India has been making significant progress in responding to the demands of today’s cities by incorporating robust space technologies and GIS into the urban planning, transport management and traffic navigation techniques.
In early April 2020, tropical cyclone Harold, a severe category 5 cyclone, hit countries within the Pacific region, causing major damage and widespread destruction.
Effective and innovative Big Data processing and analysis is becoming increasingly important for risk assessment in data-scarce locations, particularly when defining and scaling up the present human and economic value of assets and when characterizing the natural hazards to which they may be exposed. This is driven primarily by dramatic increases in the volume and spatial/temporal resolution of remotely-sensed datasets and by social media sourced derivatives. Here, we present a few examples from Uttarakhand.
UNEP is leading a session on locally-led and urban Ecosystem-based Adaptation (EbA) in Asia-Pacific and on an urban EbA decision-making toolkit at the Gobeshona Global Conference on January 19, 2021.
Rapid rate of urbanization in Ulaanbaatar in recent decades has led to accelerated rates of deforestation within the city’s Green Zone. UNESCAP and UN-Habitat has been working closely with The Asia Foundation to tackle issues surrounding Sustainable Forestry Management in Ulaanbaatar on the Localizing the 2030 Agenda in Asian-Pacific Cities project via a Sustainable Urban Resource Management Approach. Check out this video to hear about Ulaanbaatar’s call to action to protect their forests and how the SDGs are at play in this effort.
What are ‘Nature-based solutions’, or NbS? How can they help build resilience to disasters and climate change impacts? Why is NbS relevant? How can I apply NbS in my work and everyday life?
The direct and indirect impacts of the “COVID-19 shock” on the Asia-Pacific region have unfolded rapidly, varied widely by country and continue to affect economies. In response, the majority of Asia-Pacific governments have taken strong and innovative COVID-19 response measures to support their poorest, especially in job creation. But how “green” have these measures been? Have any countries in the region accelerated their plans and finance for acting on climate change, as part of a “green recovery”?