Blogs

In many communities along the West African coast, it is becoming increasingly dangerous, and in some cases impossible, to live close to the sea, because the beach is disappearing at an alarming rate.

Geosynthetic Reinforced Soil (GRS) abutments allow for rapid and resilient construction of bridges using locally available materials, without specialized equipment. With GRS, bridges can be constructed in as little as five days and at a cost 30-50% lower than traditional approaches.

Since 2002, more than 260,000 kilometers of road were constructed or rehabilitated by World Bank supported projects. For these investments, and future Bank transport investments, to really realize their intended impact, we believe it is critical that they are resilient to climate and possible climate change.

In response to rapid urbanization, flooding, and other stresses in and around La Paz, the government of Bolivia is developing a comprehensive urban development policy.

Across the Europe and Central Asia region today, policymakers are confronted daily with a wide range of development challenges and decisions, but the potential impacts of adverse natural events and climate change – such as earthquakes or flooding – may not always be first and foremost in their thoughts.

What are some of the key issues that will shape global development in 2017? In the timeline below, revisit some of the stories on sustainable development from last year.

Twenty months after the earthquake that took lives and devastated livelihoods, people are receiving their first payments under a GFDRR-supported housing reconstruction project and are rebuilding their homes to higher standards. This will hopefully make them safer when the next earthquake hits.

While urbanization brings people closer to new economic and sociocultural opportunities, persons with disabilities still face a range of constraints in many cities, such as inaccessible buildings and public spaces, limited transportation options, inaccessible housing, and barriers in using technology-enabled virtual environments.

If cities fail to build their resilience to disasters, shocks, and ongoing stresses, the average annual loss from natural disasters in cities will rise to $314 billion by 2030, and 77 million more city dwellers will fall into poverty, according to a new World Bank/GFDRR report presented at COP22.

To help African countries better manage these challenges in the future, the World Bank, with support from the Global Facility for Disaster Reduction and Recovery (GFDRR), has put together the “Africa Disaster Risk Management (DRM) Strategic Framework 2016-2020,” which charts the way toward developing disaster and climate resilience in the region.