The share of air pollution that comes from road vehicles in urban areas. Road vehicles are a significant source of air pollution which can adversely affect human health
In the many slums I have visited in Latin America, Asia and Africa, I am always struck by the resourcefulness and resilience of residents. Slum dwellers face many hardships in their daily life – low incomes, overcrowded living conditions in high risk areas such as flood zones or steep hillsides, and limited access to clean water, sanitation, transport or solid waste services.
These challenges are only made worse by the impacts of climate change and natural hazards. Heavy rains can quickly turn into a disastrous flood as a result of insufficient or ineffective drainage. Such flooding can destroy the limited assets of poor households, halt economic activity, contaminate water supply, lead to disease and displace residents. With the increase in weather extremes, it is anticipated that such events will happen with recurring frequency.
In a surprising move, the Government of the Gambia through its Ministry of Foreign Affairs, International Cooperation and Gambians Abroad, in January 2012 convened the first “Consultative Meeting between the Government of the Republic of The Gambia and Gambians in the Diaspora”. According to a press release from the Office of the Gambian President, the main objective of the Consultative Meeting is to harness the potentials and talents of Gambians in the Diaspora, including those serving in International Organizations and others engaged in private ventures, which can be beneficial to the country. The release further indicated, “the meeting will facilitate the evaluation of the extent to which latent potential residing in Diaspora nationals, could be utilized to the fullest in support of Vision 2020 goals and objectives”.
Today marks an important date: The Global Knowledge Partnership on Migration and Development (KP) begins its inception phase today. With seed funding from the Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation (SDC), the KP will be a global public good, multidisciplinary, a process of synthesizing existing knowledge and creating knowledge where necessary, all with the purpose of creating a menu of policy options for policy makers (see consultation draft). The policy recommendations will be designed with careful analysis of facts and evidence. Methodologies will be closely scrutinized by peer reviewers. A 9 month inception phase will end in January 2013, and the KP will enter implementation phase in February 2013. By then, a secretariat would have been established, an Advisory Board formed, and at least 5 thematic working groups would have been identified.
En un mundo con más riesgos, el Banco Mundial recibió luz verde para intensificar su labor relativa a las redes de protección social en las Reuniones de Primavera del Banco Mundial y el Fondo Monetario Internacional (FMI) más concurridas del último decenio.
Having spent some of my formative years on the African continent, I can attest to the fact that the frequency of power blackouts desensitized citizenry to the point that power outages were neither a cause of despair nor excitement but just another mundane facet of everyday life. Power outages remain common phenomena throughout most of sub-Saharan Africa owing to various reasons such as low capacity output, over-reliance on volatile sources of energy, outdated machinery, mismatched pricing, energy theft, low collection rates, among other reasons. Over 30 countries in the continent have suffered power shortages in recent years, with detrimental economic effects including lost revenues, typically ranging between 1 and 4 percent of GDP.
Newly available data from several countries reveal that officially recorded remittance flows to developing countries reached $372 billion in 2011, an increase of 12.1 percent over 2010 (figure 1). Worldwide remittance flows, including those to high-income countries, reached $501 billion in 2011 and are expected to increase to $615 billion by 2014. Please see Migration and Development Brief 18 for global and regional data. Country-level time series data are posted here. This is higher than our earlier estimate of $351 billion.
"Creo que es importante que la información y el conocimiento acumulado por el Banco Mundial estén al alcance de todos. Las estadísticas cuentan la historia de la gente de los países en desarrollo y emergentes y pueden ser fundamentales en la lucha por superar la pobreza".
Para destacar este suceso, hemos creado un nuevo blog destinado específicamente a debatir sobre los datos y los asuntos del libre acceso relativos al desarrollo. Yo aprovecharé la oportunidad que me brinda esta primera publicación para recapitular brevemente lo logrado y, más importante aún, para esbozar algunos de los planes que tenemos para el futuro.
Dado que 2.500 millones de personas en el mundo “no están bancarizadas”, el acceso a servicios financieros como cuentas de ahorro, préstamos, créditos y seguros no solo les ayudaría a superar los tiempos difíciles y salir de la pobreza, sino que también estimularía el espíritu empresarial y el crecimiento económico, dijeron panelistas en el evento del Banco Mundial en vivo, Inclusión financiera, una manera de cerrar la brecha, en vísperas de las Reuniones de Primavera del Banco Mundial y el Fondo Monetario Internacional (FMI).
El desarrollo sostenible se basa en tres resultados: crecimiento económico, cuidado del medio ambiente y desarrollo social, que equivale a decir prosperidad, planeta y personas. Sin una atención cuidadosa a estos tres componentes, no podemos crear un mundo sostenible.
En los 25 años transcurridos desde que el desarrollo sostenible fue acuñado como término (i), ha habido avances, pero ahora el camino debe ser de crecimiento ecológico más incluyente.
Según el informe anual más reciente de la Asesora Especial del Secretario General de las Naciones Unidas para el Desarrollo Financiero Incluyente (UNSGSA, por sus siglas en inglés), alrededor de 2.700 millones de adultos aún no gozan de los beneficios de tener acceso a cuentas de ahorro, préstamos, seguros, sistemas de pagos, planes de pensiones y servicios de remesas. Los más afectados, y en forma desproporcionada, son las comunidades más pobres del mundo; por ejemplo, solo 19% de las familias de África al sur del Sahara tiene cuenta bancaria. Habiendo reconocido este desafío, en septiembre de 2009 los líderes del Grupo de los Veinte (G-20) crearon un panel de expertos para tratar temas clave en relación con la innovación financiera y el financiamiento de la pequeña y mediana empresa (pymes).
power blackouts desensitized citizenry to the point that power outages were neither a cause of despair nor excitement but just another mundane facet of everyday life. Power outages remain common phenomena throughout most of sub-Saharan Africa owing to various reasons such as low capacity output, over-reliance on volatile sources of energy, outdated machinery, mismatched pricing, energy theft, low collection rates, among other reasons. Over 30 countries in the continent have suffered power shortages in recent years, with detrimental economic effects including lost revenues, typically ranging between 1 and 4 percent of GDP.
