This week on Earth Beat, mega-cities. We look at the problems facing the world’s biggest cities. From water and sewage in Mexico City to traffic in New Delhi, and breathable air in Beijing, we ask what life is like for the people who live there. Photo - smog above Beijing's second ring road.
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Mega-cities
Reductions in CO2 emissions, support for developing nations which are having to deal with the results of climate change and the protection of forests. These are the issues up for discussion by the nearly 200 countries involved in the climate summit about to begin in Cancun in Mexico.
This new round of negotiations has to produce concrete agreements to replace the Kyoto Protocol which expires in 2012. By turning the spotlight on four mega-cities – Beijing, Mexico City, Cairo and Nairobi – Radio Netherlands Worldwide is taking a look at the most important environmental issues: air pollution, safe drinking water, overpopulation and the depopulation of the countryside.
Mexico City is the largest urban area in the Western Hemisphere. Its size, valley location, and inconsistent urban planning have contributed to a number of environmental challenges. While its smog is world-famous, another major problem is water management. We sent Earth Beat correspondent Shannon Young to Mexico City to look into the issues behind those water problems.
Link - YouTube: meet the man who swims through human excrement, toxic waste, and rotting cadavers to keep Mexico's wastewater where it belongs - from National Geographic.
Beijing’s grey skies
The blue sky that we saw during the Olympics were a mere window in Beijing’s smoggy sky history. As China’s megacities prepare for winter, we will see emissions, emissions and more emissions, caused by residents illegally burning coal bricks. Earth Beat’s Beijing correspondent Marije Vlaskamp tells host Marnie Chesterton what it’s like to live there.
Delhi’s traffic chaos
Delhi may be a city divided by class, but everyone comes together on the roads. Author Rana Dasgupta describes how the city can no longer cope with car mania in his essay Capital Gains. And correspondent Tinku Ray describes how crossing the road in India’s capital can mean taking your life into your own hands.
Cairo’s satellite towns
If the main problems in mega-cities result from rising populations, why not move the people out? Eric Beauchemin visited Cairo where they built satellite cities around the city in a bid to create more space. But as he reports, not everyone is happy about living in them, and some claim they’ve even made the situation worse.
Link - read Eric's report from Cairo.
Low expectations from COP16
After the media frenzy surrounding last year’s climate summit in Copenhagen, this year’s follow-up in Cancun is a damp squib in comparison. Many leaders have stayed away from the talks and as environmental journalist Fred Pearce explains, we shouldn’t hold out for a global agreement.
Kiribati fights to prevent going under
The South Pacific island of Kiribati faces a growing dilemma, as the world’s sea levels rise and it’s threatened with disappearing into the ocean. Allanah Banning helps train nurses on the island so they can relocate to safer ground in the future. She told Marnie about the progress being made on the project.
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