As the world approaches the target year of the Millennium Development Goals and passes into the new, post-2015 era, the development community has made a call for a new international development goal of eradication of extreme poverty by 2030. How feasible is that?
The 2015 Millennium Development Goal to reduce by 50 percent the share of the world’s population living in extreme poverty was met early. The number of individuals in developing countries who live in extreme poverty had decreased from 43 percent in 1990 to 21 percent by 2010.
On July 4, 2014, India finalized the fourth stage of emission standards for motorized two-wheeled vehicles. The Bharat Stage (BS) IV standards will go into effect for type approval of new motorcycle models in April 2016, and for all motorcycle models in April 2017.
The World Resources Institute’s Sustainability Initiative seeks to align the Institute’s business practices with its mission. Walking the talk on sustainability, a new report discloses the 2012 GHG inventory results and discusses GHG reduction projects and other sustainability projects completed in the last year.
Disaster risk management is becoming increasingly important as population densities rise in urban areas around the world. A new report, Learning from Megadisasters, shares lessons learned from the Great East Japan Earthquake and Tsunami. Even poor countries with limited resources can build their capacity to prepare for and cope with disasters.
Cities worldwide generated more than 1.3 billion tons of solid waste in 2010. As drivers of economic activity and recipients of millions of rural migrants every year, cities expect to see this number to grow to 2.2 billion tons annually by 2025 –the equivalent weight of the Great Pyramid of Giza, in trash, every single day.
Pakistan’s population is growing and becoming more urbanized. By 2020, Karachi and Lahore will each have a population of well over 10 million people and several other cities will have a population of at least one million. These trends offer both risks and opportunities.
Securing Rights, Combating Climate Change analyzes the growing body of evidence linking community forest rights with healthier forests and lower carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions from deforestation and forest degradation.
In the last 30 years, China’s record economic growth lifted half a billion people out of poverty, with rapid urbanization providing abundant labor, cheap land, and good infrastructure.
Air pollution in Pakistan’s urban centers is among the most severe in the world. Every year, it results in more than 20 thousand premature deaths among adults and in almost five million cases of illnesses among young children in Pakistan. In addition, urban air pollution affects the quality of life and the economy and environment of Pakistan.
