Environment

Roads expanding fast worldwide, better planning needed to aid food output : study

New roads long enough to girdle the Earth 600 times are expected to be built by 2050 and better planning is needed to protect the environment while also raising food production, a study showed on W

Publication Date: 
28/08/2014
Reuters
Tags:
Environment, Agriculture, Farmers, Developing Countries, Guinea, Congo, Land, Roads, Urbanisation, India, Europe, Asia, Africa, Brazil, World Bank
Environment

Double threat for Tibet

A comprehensive environmental assessment of the Plateau of Tibet has found that the region is getting hotter, wetter and more polluted, threatening its fragile ecosystems and those who rely on them. The plateau and its surrounding mountains cover 5 million square kilo­metres and hold the largest stock of ice outside the Arctic and Antarctic; the region is thus often referred to as the Third Pole. And like the actual poles, it is increasingly feeling the effects of climate change, but rapid development is putting it doubly at risk, the report says.

Publication Date: 
21/08/2014
Jane Qiu
Nature
240-242
Tags:
Climate Change, River Pollution, China, Waste Disposal, Glacial Melt, Global Warming, Urbanisation, Hydrology, Solid Waste, Mining, Air Pollution, Water Pollution, Land Pollution
Habitat And Urbanisation

Urbanisation at multiple scales is associated with larger size and higher fecundity of an orb-weaving spider

Urbanisation modifies landscapes at multiple scales, impacting the local climate and changing the extent and quality of natural habitats. These habitat modifications significantly alter species distributions and can result in increased abundance of select species which are able to exploit novel ecosystems. We examined the effect of urbanisation at local and landscape scales on the body size, lipid reserves and ovary weight of Nephila plumipes, an orb weaving spider commonly found in both urban and natural landscapes.

Publication Date: 
20/08/2014
Elizabeth C. Lowe, Shawn M. Wilder, Dieter F. Hochuli
PLoS ONE
9
8
1-7
Tags:
Urbanisation, Climate, Ecosystems, Biodiversity, Australia, Land Use
Habitat And Urbanisation

The competitiveness of cities

This report presents a taxonomy of drivers of city competitiveness as well as a number of representative case studies of cities. The case studies are drawn from different geographies and varying levels of development that face different challenges and starting points.

Publication Date: 
13/08/2014
World Economic Forum
Tags:
Urbanisation, Urban Development, Environment, Economy, Industry, Governance, Sustainable Development, India, Global, Population, Economic Development
Water Resources

Energy and water: the vital link for a sustainable future

The report provides input into the discussions at the 2014 World Water Week in Stockholm, which is held under the theme of Energy and Water. Through six chapters authored by leading thinkers in the field, it presents analysis and diverse perspectives on some of the key opportunities and challenges facing the energy and water communities.

Publication Date: 
12/08/2014
Torkil Jønch Clausen, Anders Jägerskog, Torgny Holmgren, Karin Lexén
Stockholm International Water Institute
Tags:
Energy, Water Demand, Water Policy, Water Resources, Climate Change, Hydroelectricity, Freshwater Ecosystems, Electricity, Climate Adaptation, Forests, Climate Mitigation, Water Management, Urbanisation, India, Global, Energy Efficiency
People

Generation 2030 Africa

Africa's under eighteen population is expected to increase by 1 billion while overall population will double in size reaching 2.4 billion by 2050, a new report by the UN says.

Publication Date: 
11/08/2014
UNICEF
Tags:
Population, Children, Africa, Population Trends, Infant mortality, Women, Urbanisation, Poverty, Statistics
Climate Change

Sea level rise to affect a million people in South and Southeast Asia

Bangladesh has no available data about sea level rise that occurred in its coastal areas due to global warning, climate change experts observed on Wednesday.

Publication Date: 
07/08/2014
Daily Sun (Bangladesh)
Tags:
Climate Change, Climate Impacts, Bangladesh, South Asia, Asia, Global Warming, Sea Level Rise, IPCC, Urbanisation, Floods
Environment

Natural Conservation Zones shrinking in Delhi, NCR

Rampant urbanisation has led to shrinkage in Natural Conservation Zones such as forests, water bodies and wastelands in the National Capital Region, Union Urban Development Minister Venkaiah Naidu

Publication Date: 
07/08/2014
Vishal Kant
Hindu (New Delhi)
Tags:
Delhi, Urbanisation, Wastelands, Water Resources, Haryana
Habitat And Urbanisation

In new urban devp policy, tenants biggest winner

The state government Tuesday announced the creation of the first ever West Bengal Urban Development Policy, which enables tenants to have the same floor area in a building that comes up after the l

Publication Date: 
06/08/2014
Indian Expess (Kolkata)
Tags:
West Bengal, Urban Development, Buildings, Urbanisation, Floor Space Index (FSI), Population, Environment, Habitat And Urbanisation
Forests

Sequential restoration of urban green space in tropical dry forest region: Kulish Smriti Van, Jaipur Rajasthan, India

Creating functional urban green spaces is necessary for ecological, economic and social sustainability of urban systems. Full range of benefits of urban green spaces, however, can only be realized with the developing or enriching the vegetation with native pool of species. Yet, this reality has seldom been achieved.

Publication Date: 
01/08/2014
Deep Narayan Pandey, Neha Pandey Prakash
Rajasthan State Pollution Control Board
Tags:
Green Spaces, Tropical Forests, Jaipur, Rajasthan, Ecology, Urbanisation

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