This report looks at progress made in “growing greener cities” in Latin America and the Caribbean – cities in which urban and peri-urban agriculture is recognized by public policy, included in urban development strategies and land-use planning, supported by agricultural research and extension, and linked to sources of technological innovation, investment and credit, and to urban markets and consumers.
"This report looks at progress made in 'growing green cities' in Latin America and the Caribbean---cities in which urban and peri-urban agriculture is recognized by public policy, including in urban development strategies and land-use planning, supported by agricultural research and extension, and linked to sources of technological innovation, investment and credit, and to urban markets and consumers."--Publisher's description.
The Second Global Plan of Action addresses new challenges, such as climate change and food insecurity, as well as novel opportunities, including information, communication and molecular methodologies. It contains 18 priority activities organized in four main groups: In situ conservation and management; Ex situ conservation; Sustainable use; and Building sustainable institutional and human capacities.
Planning Sustainable Cities: An infrastructure-based approach provides an analytical framework for urban sustainability, focusing on the services and performance of infrastructure systems. The book approaches infrastructure as a series of systems that function in synergy and are directly linked with urban planning. This method streamlines and guides the planning process, while still highlighting detail, each infrastructure system is decoded in four "system levels". The levels organize the processes, highlight connections between entities and decode the high-level planning and decision making process affecting infrastructure. For each system level strategic objectives of planning are determined. The objectives correspond to the five focus areas of the Zofnass program: Quality of life, Natural World, Climate and Risk, Resource Allocation, Leadership. Developed through the Zofnass Program at the Harvard Graduate School of Design, this approach integrates the key infrastructure systems of Energy, Landscape, Transportation, Waste, Water, Information and Food and explores their synergies through land use planning, engineering, economics and policy. The size and complexity of infrastructure systems means that multiple stakeholders facing their own challenges and agendas are involved in planning; this book creates a common, collaborative platform between public authorities, planners, and engineers. It is an essential resource for those seeking Envision Sustainability Professionals accreditation.
Globally, 30% of the world population lived in urban areas in 1950, 54% in 2016 and 66% projected by 2050. The most urbanized regions include North America, Latin America, and Europe. Urban encroachment depletes soil carbon and the aboveground biomass carbon pools, enhancing the flux of carbon from soil and vegetation into the atmosphere. Thus, urbanization has exacerbated ecological and environmental problems. Urban soils are composed of geological material that has been drastically disturbed by anthropogenic activities and compromised their role in the production of food, aesthetics of residential areas, and pollutant dynamics. Properties of urban soils are normally not favorable to plant growth—the soils are contaminated by heavy metals and are compacted and sealed. Therefore, the quality of urban soils must be restored to make use of this valuable resource for delivery of essential ecosystem services (e.g., food, water and air quality, carbon sequestration, temperature moderation, biodiversity). Part of the Advances in Soil Sciences Series, Urban Soils explains properties of urban soils; assesses the effects of urbanization on the cycling of carbon, nitrogen, and water and the impacts of management of urban soils, soil restoration, urban agriculture, and food security; evaluates ecosystem services provisioned by urban soils, and describes synthetic and artificial soils.
Against the background of unprecedented rates of urbanisation in the Global South, leading to massive social, economic and environmental transformations, this book engages with the dire need to understand the ecology of such settings as the foundation for fostering sustainable and resilient human settlements in contexts that are very different to the Global North. It does so by bringing together scholars from around the world, drawing together research and case studies from across the Global South to illustrate, in an interdisciplinary and comprehensive fashion, the ecology of towns and cities in the Global South. Framed using a social-ecological systems lens, it provides the reader with an in-depth analysis and understanding of the ecological dynamics and ecosystem services and disservices within the complex and rapidly changing towns and cities of the Global South, a region with currently scarce representation in most of the urban ecology literature. As such the book makes a call for greater geographical balance in urban ecology research leading towards a more global understanding and frameworks. The book embraces the complexity of these rapid transformations for ecological and environmental management and how the ecosystems and the benefits they provide shape local ecologies, livelihood opportunities and human wellbeing, and how such knowledge can be mobilised towards improved urban design and management and thus urban sustainability.
Cities are the world's future. Today, more than half of the global population--3.7 billion people--are urban dwellers, and that number is expected to double by 2050. There is no question that cities are growing; the only debate is over how they will grow. Will we invest in the physical and social infrastructure necessary for livable, equitable, and sustainable cities? In the latest edition of State of the World, the flagship publication of the Worldwatch Institute, experts from around the globe examine the core principles of sustainable urbanism and profile cities that are putting them into practice. From Ahmedabad, India to Freiburg, Germany, local people are acting to improve their cities, even when national efforts are stalled. Issues examined range from the nitty-gritty of handling waste and developing public transportation to civic participation and navigating dysfunctional government. The result is a snapshot of cities today and a vision for global urban sustainability tomorrow.
Environmental Impact of Agro-Food Industry and Food Consumption covers trends associated with the impact of food production on the environment using lifecycle analysis and the standard methods used to estimate the food industry's environmental impact. The book discusses city-scale actions to estimate the environmental impact of food systems, including the meat chain, feeding crops to farmed fish, the confectionary industry, agriculture, tea processing, cheese production, the dairy industry, cold chain, and ice cream production. Food waste and consumption in hospitality and global diets round out these interesting discussions. Written for food scientists, technologists, engineers, chemists, governmental regulatory bodies, environmentalists, environmental technologists, environmental engineers, researchers, academics and professionals working in the food industry, this book is an essential resource on sustainability in the food industry. - Addresses all levels of the food chain - Provides solutions for the food industry to estimate and reduce environmental impact - Assists members of the food industry in optimizing their current performance and reducing their environmental footprint
This third edition reviews the epidemiology, policies, programs and outcome indicators that are used to determine improvements in nutrition and health that lead to development. This greatly expanded third edition provides policy makers, nutritionists, students, scientists, and professionals with the most recent and up-to-date knowledge regarding major health and nutritional problems in developing countries. Policies and programs that address the social and economic determinants of nutrition and health are now gaining in importance as methods to improve the status of the most vulnerable people in the world. This volume provides the most current research and strategies so that policy makers, program managers, researchers and students have knowledge and resources that they can use to advance methods for improving the public’s health and the development of nations. The third edition of Nutrition and Health in Developing Countries takes on a new context where the word “developing” is now a verb and not an adjective.
