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, …
This yearbook presents current trends and emerging topics in Asia and the Pacific, grouped around the themes of people, the environment, the economy and connectivity. It provides the international and regional community with key indicators, objective analyses of the current trends and emerging issues, along with data and charts. To …
This paper discusses ideas and methodologies on reducing urban poverty, paying particular attention to the changes that can be triggered by the practice of community savings. As local communities struggle to improve their development options, this practice has demonstrated staying power and relevance in many different nations, cities and contexts, …
In this report, the WBGU explains the reasons for the desperate need for a post-fossil economic strategy, yet it also concludes that the transition to sustainability is achievable, and presents ten concrete packages of measures to accelerate the imperative restructuring. The new WBGU-Study, `A Social Contract for Sustainability' appears at …
This new report focuses on how human population movements across the world could be affected by global environmental changes between now and 2060. This report considers migration in the context of environmental change over the next 50 years. The scope of this report is international: it examines global migration trends, …
This publication is a compilation of responses from civil society organisations to the Draft Approach Paper to the 12th Five-Year Plan.It presents a detailed critique of the Approach Paper in areas such as education, gender, youth development, land issues, water and sanitation, among others.
This paper examines the interaction of urban and rural food systems, not as separate systems, but as two complementary sides of the food systems everywhere that are a continuum between urban and rural landscapes and actors. While this study emphasizes the continuum between rural and urban, it is recognized that …
This State of World Population report looks at dynamics behind the numbers & explains trends that are defining our world of 7 bn. Says that with planning and the right investments in people now our world of 7 bn can have thriving sustainable cities. This year's State of World Population …
This paper discusses ideas and methodologies on reducing urban poverty, paying particular attention to the changes that can be triggered by the practice of community savings. As local communities struggle to improve their development options, this practice has demonstrated staying power and relevance in many different nations, cities and contexts, …
Economic challenges in developing Asian countries have become more complex: urban populations are growing at great cost to the environment, climate change has increased risks of natural disasters, and income gaps within and between developing countries are widening. These factors threaten the sustainable growth and development of urban areas, the …
Population impacts many aspects of our lives, including issues as diverse as poverty, health, education, water, and forests. Population matters even more today because historically high numbers of people are intensifying these impacts on our well-being at a time when the demographic picture of the world is becoming increasingly complex. …
Although much has been said about livestock’s role in achieving food security, in reality, the subject has been only partially addressed and no current document fully covers the topic. Recognizing that food security is central to international development – and to the mandate of FAO - this report tells the …
The first edition of the “Cities and Biodiversity Outlook” (CBO-1) will consist of a global assessment of the links between urbanization, biodiversity and ecosystem services. Combining science and policy, scientists from around the world will analyze how urbanization and urban growth impacts biodiversity and ecosystems, delivering key messages on the …
The UNESCAP, UNECLAC, and the UNHABITAT, in partnership with the Urban Design Lab of the Earth Institute, Columbia University, have jointly released the "Guidelines for developing eco-efficient and socially inclusive infrastructure," which provide practical tools for city planners and decision makers to reform urban planning and infrastructure design according to …
Urbanization has emerged as a key policy and governance challenge in India in recent years. While urban development accelerates the process of economic growth, it can also make growth more inclusive too. Since faster economic growth and inclusive growth are likely to be the objectives of 12th Plan, urban development …
With food still occupying a larger share of rural consumer’s spends, she is 13-14 years behind her urban peer It is well known that consumer preferences have evolved considerably over the last two decades. However, the divide between the rural and urban consumers is striking. Similarly, linkages between the urban …
Industrial development and rapid urbanisation are taking a toll on the freshwater species of the Western Ghats. Close to 16 per cent of freshwater fish, molluscs, dragonflies, damselflies and aquatic plants found along the length of peninsular India are threatened with extinction due to water pollution from agricultural and urban …
The Parks and Horticulture Authority (PHA) on Friday started cutting trees to facilitate widening of 14-kilometre parallel roads along the Lahore Branch Canal from Thoker Niaz Beg to Dharampura after the Supreme Court gave the authorities concerned a conditional ‘go-ahead’ on Thursday. Officials told Dawn that after the Supreme Court …
Environmentalists, architects and planners on Friday demanded cancellation of the proposed 'metro rail' route that will affect the Jatiya Sangsad premises. They made the demand at a press conference jointly organised by Bangladesh Paribesh Andalon (BAPA), Bangladesh Architect Institute (BAI),Bangladesh Institute of Planners (BIP) and Sacheton Shipli Samaj at the …
In June 2009 Government of Karnataka (GoK) constituted a Coordination Committee to oversee and coordinate the state’s response to climate change. It assigned the mandate to prepare the State Action Plan on Climate Change (SAPCC) to Environmental Management & Policy Research Institute (EMPRI). In the planning process, the committee emphasised …
Sri Lanka's Minister of Environment Anura Priyadarshana Yapa has ordered the suspension of a road construction across the World Heritage Sinharaja rain forest. The UNESCO Centre in Paris had asked for an immediate detailed report on the road construction. The construction of the road across the rain forest commenced on …
