The Allianz Knowledge Site's Who's Who features people and organizations that make a difference in the areas of climate change, microfinance, and demographic change.
United Nations Development Programme (UNDP)
Who are they?
The largest multilateral source of development assistance in the world
What do they do?
UNDP offers expert advice, training and grants to member countries. Its focus is on five development challenges - democratic governance, poverty reduction, crisis prevention, energy and environment, and HIV/AIDS. The UNDP also coordinates national initiatives to achieve the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs).
The program was established in 1965 by combining two UN aid schemes. In 1971, the two organizations were fully combined into the UNDP. The program is headquartered in New York City with field offices in 166 countries. Its budget was approximately 4.44 billion dollars in 2005, and stems entirely from voluntary contributions by member nations.
Among the UNDP's various publications, the best known is probably the annual Human Development Report, which measures and analyzes developmental progress. The report is complemented by regional, national, and local development papers.
World Resources Institute (WRI)
Who are they?
An independent environmental think tank
What do they do?
The World Resources Institute is an independent NGO lobbying for policies that foster environmentally sound, socially equitable development. Different from other NGOs, WRI does not do fieldwork, but concentrates on providing information and policy proposals. It does so by concentrating on four areas:
- climate, energy, and transport - governance and access to information regarding resources and the environment
- markets and enterprise: linking economic opportunity and environmental protection
- people and ecosystems: to protect ecosystems and people living off them
Founded in 1982, WRI is based in Washington, D.C. and employs about 100 people. The institute is probably best known for the biennial World Resources report that provides data and analysis on current environmental issues. The latest report is a collaborative product of WRI with the World Bank, United Nations Environment Programme and United Nations Development Programme.
EMBARQ, the WRI's Center for Sustainable Transport, partners with a number of cities like Mexico City and Shanghai to develop environementally friendly public transport systems.
World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF)
Who are they?
An international non-governmental organization for the conservation, research and restoration of the natural environment.
What do they do?
The World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF) focuses on the conservation of three types of biospeheres: forests, freshwater ecosystems, and oceans and coasts. It tries to protect endangered species - hence its logo, the panda - and to fight pollution and climate change.
The WWF is the world's largest independent conservation organisation with over 5 million supporters worldwide, working in about 90 countries, and supporting 15,000 conservation and environmental projects around the world. About 90 percent of its funding comes from private and corporate donations.
The WWF headquarters are located in Switzerland, where the charity was founded in 1961 under the name World Wildlife Fund. Initially, the founders wanted to protect endangered species. With growth and success, the organization expanded its scope to include the preservation of biological diversity and the reduction of pollution.
Subsequently, in 1986, the World Wildlife Foundation became the World Wide Fund for Nature. Only the national branches in the United States and Canada still stick to the original name.
Worldwatch Institute
Who are they?
An environmental research organization.
What do they do?
The Worldwatch Institute (WI) is a research center that works for an environmentally sustainable and socially just society that does not endanger the environment or future generations. WI was founded in 1974 and is based in Washington D.C. It employs around 30 people and has a number of international partners, such as the German Heinrich Böll Foundation, the Italian World Wildlife Foundation, and the UN Environment Programme.
Worldwatch has a rather broad mandate to conduct research on four research areas: people, nature, energy, and economy. This results in papers on population, food, water, urbanization, oceans, forests, infectious diseases, bioinvasions, pollution, materials use, energy, climate change, transportation, consumption, security, globalization and governance, sustainable economics, and information technology. The institute is best known for it is annual publication, "The State of the World." The series attempts to identify the Earth's most significant environmental challenges.
