Zooming out from the city, let’s look at the Great Green Wall (GGW). A pan-African initiative launched almost 20 years ago to combat desertification and promote socioeconomic development, it stretches from Senegal and Mauritania in the West through the Sahel to Eritrea and Ethiopia in the East.
In their report Innovation and Adaptation in the Climate Crisis: Technology for the New Normal, the World Economic Forum looks at six key technologies – like AI, drones or Earth observation- that can play a role in global climate adaptation. They certainly do, but not alone.
When we think of urban landowners, our minds (or mine, anyway) may jump to picturing vulture real-estate investment funds and greedy businessmen in black profiting from gentrification. While the links between these private investments and the housing crisis have been long documented, we (or I) can’t forget that government entities own and control typically larger areas for public infrastructure, parks, and government buildings. And that land ownership determines much more than just real estate markets.
Cities are in a curious position when it comes to climate change: they both drive it, and address it. Or at least they have a big potential to do the latter. Urban areas, responsible for over 70% of global carbon emissions due to their high concentration of population and economic activities, are also central to leading game-changing climate solutions. These require robust political commitment and governance structures that prioritize a (truly) sustainable urban development.
Plastic is all around. As per the latest research there are 3.2 million tons of plastic in the ocean, and half a million ton is added to this every year. Although this is significantly lower than previous estimations, it is still far too much. Regardless of numbers, plastic waste’s harms for biodiversity and human health haven’t diminished.
