needs of its inhabitants yet also allowing more efficient use of resources (Box IV-7). Yokohama in Japan has demonstrated how this can be achieved. As the population grew, new satellite towns arose. The city authorities quickly installed efficient public transport systems such as railways. They also rehabilitated a water and parkland network along the coast to enhance
ecological sustainability and serve as recreational area. Energy-saving houses were promoted, requiring mandatory building certification with subsidies for the assessment costs. Low-interest loans were made available for house owners wishing to construct green houses.40 The city has also been retrofitting buildings in industrial areas to minimize environmental harm.
Box IV-7 The Philippines – building resilience to disasters in Metro Manila
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Reducing the exposure of people and assets to disasters requires good land use planning. In 2011, the project ‘Building Resilience and Awareness of Metro Manila Communities to Natural Disaster and Climate Change Impacts’ (BRACE) was established. Starting as a pilot in Taguig city, this project aimed to reduce vulnerability and enhance resilience to risks posed by disasters and climate change. It developed a social housing model that builds safer disaster resilient settlements by addressing the needs of urban poor communities. The BRACE project builds the Government’s capacity to understand and map the risks from disasters and to strengthen community-based disaster risk management. It integrates disaster risk reduction and climate change adaptation into urban land use planning, and provides safer settlement and livelihood support for up to 1,800 vulnerable families living in hazard-prone areas. Source: Australia, 2012.
4. Exploit new technology Many new technologies, some initially with government support, now offer opportunities to diversify sources of natural resources, and use them more efficiently. In Cambodia, for example, some pilot villages without access to electricity have been trained in the manufacture of solar cooking stoves and have received entrepreneurial training so they can set up businesses to produce other clean technologies that meet basic household needs.41
New technologies are also available for monitoring climate impacts and for disaster early warning systems.These include information and communication systems, space technologies, and automatic weather stations (Box IV-8 and Box IV-9). The shortage of ‘rare earth’ minerals could be offset by technological advances that allow the use of alternative and more abundant resources, though in the short term, as prices rise, more extreme extraction techniques may become economically viable.42 103