Posts tagged with 'South Africa'
From Minibuses to 'Boda Bodas,' Informal Transport Systems Could Be an Untapped Climate Change Solution
From Minibuses to ‘Boda Bodas,’ Informal Transport Systems Could Be an Untapped Climate Change Solution
Over 50% of all transport-related emissions come from high-income countries, where people are more likely to own and depend on personal vehicles. Meanwhile, less than 1% is generated by low-income countries in regions like sub-Saharan Africa and Latin America. In these ...
Creating a 'Digital Commons' to Harness Data for Africa’s Urban Transport Systems 
Creating a ‘Digital Commons’ to Harness Data for Africa’s Urban Transport Systems 
In Africa, as elsewhere, advances in computing power, data storage, and sensor and satellite technologies have unleashed unprecedented opportunities but also challenges. The mobile phone has become a powerful tool for generating vast amounts of data. This data can, in ...
What to Watch at the First Africa Climate Summit
What to Watch at the First Africa Climate Summit
Climate change is already having a significant impact on Africa’s ecosystems, economy and society. This year alone, 1.8 million Africans were displaced during a prolonged drought, the Democratic Republic of Congo experienced catastrophic flooding, and Cyclone Freddy left a trail of destruction in Malawi and Mozambique. ...
25 Countries, Housing One-quarter of the Population, Face Extremely High Water Stress
25 Countries, Housing One-quarter of the Population, Face Extremely High Water Stress
New data from WRI’s Aqueduct Water Risk Atlas show that 25 countries — housing one-quarter of the global population — face extremely high water stress each year, regularly using up almost their entire available water supply. And at least 50% of the ...
Electrifying South Africa’s Minibus Taxi Industry: A Data-Driven Approach
Electrifying South Africa’s Minibus Taxi Industry: A Data-Driven Approach
The minibus taxi (MBT) industry is the backbone of South Africa’s public transportation system with a fleet of approximately 250,000 vehicles, operated by thousands of providers, employing some 600,000 drivers. MBTs account for 80% of all journeys taken by taxi ...
South African Cities Show Commitment to Accelerate Water Resilience at 2023 UN Water Conference
South African Cities Show Commitment to Accelerate Water Resilience at 2023 UN Water Conference
South Africa’s cities are economic engines, drawing workers across the country and the continent. Of the country’s 58.8 million population, 68% live in urban areas. Between 2000 and 2014, urban area in South Africa expanded by 1,464 km2. Population projections ...
The Power of Multistakeholder Collaboration in Creating More Equitable and Sustainable Cities
The Power of Multistakeholder Collaboration in Creating More Equitable and Sustainable Cities
The latest UN climate conference, COP27 in Sharm el Sheikh, Egypt, was a significant one for cities in many respects. Delegates established a new fund to help vulnerable countries deal with loss and damages from climate impacts, and some of ...
3 Essentials for Integrated Urban Climate Action
3 Essentials for Integrated Urban Climate Action
Cities have never been more engaged on climate action. At the 2021 UN Climate Change Conference (COP26), more than 1,100 cities representing a quarter of global CO2 emissions signed up to the Cities Race to Zero. In doing so, they committed ...
4 Initiatives Working to Map and Improve Informal Transit in Africa
4 Initiatives Working to Map and Improve Informal Transit in Africa
The Digital Transport for Africa (DT4A) initiative, led by WRI and partners and funded by the French Development Agency (AFD), has selected four winners of the first-ever DT4A Innovation Challenge. From private companies to universities and NGOs, these initiatives are helping to shift ...
How Cities Can Rethink Housing After COVID-19
How Cities Can Rethink Housing After COVID-19
When the world shut down last March, the urban housing conversation took on a radically different hue. Suddenly, housing was a public health concern – which, of course, it always had been. Where you live, and under what conditions, appeared ...
A Green Recovery Starts with Cities
A Green Recovery Starts with Cities
National governments face an enormous triple challenge right now: recovering from COVID-19, creating sustainable and inclusive development, and addressing the climate crisis. New research shows that focusing on cities is key to overcoming these challenges while generating considerable economic, social and environmental benefits. A ...
Better Trash Collection for a Stronger Recovery: Solid Waste Management as a Pillar of Urban Change
Better Trash Collection for a Stronger Recovery: Solid Waste Management as a Pillar of Urban Change
Solid waste workers have been indispensable to protecting cities around the world during the COVID-19 pandemic. Their heroic examples, from India to Vietnam to Latin America, have helped cities keep moving. But a critical alignment of factors is making their ...
Responding to Day Zero Equitably: Water Crisis Lessons from Cape Town and Chennai
Responding to Day Zero Equitably: Water Crisis Lessons from Cape Town and Chennai
When Cape Town, South Africa, and Chennai, India nearly ran out of water, these two cities managed to avert Day Zero with solutions that were creative and effective but far from perfect. In Cape Town, there were mile-long queues of people waiting for hours for water. ...
5 National Transport Policies to Build Thriving Cities
5 National Transport Policies to Build Thriving Cities
Over the past 50 years, transport planners have tended to focus on reducing congestion to improve people’s mobility within cities. But increasing road capacity, vehicle speeds and parking spaces have not solved urban traffic. Building more roads and parking just ...
17 Countries, Home to One-Quarter of the World’s Population, Face Extremely High Water Stress
17 Countries, Home to One-Quarter of the World’s Population, Face Extremely High Water Stress
Once-unthinkable water crises are becoming commonplace. Reservoirs in Chennai, India’s sixth-largest city, are nearly dry right now. Last year, residents of Cape Town, South Africa narrowly avoided their own “Day Zero” water shut-off. And the year before that, Rome rationed water to conserve scarce ...
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