Биология
Различные книги в жанре БиологияProtecting the Meghna River
This publication explores the potential of the Meghna River as an alternative water source for Dhaka. It also describes the fragile state of the city's current drinking water supply due to increasing demand and surface contamination. The authors assess the threats facing the Meghna River and identify protection measures needed to ensure that it can provide a sustainable and safe supply of drinking water. These measures include designating ecological critical areas, promoting cleaner industrial production, monitoring pollution, controlling wastewater discharges and pesticide use, and empowering local stewardship of the river.
Climate Change Profile of Pakistan
Catastrophic floods, droughts, and cyclones have plagued Pakistan in recent years. The 2010 flood killed 1,600 people and caused around $10 billion in damage. The 2015 Karachi heat wave led to the death of more than 1,200 people. Climate change-related natural hazards may increase in frequency and severity in the coming decades. Climatic changes are expected to have wide-ranging impacts on Pakistan, affecting agricultural productivity, water availability, and increased frequency of extreme climatic events. Addressing these risks requires climate change to be mainstreamed into national strategy and policy. This publication provides a comprehensive overview of climate change science and policy in Pakistan.
Sustainable Land Management in Asia
The Asian Development Bank has introduced significant changes in the way farmers and other stakeholders view and benefit from evolving approaches to sustainable land management (SLM) practices. Firmly embedded in SLM are the management and climate resilience of natural resources, which can be enhanced and scaled up by adopting a «landscape approach.» This publication sets out how the landscape approach can contribute to overcoming major environmental and developmental challenges–focusing on rural areas of Asia and by examining prevalent forms of SLM (namely participatory forest management, terraces, conservation agriculture, and home gardens). This publication seeks to strengthen awareness of the landscape approach and facilitate the integration of its key elements into cooperation programs with its developing members.
Agricultural Production and Groundwater Conservation
Climate change and declining water resources threaten food production systems worldwide, increasing the need for efficient agricultural processes. The Shanxi Province of the People's Republic of China has been experiencing declining groundwater tables since 1956. This publication provides examples of how the Asian Development Bank's development support met the rising challenges in water security, food production, and climate change faced by communities in the Shanxi Province. It describes initiatives in four counties in the Shanxi Province selected as pilot areas, where traditional farmers learned modern methods of groundwater use and management. As a result, options for more sustainable use of groundwater were introduced, while farm labor was reduced, crop yields increased, and water was used more efficiently.
Southeast Asia and the Economics of Global Climate Stabilization
Climate change is a global concern of special relevance to Southeast Asia, a region that is both vulnerable to the effects of climate change and a rapidly increasing emitter of greenhouse gases (GHGs). This study focuses on five countries of Southeast Asia that collectively account for 90% of regional GHG emissions in recent years–Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, Thailand, and Viet Nam. It applies two global dynamic economy–energy–environment models under an array of scenarios that reflect potential regimes for regulating global GHG emissions through 2050. The modeling identifies the potential economic costs of climate inaction for the region, how the countries can most efficiently achieve GHG emission mitigation, and the consequences of mitigation, both in terms of benefits and costs. Drawing on the modeling results, the study analyzes climate-related policies and identifies how further action can be taken to ensure low-carbon growth.
Handbook on Construction Techniques
The report highlights a broad spectrum of environmental impacts triggered due to construction, operation, and maintenance and their mitigation for four sectors: (i) power transmission, (ii) distribution, (iii) run-of-river hydropower, and (iv) solar photovoltaic generation projects for dissemination among Asian Development Bank specialists working in the energy sector and environment fields.
Environmentally Sustainable Development in the People's Republic of China
The rapid pace of growth, the sectoral structure of the economy, the sources of energy used, and increased urbanization are four large-scale drivers behind the complex environmental agenda of the People's Republic of China (PRC). To improve the quality of the ambient environment, the recently released Macro Strategic Research Report on the PRC's Environment recognized the need for changing the momentum of the four driving forces, and included visions throughout 2050 for long-term environmentally sustainable development. Revisiting these visions for the future, this paper examines the key elements that the government needs to keep in mind in its efforts toward environmentally sustainable development, and articulates the role that the Asian Development Bank can play in contributing to the government's environmental agenda in the next decade.
Toward an Environmentally Sustainable Future
This publication presents the results of a 2-year effort to update environmental assessment in the People's Republic of China (PRC). The research was a collaborative effort involving the Asian Development Bank (ADB), the Ministry of Environmental Protection, the National Development and Reform Commission, and numerous other technical and research institutions in the PRC. Based on this research and extensive consultations, ADB proposes a wide range of programs and policies that will help improve environmental quality despite new and emerging sources of pollution and challenges to natural resources management. Inclusive growth and a green economy are the government's guiding principles for its development agenda under the 12th Five-Year Plan and beyond to 2020. To support these principles, the PRC needs to restructure its economic and fiscal systems to reflect environmental externality, expand the use of market-based instruments to control pollution, and introduce and implement legal reforms to clarify responsibility and promote cooperation.
Toolkit for Public–Private Partnerships in Urban Water Supply for the State of Maharashtra, India
Under the joint initiative of the Government of India and the Asian Development Bank (ADB), «Mainstreaming PPPs in India,» ADB supports state public–private partnership (PPP) cells in several challenging sectors in state-specific activities to arrive at possible PPP structures. In Maharashtra, ADB supported the Department of Urban Development and Water Supply and Sanitation to develop possible PPP structures in the water supply and sanitation sector. After studying possible PPP structures, their applicability in the context of selected sample cities were assessed leading to the development of proposed term sheets, which were identified as suitable and feasible for implementation. This tool kit is expected to assist the relevant public entities in Maharashtra state for developing PPP-based projects in water supply and sanitation, and may also be used as reference by similar other cities across the country.
Economics of Reducing Greenhouse Gas Emissions in South Asia
Against a backdrop of increasing emission of greenhouse gases (GHGs) that are responsible for global climate change, the South Asia developing member countries (DMCs) of the Asian Development Bank have been witnessing a steady rise in fossil fuels and energy consumption and demand, keeping pace with their economic growth. The region's major challenge is how to achieve sustained and rapid economic growth for reducing poverty while reducing the overall intensity of energy use, increasing energy efficiency, and substituting to cleaner energy. This report synthesizes the results of national studies on options and costs of reducing GHG emissions in five South Asia DMCs–Bangladesh, Bhutan, the Maldives, Nepal, and Sri Lanka. It examines the economics of cleaner technologies that promote low-carbon development and climate change mitigation, identifies constraints and barriers that reduce incentives to invest in GHG emission-reducing technologies, and recommends actions and enabling conditions to overcome the barriers.