Planet Research Program

Agriconnect Knowledge Series: New Webinar on Upskilling Smallholder Farmers

The Agriconnect Knowledge Series is a monthly learning forum designed to bridge research and operations by bringing the latest evidence directly into the design and implementation of agriculture projects. Through focused, practitioner-oriented discussions, the series highlights what works, what scales, and where key evidence gaps remain—supporting teams to make more informed, impactful decisions. A new course on Upskilling Smallholder Farmers covers essential issues in how to make extension systems work for farmers.

Watch the Webinar | Slides | Infographics | Toolkit

Advancing Biodiversity Conservation: Data-Driven Insights for Global Sustainability and Resilience
Database, September 2025

Biodiversity conservation is critical for sustainable development, poverty reduction, and climate stability. However, biodiversity is in crisis, with nearly one million species at risk and a 68% decline in global biodiversity since 1970. Limited access to up-to-date data, particularly in developing regions, has hindered conservation efforts. Traditional metrics focus mainly on vertebrates and overlook broader aspects of biodiversity, while emerging threats outpace slow data updates. To address this, the World Bank has developed extensive open-access datasets, covering nearly 600,000 species across terrestrial, freshwater, and marine ecosystems. This effort has expanded habitat data by fivefold for plants and tenfold for invertebrates and other phyla, complementing the traditional focus on vertebrates.

Access the Biodiversity Database | Biodiversity Database Blog

9th Urbanization and Development ConferenceConference, June 11-12, 2025, Cape Town, South Africa

African countries are urbanizing at faster rates than any other region in history. This offers an important opportunity for growth and development. The 9th Urbanization and Development Conference on "Urban Economics in Action: Addressing African Cities' Challenges" will bring together academics, policy makers, and development practitioners to discuss how economics research can help inform urban policy decisions and the allocation of scarce resources to build productive, livable, and sustainable cities in Africa.

Access recordings, papers, and presentations from the event

Strengthening African Wildlife and Fisheries Conservation: How Private Management, Regional Cooperation, and Artisanal Priority Improve OutcomesPolicy Research Talk, June 2025

Wild animals, plants, and other living organisms make Earth habitable, and their existence holds intrinsic value. In this Policy Research Talk, World Bank economist Gabriel Englander presented insights on current and emerging trends in African conservation policies, and challenged pessimism regarding African conservation effectiveness while also identifying opportunities for improvements.

Event Information | Presentation | More research by Gabriel Englander

World Bank Land Conference 2024: Securing Land Tenure and Access for Climate Action - Research TrackConference, May 13-17, 2024, Washington, DC

For over two decades, the World Bank Land Conference catalyzed the global land community. The Conference is the premier forum for the land sector, bringing together participants from governments, development partners, civil society, academia, and the private sector to showcase research, discuss issues and good practice, and inform policy dialogue.

Event Sessions | Program Book | Land Policies for Resilient and Equitable Growth in Africa

9th Urbanization and Development ConferenceConference, June 11-12, 2025, Cape Town, South Africa

African countries are urbanizing at faster rates than any other region in history. This offers an important opportunity for growth and development. The 9th Urbanization and Development Conference on "Urban Economics in Action: Addressing African Cities' Challenges" will bring together academics, policy makers, and development practitioners to discuss how economics research can help inform urban policy decisions and the allocation of scarce resources to build productive, livable, and sustainable cities in Africa.

Watch the recordings here

GHG Tracking & Mitigation with Satellite DataDatasets and Research, January 2024

Reducing greenhouse gases (GHGs) is urgently required to mitigate climate change. Steep emissions reductions will be needed to keep global warming below 1.5°C. While countries around the world have pledged to curb both carbon and methane emissions—two of the most significant GHGs—many nations do not have the infrastructure to adequately track their emissions. To fill this gap, the World Bank has rolled out major new datasets, tools, and research using satellite data to make frequently updated GHG emission data easily accessible to the general public.

Story | Carbon Dioxide Dataset | Methane Dataset | Presentation to NASA (April 2023) | NASA Presentation Participants | World Bank-NASA-NOAA-EfSI Roundtable on Greenhouse Gas Emissions (November 2023) | Resources | Blog Post | More research by Susmita Dasgupta

Climate Change as a Major Threat to Sustainable Development: The case of sea-level rise in the Ganges Brahmaputra Delta in AsiaPresentation, December 2, 2023, Harvard Graduate School

Families in coastal Bangladesh are already on the “front line” of climate change. Their experience gives a preview of the kinds of future decisions faced by hundreds of millions of families worldwide that will be confronted by similar threats well before 2100. In this presentation delivered at Harvard Graduate School in December 2023, Susmita Dasgupta discussed the multifaceted threats from sea-level rise in the Ganges Delta, as well as policy and adaptation measures to respond to these threats.

