August 23, 2023

Philippine mangrove forests play a critical role in supporting healthy ecosystems, creating opportunities for recreation and ecotourism, and ensuring prosperous livelihoods. Given their location in tidal zones, mangrove forests play a unique role in protecting local communities from shoreline erosion and typhoon damage, helping to stabilize elevation as sea levels…

May 17, 2023

Building on previous RTAC research, this working paper analyzes the impacts of climate change on future levels of poverty across various income scenarios and thresholds. Utilizing the International Futures (IFs) model, this paper draws on representative concentration pathway (RCP) scenarios that model alternative patterns of temperature change at a national level…

December 15, 2022

By Brooke Jardine – NORC at the University of Chicago for USAID Research Technical Assistance Center (RTAC) The Research and Technical Assistance Center (RTAC) partnered with the USAID Bureau of Policy, Planning, and Learning (PPL) to gather evidence on climate-related migration globally. Two reports were developed to address different aspects…

August 30, 2022

The Amazon rainforest, including its river network, is rapidly approaching a critical point at which more than half of its ecosystems will be permanently and drastically altered. Preventing or slowing this process requires action to preserve the rainforest and ecosystems that exist today, especially those that have been less altered…

May 11, 2022

The fact sheet “Millions of People in India Consume Toxic Arsenic in Drinking Water” provides an a practical, sustainable, and profitable way to reduce arsenic in drinking water.  The fact sheet highlights ECAR technology, developed by Dr. Ashok Gadgil and a team of scientists in 2006, is a sustainable development…

May 2, 2022

  On April 21 and 22, 2022, the Research Technical Assistance Center hosted the second two-day RTAC Virtual Conference on Public Interest Technology for International Development with the Julie Ann Wrigley Global Futures Laboratory™ at Arizona State University. The two 2-hour sessions offered participants the opportunity to learn, network and collaborate…

April 5, 2022

World Water Day is celebrated on March 22, a United Nations commemorative day that focuses on the importance of freshwater and aims to raise awareness of the 2.2 billion people living without access to safe water. This month’s celebratory feature puts a spotlight on one of RTAC’s researchers seeking to…

May 26, 2020

Colombia’s tropical forests are important ecosystems that help ensure clean air and maintain systems of biodiversity—both in Colombia and around the world. These tropical forest ecosystems are home to thousands of unique animal and plant species, many of which are endangered.[i] Yet, increasingly, wildfires are threatening these natural resources.[ii] This factsheet…

April 22, 2020

Samantha Downey, Research Analyst, NORC at the University of Chicago Photo Taken by Sven Torfinn/FAO Today marks the 50th anniversary of the first celebration of Earth Day. One of the most popular secular holidays around the world, the aim of Earth Day is to build awareness of and demonstrate support…