Title:	Climate Change and Sustainable Urban Development in Africa and Asia
Authors:	Belinda Yuen Asfaw Kumssa
Keywords:	Local Development
Issue Date:	2011
Description:	This book is about two of the world’s fastest growing regions: Africa and Asia. They are the world’s two largest and most populous continents. Many of the world’s poorest people – those living on less than US $1 a day live in these regions. Their urban areas are fast expanding, most with inadequate solid waste management, sanitation, clean water, housing and living space and are at risk from increased frequency and intensity of extreme weather events and sea level rise. To illustrate; more than 70% of the urban population in sub-Sahara Africa lives in slums. More than half of the population of Mumbai, India’s richest city, lives in slums (Mehta and Dastur 2008). By 2020, some 75–80% of the world’s total urban population is projected to live in developing countries, with the largest increases anticipated in Africa and Asia. This development trajectory and the increased incidence of natural disasters and diseases caused by climate change will challenge cities already bur- dened with urban growth. How can these cities prepare for the urban future? The effects of climate change are expected to be most keenly felt in cities, which in turn have the greatest impact on climate change. For most cities in Africa and Asia, the pressure to address climate change is mounting. More than half of the world’s low elevation coastal cities are in Asia and 15% in Africa. Their heavily populated river deltas and low elevation coastal zones, including capital cities such as Bangkok, Jakarta and Tokyo, may become inundated (UN-HABITAT 2008a; Asian Development Bank 2009). Just like many other cities around the world, the goal is to reduce GHG emissions and prepare for the future. Climate change has become a major national, regional and international problem cutting across developed and developing countries.
URI:	http://10.6.20.12:80/handle/123456789/26401
ISBN:	978-90-481-9867-2
Appears in Collections:	Regional and Local Development Studies

Items in DSpace are protected by copyright, with all rights reserved, unless otherwise indicated.