Meeting today’s challenges requires answers based on deep research and collaboration that seeks lasting success.
Last year, Pew joined with Indigenous governments, the governments of the Northwest Territories and Canada, and other partners to conserve lands and waters for future generations. We worked with partners to explore modern sources of energy and to discover how the public is navigating a transformed news and information system—and what that means for democracy. We developed solutions to ease the nation’s housing crunch and worked to remove impediments to medical care. And today, we continue the pursuit of answers that will improve people’s lives and strengthen communities here and around the world.
Jamie Stevenson
Warming faster than the global average, the Northwest Territories of Canada is a remote and delicate region that has suffered from widespread forest fires and other effects of climate change.
An unprecedented agreement approved in November aims to enhance the region’s security by investing in Indigenous communities and their conservation ambitions.
Pew joined 22 Indigenous governments, the governments of the Northwest Territories and Canada, and other private donors to sign the agreement—NWT: Our Land for the Future—which uses a model called “project finance for permanence,” or PFP, that aligns policy and funding commitments to deliver large-scale, sustained investments in conservation and community economic development. The agreement will support Indigenous-led stewardship of lands and waters, adding or enhancing protections for up to an estimated 38 million hectares (380,000 square kilometers/146,700 square miles), and will support community priorities such as Indigenous Guardians programs that contribute to local jobs, climate research, and emergency response.
This initiative is part of, and received support from, Enduring Earth—a collaboration among Pew, The Nature Conservancy, World Wildlife Fund, and ZOMA LAB—that seeks to advance PFPs around the world and enable nations to accelerate conservation that benefits local communities and achieves biodiversity, climate, and sustainable development goals.
Bezos Earth Fund,
Ducks Unlimited, Inc.,
Metcalf Foundation,
The McLean Foundation,
The Sitka Foundation,
Waltons Trust,
The Wyss Foundation,
and ZOMA LAB.
Pew’s analysis of national data showed that up to 42% of civil cases are about debt collection, and that in 7 out of 10 of those cases, the person being sued doesn’t show up in court and ends up with an automatic ruling against them. The reasons for not appearing in court vary, but often it’s because people don’t know they’re being sued. Last year Minnesota, Tennessee, and Oklahoma passed bipartisan legislation resulting from Pew’s research to improve citizens’ interaction with their court systems, focusing on debt cases.
Base map: USGS; NASA; OpenStreetMap
Photo: Courtesy of Chad Rudrow/Roaring Fork Conservancy
In August, the Colorado Water Quality Control Commission approved an Outstanding National Resource Waters, or ONRW, designation for 385 miles across 15 rivers and streams. These designations safeguard waters from future harm and preserve the high quality of rivers, lakes, and wetlands that provide clean drinking water and wildlife habitat and support recreational activities including fishing, swimming, and paddling. Pew worked as part of a coalition with local partners to seek the designation. And in December, New Mexico followed suit, adding more than 250 miles of rivers within the Rio Grande, Rio Chama, Cimarron, Pecos, and Jemez watersheds to its ONRW designations.
Pew Research Center has been surveying people in various countries on their views of democracy for several years and found that while the concept of representative democracy remains popular, enthusiasm for it has slipped since 2017. In 2024, a median of 54% across 31 countries were dissatisfied with how their democracy is working. And in a 2023 survey of 24 countries, 74% said elected officials don’t care what people like them think, and 42% said none of the political parties in their country represent their views.
Many say policies in their country would improve if more elected officials were women, people from poor backgrounds, and young adults. There were more mixed views on electing more businesspeople and union members. And overall, there was less enthusiasm for having more elected officials who are religious.
New technology is transforming how people consume news and seek information, with digital sources becoming an important part of Americans’ news diets and social media playing a crucial role, especially for younger adults. Most Americans see news on social platforms, though fewer cite news as a reason for using them. Across sites, younger users are much more likely to see information about breaking news. The findings come from a new partnership between Pew Research Center and Knight Foundation, a five-year effort launched last year.
At a time of shrinking local news sources, the Pew-Knight Initiative’s early analysis found that the share of people paying close attention to local news dropped in the past six years and that while most Americans say they value local news, a relatively small share—15%—said they had paid for it in the past year. With high-quality news and information essential to an effective and stable democracy, the initiative will examine the quickly evolving information landscape from the standpoints of consumers and producers of news, seeking to go beyond measuring the information that people receive and to understand what they chose to trust, act upon, and share with others.
Knight Foundation
It became easier for those with opioid use disorder to receive treatment thanks to the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration relaxing federal requirements for how methadone is dispensed at opioid treatment programs. The new regulations, which Pew advocated for, improve access to care and flexibility for patients and are a permanent extension of the rules enacted during the COVID-19 pandemic that were meant to encourage social distancing and keep people safe. Methadone is a highly effective medication that previously most patients could only access daily at opioid treatment programs, making it difficult for those with work and family responsibilities to receive the drug. Now, patients can obtain a 28-day supply of methadone and aren’t required to have counseling as a prerequisite for treatment, and other types of providers—such as physician assistants and nurse practitioners—can dispense it.
The rule change from the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration for the first time no longer prohibits methadone be administered only in clinics, long sought by Pew.
—an influx not seen at such levels since 1940. As of 2022, they represented 15.7% of the city’s population, and as these new arrivals adapt to the city and the United States, they’re transforming what it means to be a Philadelphian. To help policymakers and the public understand this demographic shift, Pew issued a series of reports last year exploring immigrants’ roots and documenting their impact on the local economy, housing, and other areas, with comparisons to the role of foreign-born residents in nine other U.S. cities and their surrounding metro areas.
Pew helped policymakers with research last year to reimagine their approach to housing. One study highlighted the viability of converting office buildings into co-living dorm-style apartments that reduce construction costs and enable lower rents. Other research informed legislation passed in Arizona, Colorado, and Hawaii that will allow more housing such as accessory dwelling units. And with many buyers unable to obtain small mortgages and turning to riskier financing options, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau cited Pew research in an advisory opinion that said federal home financing rules apply to one of those options—land contracts in which a buyer pays the seller in installments and only takes full legal ownership of a property after making the final payment.
Pew’s energy modernization project last year focused on the state in a major report for policymakers that showed that Louisiana is primed to be a leader in providing the goods and services needed to build offshore wind for the nation, an industry that could generate more than $100 billion in private investment and nearly 50,000 jobs. The research found that more than 450 Louisiana companies stand to benefit from the expansion of wind energy nationally and in the Gulf of Mexico. The report outlined ways to maximize opportunities to strengthen businesses and position the state for large contracts and to solidify Louisiana’s leadership in the industry by coordinating state government, higher education networks, economic development organizations, and innovation clusters.
The Rankin Foundation
and the surrounding nutrient-dense Atlantic Ocean waters teem with tens of millions of whales, seals, and birds, including the world’s largest penguin colony of 1 million breeding pairs of chinstrap penguins on Zavodovski Island. In February, the U.K. and local governments fortified safeguards for 64,000 square miles in its marine protected area. Full protections now encompass approximately 173,000 square miles—an area roughly twice the size of the U.K. The move forever protects critical whale migration routes and penguin foraging habitat from human activity such as fishing and tourism. As part of the Great Blue Ocean coalition, Pew Bertarelli Ocean Legacy contributed key science about baleen whales and the regional impact of climate change to the review that led to the governments’ action. The full protections will support essential analysis of the effects from a changing climate not only in these waters but also in the wider Southern Ocean region stretching to Antarctica.
Philanthropist and ocean advocate Dona Bertarelli
