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Disaster risk management a top priority on the international stage this week

Joe Leitmann's picture

Photo by Joe Qian / World Bank

How many school children can be endangered by the schools themselves? The answer was over 600,000 in metropolitan Lima alone.
 
In the region, fraught with frequent seismic activity, nearly two-thirds of schools were highly vulnerable to damage by earthquakes. Working with the Peruvian Ministry of Education (MINEDU), the World Bank and the Global Facility for Disaster Reduction and Recovery (GFDRR) conducted a risk assessment that ultimately helped make an estimated 2.5 million children safer and paved the way for a $3.1 billion national risk-reduction strategy.
 
Whether it is building safer schools or deploying early warning systems, disaster risk management is an integral part of caring for our most vulnerable, combating poverty, and protecting development gains.
 
Disaster risk management is a development imperative. Over the last 30 years, the world has lost an estimated $3.8 trillion to natural disasters. Disasters disproportionately affect the poor, threatening to roll back gains in economic and social wellbeing worldwide, and to undo decades of development progress overnight.

Connecting pension funds with emerging market infrastructure

Joaquim Levy's picture

It might sound improbable to hear a CFO say this, but I consider one of my roles since joining the World Bank Group to be that of matchmaker. Let me explain.

As I have noted in other blogs over recent months, the world’s emerging market and developing economies—EMDEs for short—face an enormous gap in infrastructure investment. Certainly it is not the only big financing challenge that countries face as they work to reduce poverty and extend prosperity to more of their citizens. But infrastructure underpins many aspects of economic growth, getting people to jobs and schools, connecting goods to markets, reducing the isolation of the poorest areas in many countries.  And by some estimates, the sector’s funding gap is as high as a trillion dollars. 

The future of transport

Mahmoud Mohieldin's picture
Also available in: 中文 | Español | العربية | Français

ASHGABAT, TURKMENISTAN – There are 1.25 million lives lost in road accidents annually—90% of these in low -income countries. Air pollution leads to around 6.5 million deaths each year. And almost 25% of energy-related greenhouse gas emissions come from transport systems. To ensure a sustainable future for this planet, the transport sector must undergo a massive transformation.

Without sustainable transport, we won’t be able to make progress on the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and climate change. This was the topic of discussion at the first-ever United Nations Conference on Sustainable Transport in Ashgabat, Turkmenistan, which took place November 26-27, 2016. The event brought together all transport stakeholders—public and private—to discuss how to move from global commitments on transport to concrete action.

Big data innovation – moving from ideas to implementation

Trevor Monroe's picture

If you want to do something fast, do something that has already been done. If you want to hardwire a data innovation into World Bank Operations, be prepared to involve others in a process of learning by doing.  – Holly Krambeck, Senior Transport Specialist, WBG



As the world grows more connected, data flows from a multitude of sources. Mobile networks, social media, satellites, grounds sensors, and machine-to-machine transactions are being used along with traditional data--like household surveys--to improve insights and actions toward global goals.
 
At the World Bank, a cadre of pioneering economists and sector specialists are putting big data in action. Big data sources are being harnessed to lead innovations like:

  • satellites to track rural electrification, to monitor crop yields and to predict poverty;
  • taxi GPS data to monitor traffic flows and congestion
  • mobile phone data for insights into human mobility and behavior, as well as infrastructure and socio-economic conditions 

Field of Dreams: Mapping the Landscape for Investing in Emerging Market Infrastructure

Joaquim Levy's picture
Also available in: Français | Español

Estimates of the financing gap for emerging market infrastructure range from nearly half a trillion USD to more than US$1 trillion a year over the next decade. The range reflects the difference between the estimated level of infrastructure needed to sustain growth across emerging markets and the actual level of such investment.
 
The challenges are immense, and resources are scarce. Of the financing that does exist, more than 70% comes from national government budgets; the second largest source (roughly 20%) is the private sector; and remaining resources come from overseas development assistance or aid from developed economies1. Given the overstretched demands of public sector budgets in developed and developing countries alike, any increase is likely to come through more partnership and co-financing from the private sector. 

