In this report, ESCAP explores the future of urbanization in Asia and the Pacific, focusing on the dynamic shifts in the region’s urban landscape. It highlights the region’s demographic transformations, including population ageing, and the persistent challenges of urban poverty and inequality. The analysis covers urban areas of all sizes, …
One of the greatest challenges for climate change adaptation is how to build resilience for the billion urban dwellers who are estimated to live in what are termed informal settlements . These settlements have been built outside the ‘formal’ system of laws and regulations that are meant to ensure safe, …
The world is ever more urban. The top 780 global cities already produce almost 60 per cent of all world economic activity, and they are set grow in importance as urbanisation continues. In the latest annual Global Cities report, forecast significant growth disparities between cities around the globe over the …
Multilevel climate action: The path to 1.5 degrees is a synthesis report of data from the carbonn Climate Registry. It looks at subnational alignment with the 1.5-degree target, key climate hazards and how two-way dialogue and data-sharing can raise climate ambitions. Special attention is given to the importance of integrated …
Urbanization is one of the global megatrends of our time, unstoppable and irreversible. In 30 years, two-thirds of the world’s population will live in urban areas; 90 per cent of this urban growth will take place in less developed regions such as East Asia, South Asia, and Sub-Saharan Africa. These …
The microbial communities of mangroves which form important links in elemental cycling and bioremediation have not been elucidated in most parts of the world. Due to urbanization and deforestation mangroves are also under threat. In the present study, high throughput next generation sequencing technology, based on 16S rRNA amplicon analysis …
A third of all waste generated in cities of Latin America and the Caribbean ends up in open dumps or in the environment, polluting soil, water and air, and threatening the health of the population, according to a UN Environment report. 145,000 tons are inadequately disposed every day in the …
This paper looks at the impact of sea level rise on eight cities worldwide, exploring some of the underlying reasons for vulnerability, and then the additional impact that climate change will have on their people. These cities include some of those most vulnerable to climate change. The cities studied include …
This data booklet highlights current and future trajectories of populations in cities around the globe, drawing on the population estimates and projections published in World Urbanization Prospects: The 2018 Revision. The data reveals that, of the 1,146 cities with at least 500,000 inhabitants in 2018, 679 (59 per cent) were …
By 2050, two-thirds of the planet’s population will live in urban centers, and nearly 90 percent of the 2.5 billion new urban dwellers will live in Africa and Asia. The world’s urban areas were responsible for around 70 percent of greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions in 2013, and that number could …
There is substantial demand for financing and for project preparation of climate-related projects in cities across the world. This report draws upon 106 applications for support received by the CFF in 2018 and 1,037 projects submitted to CDP in the 2017 CDP Cities Questionnaire to show what climate-related projects in …
The Climate Opportunity report investigates the economic, social and environmental benefits for climate change mitigation action in cities. Enhanced policies and measures for residential building retrofits, bus networks and district-scale renewable energy can generate millions of jobs, save billions of dollars for households, and prevent hundreds of thousands of deaths …
Bangladesh has sustained robust economic growth, led by industrial development and urbanization, for the past three decades. In tandem with its economic development, country has been increasingly urbanizing led by the massive growth of Dhaka, the nation’s capital. Yet urbanization and industrial growth have come with high environmental costs that …
Bangladesh has sustained robust economic growth, led by industrial development and urbanization, for the past three decades. In tandem with its economic development, country has been increasingly urbanizing led by the massive growth of Dhaka, the nation’s capital. Yet urbanization and industrial growth have come with high environmental costs that …
Africa’s cities are set to grow by nearly a billion people by 2050. Strategic leadership and planning by government leaders now can make the difference between those cities being dynamic, healthy, climate-resilient hubs driving nationwide prosperity, or sprawling, polluted, congested sites of poverty and insecurity. New research by the African …
Since the Paris Climate Agreement solidified an “all hands on deck” approach to climate change, cities, regions and businesses have become key contributors to mitigation, adaptation and finance efforts. These actors are pledging a range of actions, from directly reducing their own greenhouse gas emissions footprints, to building capacity for …
Urban and peri-urban wetlands provide services seen and unseen to millions of people and to the environment on which we rely. Wetlands support people’s needs for food, water, fiber, fuel, medicine and livelihoods. Also, they provide vital “ecosystem services” such as purifying water, mitigating floods, absorbing carbon, providing cultural and …
The newly elected federal Government of India (GoI) launched the Smart Cities Mission (SCM) in 2015 with the stated purpose of improving the governance and infrastructural deficiencies that plague Indian cities. The Mission categorically states that there is no one definition of a 'smart city' and implies infinite liberty for …
The newly elected federal Government of India (GoI) launched the Smart Cities Mission (SCM) in 2015 with the stated purpose of improving the governance and infrastructural deficiencies that plague Indian cities. The Mission categorically states that there is no one definition of a 'smart city' and implies infinite liberty for …
Amid growing urbanisation, deforestation and agricultural expansion, it’s long been thought the number of trees across the planet is being reduced. However, that belief is probably wrong, according to new figures. The biggest ever analysis of global land change has discovered there are more trees across the earth today than …