Sustainable Cities Must Become Central to Climate Change StrategiesFeature Story, 2023

Approximately 56 percent of the world’s population—or 4.4 billion individuals—lives in a city. The growth of cities is expected to continue, with the urban population more than doubling its current size by 2050. Following a three-year hiatus due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the Urbanization and Poverty Reduction Research Conference series returned earlier this year for its 7th iteration.

7th Urbanization and Poverty Reduction Research Conference | More research by Harris Selod

Land Matters: Can Better Governance and Management of Scarcity Prevent a Looming Crisis in the Middle East and North Africa?Report, 2023

Across the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region, land is a scarce and valuable resource. The projected increase in land demand due to demographic trends, coupled with decreasing land supply due to climatic and governance factors, indicate a looming crisis happening at a time when the region is also facing dramatic social and political transformation. This report identifies and analyzes the economic, environmental, and social challenges associated with land in MENA countries, shedding light on policy options to address them.

More research by Harris Selod

Carbon Pricing Around the WorldJoseph Pryor, Paolo Agnolucci, Carolyn Fischer, Dirk Heine, Mariza Montes de Oca Leon, April 2023

This book chapter provides an overview of approaches for measuring carbon pricing. It summarizes World Bank indicators for tracking direct carbon pricing, including recent trends, as well as outlining the methodologies and limitations (https://carbonpricingdashboard.worldbank.org/). This chapter appears in the book Data for a Greener World: A Guide for Practitioners and Policymakers.

Minimizing Ecological Damage from Road Improvement in Tropical Forests: Evidence from Bolivia, Cameroon and MyanmarSusmita Dasgupta, David R. Wheeler, 2022

The COVID-19 pandemic has laid bare the vulnerabilities of socio-economic systems globally and exposed the risks that natural capital degradation imposes on human health, economy, and society. This book studies the environmental challenges faced by developing economies in a post-COVID-19 world. This chapter appears in the book Environmental Economics in Developing Countries: Issues and Challenges.

Economics of Renewable Energy: A Comparison of Electricity Production Costs Across TechnologiesGovinda R. Timilsina, Kalim Shah, May 2022

This chapter appears in the book Oxford Encyclopedia of Environmental Economics. The Oxford Encyclopedia of Environmental Economics focuses on the most important research topics in environmental and natural resource economics, with a treatment of close to 100 different research areas.

Economic Approach to Intergenerational Mobility: Measures, Methods, And Challenges in Developing CountriesM. Shahe Emran, Forhad Shilpi, March 2022

Social mobility is the hope of economic development and the mantra of a good society. There are disagreements about what constitutes social mobility, but there is broad agreement that people should have roughly equal chances of success regardless of their economic status at birth. Concerns about rising inequality have engendered a renewed interest in social mobility—especially in the developing world. This book chapter provides a critical survey and synthesis of the recent economic literature on intergenerational mobility in developing countries, with a focus on data and methodological challenges.

Energy Subsidies in Russia: Size Impact and Potential for ReformApurva Sanghi, Jevgenijs Steinbuks, December 1, 2021

This report seeks to understand the size, impacts, and potential for energy subsidy reform in the Russian Federation to inform policymakers as they explore approaches to reducing such subsidies.

Coping with Climate Change in the Sundarbans: Lessons from Multidisciplinary StudiesSusmita Dasgupta, David Wheeler, Md. Istiak Sobhan, Sunando Bandyopadhyay, Ainun Nishat, and Tapas Paul, November 2020

Climate change is a major threat to the Sundarbans — the world’s largest remaining contiguous mangrove forest — wetland of international importance, and the surrounding poor communities whose livelihoods depend on its natural resources. This book synthesizes multiyear, multidisciplinary studies that assess the vulnerability of this ecosystem and its neighboring coastal communities and recommend “resilient-smart” adaptation measures. The methods and findings will be of interest to development practitioners, policy makers, and researchers focused on island nations and countries worldwide that feature high density populations and economic activity in low-lying coastal regions vulnerable to sea-level rise.

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