Posts tagged with 'United Nations'
Most people now live in cities and cities are growing rapidly. We are living in the midst of the urbanization age, an age that started in earnest at the beginning of the 19th century, when people first decided en masse ...
This past Wednesday (October 7) marked the celebration of the fifteenth annual International Walk to School Day. Schools in more than 40 countries across the globe participated in the event—including the U.S., Turkey, Brazil and China—encouraging students to walk with ...
This weekend, from September 25 – 27, more than 150 world leaders will convene in New York City for the United Nations Sustainable Development Summit to develop the new sustainable development goals (SDGs). This agreement will serve as the foundation ...
Participation, Transparency and Efficiency: the True Indicators of Modernization in the 21st Century
When I was a kid growing up in Brazil, all governments in Latin America were right-wing military dictatorships. Today they are all center-left wing democracies—seemingly representing extraordinary progress. However, socio-economic indicators and trust in government have hardly improved. In the ...
Energy efficiency improvements in the building sector can yield significant financial and environmental benefits including reduced energy costs, decreased greenhouse gas emissions, improved occupant health and increased local employment. However, long standing market and policy barriers stand in the way ...
Though our planet is home to one hundred and ninety independent nations, the UN Climate Conference in Paris this December reminds us that all countries share a single, collective future. Indeed, in order to keep the global temperature rise from ...
Foreword: The upcoming United Nations Climate Summit comes at a critical time for cities worldwide. Cities already account for 70% of global greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, and between 2011 and 2030, urban areas are expected to gain 1.4 billion people. ...
At the 2012 Rio+20 Summit, the United Nations member states began the ambitious process of defining the social and economic priorities for humanity over the next fifteen years. The open and participatory process and the initial negotiations amongst the world’s ...
According to the United Nations, temperatures are likely to warm anywhere from 3 to 6 degrees Fahrenheit by 2100, and scientists warn that “the world is ill-equipped to deal with the impacts of warming.” To help the lives impacted by ...
Editor’s note: A previous version of this article incorrectly stated that the third Global Road Safety Week occurred in April 2014. The third Global Road Safety week is planned for 2015. Already there are 1.2 million traffic-related deaths per year worldwide. ...
José Viegas, Secretary General of the International Transport Forum, on how to reduce traffic deaths
Traffic figures in Brazilian cities reflect a real civil war – on average, 109 people die every day and about 1,000 are injured in streets throughout the country. Just this past year, more than 40,000 died and 40 billion dollars were ...
In order for a system to be truly accessible, it must be accessible at all links in the transport chain. Photo by EMBARQ. Ten percent of the world’s population has a disability. That’s 650 million people, 80% of whom live ...
2013 STA winner Mexico City impressed the committee with its extensive BRT system, Metrobús. Photo by ITDP. EMBARQ, together with the rest of the Sustainable Transport Award (STA) Committee, invites you to nominate your city for the 10th Annual Sustainable ...
More than 270,000 pedestrians are killed in run-ins with cars and other motor vehicles each year around the world. On Brazilian roads alone, over 10,000 pedestrian lives are lost each year. This staggeringly high number reaffirms the urgent need to ...
Pedestrian Safety is the theme the United Nations’ second annual Global Road Safety Week, May 6-12, 2013. Five thousand pedestrians are killed in road accidents each week across the world. In an urban environment that often places cars, motorcycles and ...
