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This article focuses on the importance of scale to understanding urban environmental burdens and sustainability. It examines urban environmental burdens at three different scales: (1) within urban areas, where the central concern is how the quality of urban environments affects the lives of the people who live in them; (2) within urban regions...

Materials flow through cities on a daily basis, entering as needed products and leaving as wastes. Management of municipal solid waste provides both sanitation and recovery of valuable materials. At low income levels, market forces lead to recycling with no need for planning. In developing countries today, as in developed countries in the past, the...

This paper starts by tracing the origin of the informal sector and urban environmental management (UEM) paradigms. Their points of intersection in solid waste management and in the provision of water supply and sanitation are investigated based on a large number of published and unpublished studies. In addition to identifying the supply- and demand...

Despite major investments in rural development, urbanization is an irreversible trend. In the wake of rapid urbanization, international cooperation has become increasingly important to support the building of local capacity to address environmental concerns. Inter-city cooperation is a recent trend in this regard. This paper discusses the major...

Asia-Pacific Forum for Environment and Development (APFED) was established in 2001 by the Environment Congress for Asia and the Pacific (ECO ASIA), as a forum to address critical issues facing the Asia-Pacific region and to propose a model of equitable and sustainable development for the region. The 26 members of APFED were nominated by countries...

This paper examines the process to lead the adoption of the EU directive on establishing a scheme for greenhouse gas emission allowance trading within the Community, in order to identify the reasons for Germany to agree on the adoption, despite of the expected friction caused by the shift from its existing national measures, especially voluntary...

Urban environmental management is a challenge faced by many cities in Asia. At the same time, developing cities in Asia confront a number of other issues as well. While on the one hand some cities are enjoying the benefits of rapid economic growth, many of these cities are also experiencing a huge influx of poor from the surrounding areas, and some...

Asia-Pacific Forum for Environment and Development (APFED) Final Report: Paradigm Shift towards Sustainability for Asia and the Pacific -Turning Challenges into Opportunities

According to an estimation by the United Nations, 15 cities in the Asia Pacific region will become megacities with a total population exceeding 10 million by 2015, and 60 percent of the total population in the region will live in urban areas by 2030 (APFED 2005). Urban environment management in Asia is now one of the most critical subjects. Being...