The next time you feel lazy about recycling your trash, think of Kamikatsu, a Japanese municipality where its 1,400 inhabitants - mostly elderly - sort waste into more than 45 categories. (Yes, 45).
“La naturaleza es sabia”, goes a familiar Spanish saying, reminding us that ‘nature knows best’—though, truth be told, we humans tend to be slow learners (how else do you explain our tendency to pave over every inch of land, only to then miss the shade of a tree?).
It’s no secret that we start being a little cramped in cities. According to estimations, by 2050 more than two-thirds of the world’s population will be living in them. This global urbanization trend brings with it a host of socioecological challenges, such as ensuring equitable access to resources and safe and affordable housing.
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.
