Janet Ranganathan is the Vice President for Science and Research for the World Resources Institute, where she oversees WRI's research and publications. She has written extensively on a broad range of sustainable development challenges, including business and markets, environmental performance measurement, environmental accounting,
climate change, ecosystem degradation, and global environmental governance.

Prior to joining WRI Janet worked on business and environmental issues in the U.K. both as a Senior Lecturer at the University of Hertfordshire and in a regulatory capacity with the Department of Environment and Hertfordshire Waste Regulatory Authority.

Blog Entries by Janet Ranganathan

Can Climate Action Resuscitate Tropical Forests?

Posted December 21, 2009 | 12:00 PM (EST)


For decades, environmentalists have described shrinking forests as the planet's "green lungs." In Copenhagen, governments appeared to agree with this comparison when they offered life support to preserve carbon-trapping tropical forests in the form of a major cash infusion. But can pumping money into forests save the climate?...

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Tin, Tantalum and Tungsten: The New Blood Diamonds

Posted August 11, 2009 | 10:34 AM (EST)


Two upcoming Senate bills could have a big impact on the Democratic Republic of Congo, by exposing how its 10-year conflict is being funded.

When Hillary Clinton visited the Democratic Republic of Congo this week, she called attention to the exploitation of the country's vast natural resources to fund...

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Darwin's Lessons for the Extractive Industries

3 Comments | Posted May 27, 2009 | 11:45 AM (EST)


On May 26, shareholders at Chevron's annual meeting in California will vote on a resolution urging management to assess the company's compliance with the environmental laws of every country in which it operates. The vote has been triggered by pension fund investors anxious over the oil giant's liabilities in an...

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Subprime Development: the Mother of All Collapses

Posted October 9, 2008 | 10:55 AM (EST)


All eyes are on Wall Street as it completes another roller coaster week of financial turmoil. Can things get worse? Actually, yes.

The chronic degradation of our planet's life support system is producing what could be termed a "subprime development" crisis. Its consequences, while less publicized, may ultimately far...

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