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Economy
Sep 24, 2020

Rebuilding cities to generate 117 million jobs

FA News Desk

COVID-19 recovery packages that include infrastructure development will influence the relationship between cities, humans and nature for the next 30 to 50 years.

With the built environment home to half the world’s population and making up 40% of global GDP, cities are an engine of global growth and crucial to the economic recovery.

Research shows that nature-positive solutions can help cities rebuild in a healthier and more resilient way while creating opportunities for social and economic development.

The World Economic Forum’s new Future of Nature and Business Reports found that following a nature-positive pathway in the urban environment can create $3 trillion in business opportunity and 117 million jobs, WEF says.

“Business as usual is no longer sustainable,” said Akanksha Khatri, Head of the Nature Action Agenda at the World Economic Forum.

“Biodiversity loss and the broader challenges arising from rapid urban population growth, financing gaps and climate change are signaling that how we build back can be better. The good news is, there are many examples of nature-based solutions that can benefit people and planet,” he added.

Cities are responsible for 75% of global GHG emissions and are a leading cause of land, water and air pollution, which affect human health. Many cities are also poorly planned, lowering national GDP by as much as 5% due to negative impacts such as time loss, wasted fuel and air pollution. However, practical solutions exist that can make living spaces better for economic, human and planetary health.

The study, in collaboration with AlphaBeta, highlighted examples of projects deploying nature-positive solutions and the business opportunities they create in Cape Town, Singapore, Suzhou, San Francisco and Philippines.

The report identifies five complementary transitions to create nature-positive built environments and outlines the business opportunities and potential cost savings for programmes targeting urban utilities for water, electricity and waste, land planning and management, sustainable transport infrastructure and the design of buildings.
 

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