In Asia: Weekly Insight and Features from Asia

For the past 30 years, Asia has been urbanizing at a faster rate than any other region in the world. In 2011, Asia was home to roughly 61 percent of the world’s population, or 4.2 billion people. More than 40 percent of them now live in urban areas. By 2025, Asia will have 21 of the world’s 37 megacities…

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Over the last several decades, Asia has become increasingly integrated with the rest of the world, its rapid development driven largely by exports to the United States and European Union. Yet, as the world’s main economic arteries shift eastward, intra-regional integration within Asia still lags behind.

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Almost a year after Typhoon “Sendong” devastated the cities of Cagayan de Oro and Iligan in the northern part of Mindanao, Philippines, last December, the historically “typhoon-free” island experienced another similarly rare and intense tropical storm that struck on December 4.

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Last week, ADB Managing Director General Rajat M. Nag appeared in a candid conversation with Asia Foundation President David Arnold at the World Affairs Council in San Francisco. The two discussed Asia’s rapid growth, the widening gap between rich and poor…

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TIME Magazine “Hero of the Environment” and prominent Chinese grassroots leader, Zhao Zhong, recently spoke at The Asia Foundation’s headquarters in San Francisco on working with governments and corporations to increase accountability in order to protect China’s rivers.

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Last week, China launched the fourth census of its environmental protection industry. This census will gather detailed demographic information on businesses that manufacture environmentally-friendly products, such as energy-saving technologies…

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In the just-released 2012 World Risk Index, which ranks countries based on their level of vulnerability to natural disasters, 12 of the top 20 at-risk countries are in the Asia-Pacific. Vietnam, which every year endures an average of eight to 10 extreme weather events and natural disasters…

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On October 11, Time Magazine “Hero of the Environment” and prominent grassroots leader in China, Zhao Zhong, will speak at The Asia Foundation’s headquarters in San Francisco on working with governments and corporations to increase accountability in order to protect China’s rivers. Zhong is the Pacific Environment’s new China Program Coordinator based in Beijing. The [...]

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On July 2 in Sendai, Japan, nearly a year and a half after the tragic earthquake and tsunami devastated the region, The Asia Foundation will participate with Google on a conference to examine using open data in disaster relief. As the world is seeing stronger effects of climate change and other factors, floods, rising sea levels, tsunamis, and monsoons threaten the lives of millions, this is a timely moment to call attention to natural disaster management across both developed and developing countries.

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Tens of thousands are gathering in Brazil this week for the 2012 UN Conference on Sustainable Development (Rio+20), which is expected to be the largest event in the history of the United Nations. World leaders will discuss the advances that have been made over the past two decades…

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