating wildebeests. One of the most biodiverse regions in the world, […]
Innovation@Winrock
February 6, 2018
A year ago, Winrock International lost one of its valuable and visionary voices. Senior Scientist Dr. Sandra Brown, who died February 13, 2017, developed innovative methods to evaluate the environmental benefits of improved land management. She came to Winrock because she wanted to see the results of her research applied to benefit people around the […]
Staying Afloat
February 3, 2018
If you travel to Cambodia’s Tonle Sap basin, you might see flooded fields full of what look like reeds, foliage waving above the surface of the water. While it may not look like much, it’s actually rice — “floating” or “deepwater” rice. Flooding is a fact of life near the constantly rising and falling Tonle Sap […]
The Log Blog
January 8, 2018
By Gabriel Sidman, Spatial Analyst When a tree falls in the forests of Colombia, it does make a sound — a loud one — but only for a moment. The sound starts with the monotonous drone of a chainsaw, cutting the thinnest of wedges near the base of the tree, followed by a piercing crack […]
Unseen and Unrecognized: Allocating Water to Nature in River Systems
January 3, 2018
Water for nature is too often sidelined in discussions around built water infrastructure development and subsequent water allocation needs. With increasing demands for food and energy production from a growing global population, many countries look to engineered solutions to bring them water, food and energy security. When we introduce multiple demands on a natural system, […]
Saving Lives, Saving Livelihoods
December 19, 2017
When Eric Viala was a student in engineering school, heavy rains triggered a landslide that buried a campground in an Alpine valley near his home in Annecy, France. “It happened during the night and killed 23 people,” Viala said. The experience left its mark on Viala, who went on to become the director of Winrock’s […]
Water Security and the Global Water Strategy
December 13, 2017
By Eric Viala, Sustainable Water Partnership Director On November 1, in what otherwise might have been a typical congressional hearing, Republican Congressman Charles Dent looked toward his former colleague, newly installed USAID Administrator Mark Green, and posed an interesting question: “Water scarcity is known as a threat multiplier… What more will USAID do under your […]
SWP to Continue Wilson Center Series with “The Challenge of Too Much Water”
November 29, 2017
From Hurricane Harvey to Typhoon Damrey, this season’s extreme weather events have made it clear that too much water can be as deadly as too little. Flooded streets, destroyed villages, unsafe water: as these and other impacts of extreme weather increase, how can we help already vulnerable communities prepare for the next wave? And how […]
“We Are Still In”
November 16, 2017
Speaking at USAID’s Global Innovation Week in late September, Winrock President and CEO Rodney Ferguson pledged to continue meeting the goals of the Paris Climate Agreement. Winrock International maintains that pledge every day with projects that safeguard critical ecosystems and strengthen natural resource management. Winrock has also been present at the 23rd annual Conference of […]