About: urbanisation

Wetlands disappearing three times faster than forests

The planet lost a third of its wetlands between 1970 and 2015. Moreover, this decline has been accelerating since the beginning of the century due to urbanisation, agriculture and climate change. This was the Ramsar Convention’s warning in a report published on 27 September. EURACTIV France’s media partner, the Journal de l’environnement, reports.

EU-India relations come full-circle

For more than a decade, the EU and India partnership had been slow-moving and fragmented, struggling to maintain momentum. The last EU-India summit however shows EU-India relations have come full circle, writes Gauri Khandekar.

Report: Rural areas key to economic growth in developing countries

Millions of young people in developing countries who are poised to enter the labour force in the coming decades need not flee rural areas to escape poverty, according to a new FAO report published on Monday (9 October), seen in advance by EURACTIV.com.

Third of Earth’s soil is acutely degraded due to agriculture

A third of the planet’s land is severely degraded and fertile soil is being lost at the rate of 24 billion tonnes a year, according to a new United Nations-backed study that calls for a shift away from destructively intensive agriculture. EURACTIV's media partner, The Guardian, reports.

French urban development expert: ‘In 2050, 3 billion people will live in slums’

Slums develop as a response to poor city planning and a lack of affordable accommodation. While they exist all over the world, up to 90% of the population of the poorest countries live in these insecure settlements, Pierre-Arnaud Barthel told EURACTIV France.

‘Share the knowledge’ at UN’s Quito summit on cities – or wait until 2036

Some 90% of urban growth over the next 30 years will happen in developing countries. If we squander the chance to set them on the path to sustainability now, it may be lost for ever, write Eva Dic and Maria-Theres Haase.

DR Congo’s dystopian urbanisation on show in Brussels

DR Congo’s impasse between an unplanned urbanisation of slum expansion and a dystopian dream world of Dubai-inspired gated compounds is on display at a show in Brussels – the former colonial master of what is now one of the world’s poorest countries.

EU ‘slipping down’ China’s clean tech agenda

As the EU-China summit opens in Brussels today (29 June), new research points to a “delivery gap” on clean energy, which is making the EU level less relevant to Beijing than individual member states, or the US.

High time for an EU Urban Agenda

Bas Verkerk is the mayor of the Dutch city of Delft and the president of the ALDE Group in the Committee of the Regions (CoR). He is rapporteur of the CoR opinion on 'An integrated Urban Agenda for the EU'.

Germany announces new approach to Africa development cooperation

Education Minister Johanna Wanka announced a change of course for German development cooperation in Africa last Friday (20 June). In the future, projects in science and research should be regionally targeted. EURACTIV Germany reports.