E se pudéssemos ajudar as cidades a planejarem de forma eficaz um futuro com um nível mais baixo de carbono?

Stephen Hammer's picture
Also available in: Français | Español

Inglês | Chinês

Banco Mundial

Se a mudança do clima fosse um quebra-cabeça, as cidades seriam uma peça-chave bem no centro. Isso foi reforçado por mais de 100 países no mundo inteiro, destacando as cidades como elemento crítico de suas estratégias de redução da emissão de gases de efeito estufa (GHG) em seus planos climáticos nacionais (também conhecidos como Contribuições Intencionais Nacionalmente Determinadas/INDCs) apresentados à Convenção-Quadro das Nações Unidas sobre Mudança do Clima (UNFCCC) em 2015.

Desde a subsequente assinatura do Acordo de Paris, esses países mudaram de rumo e passaram a transformar seus planos climáticos em ações. E se, como muitos se perguntaram, pudéssemos encontrar uma forma econômica e eficiente para ajudar as cidades – tanto nos países em desenvolvimento quanto nos desenvolvidos – a adotarem um caminho de crescimento de baixo carbono?

Ending poverty means closing the gaps between women and men

Sri Mulyani Indrawati's picture

A woman in a Niger village cooks for her family. Photo © Stephan Gladieu/World Bank

For the first time in history, the number of people living in extreme poverty has fallen below 10%. The world has never been as ambitious about development as it is today. After adopting the Sustainable Development Goals and signing the Paris climate deal at the end of 2015, the global community is now looking into the best and most effective ways of reaching these milestones. In this five-part series I will discuss what the World Bank Group is doing and what we are planning to do in key areas that are critical for ending poverty by 2030: good governance, gender equality, conflict and fragility, creating jobs, and, finally, preventing and adapting to climate change.

The world is a better place for women and girls in 2016 than even a decade ago. But not for everyone, and definitely not everywhere: This is especially true in the world’s poorest, most fragile countries.
 
It’s also particularly true regarding women’s economic opportunities. Gender gaps in employment, business, and access to finance hold back not just individuals but whole economies—at a time when we sorely need to boost growth and create new jobs globally.

Sustainable tourism, a unique opportunity for developing countries

Ede Ijjasz-Vasquez's picture
With the number of international visitor arrivals now exceeding 1 billion a year, tourism has become one of the fastest-growing sectors of the global economy: overall, the travel and tourism industry contributes to almost 10% of the world’s GDP, and is linked to 1 in 11 jobs.
 
The trend has largely benefited developing countries, which for the first time last year received more tourists than the developed world. At the World Bank, we believe that tourism, when done right, can provide our clients with a unique chance to grow their economies, bolster inclusion, and protect their environmental and cultural assets.
 
In this video, Lead Urban Specialist Ahmed Eiweida tells us more about the potential of sustainable tourism, and explains the Bank’s role in helping low and middle-income countries make the most of the international travel boom.

Finding employment for young people of all abilities

Matt Hobson's picture
Young women from family with members with disabilities being taught to use a sewing machine.
India. Photo: © John Isaac / World Bank

Today is the International Day of Persons with Disabilities.
 
In every society globally, unemployment rates for persons with disabilities are higher than for people without disabilities. The International Labor Organization reports that, in some Asia-Pacific countries, the unemployment rate of people living with disabilities is over 80%. 

Including persons with disabilities into development: the way forward

Ede Ijjasz-Vasquez's picture
An estimated 15% of the global population, or about 1 billion people, experience some form of disability. Persons with disabilities face many barriers in access to employment, education, services, and are disproportionately affected by poverty. Making sure that everyone can reap the benefits of development, including persons with disabilities, is at the core of the World Bank's mission. On this International Day of Persons with Disabilities, Charlotte McClain-Nhlapo, the World Bank's Global Advisor on Disability, shares insights about current challenges and opportunities for disability-inclusive development, and explains how the institution has been integrating disability into its operations.

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