Fast-growing cities in the East Asia and Pacific (EAP) region will define the region's energy future and its greenhouse gas (GHG) footprint. Rapid urbanization and growing standards of living offer a ...major opportunity to EAP cities to become the global engines of green growth by choosing energy efficient solutions to suit their infrastructure needs and by avoiding locking in energy-intensive infrastructure. The underlying studies in three EAP pilot cities show a clear correlation between investments in energy efficient solutions in all major infrastructure sectors and economic growth by improving energy and GHG emissions efficiency, cities not only help the global environment, but they also support local economic development through productivity gains, reduced pollution, and more efficient use of resources. Thus, the Bank is well positioned to assist municipal governments in building institutions, creating policies, developing long-term green growth plans that will attract financial support and investments from both the private sector and the donor community, and linking efficiency and low carbon programs to international concessional financing and funding, as well as to the private sector investors who will play an important role in achieving green growth objectives. This paper is organized as follows: part one focuses on urban energy use and GHG emissions in EAP; part two presents sustainable urban energy and emissions planning in three pilot cities; and part three gives sustainable urban energy and emissions planning guidebook: a guide for cities in EAP.
Connections and Complexity Abraham, Shinu Anna; Gullapalli, Praveena; Raczek, Teresa P ...
2013, 20160616
eBook
This compilation of original research articles highlight the important cross-regional, cross-chronological, and comparative approaches to political and economic landscapes in ancient South Asia and ...its neighbors. Focusing on the Indus Valley period and Iron Age India, this volume incorporates new research in South Asia within the broader universe of archaeological scholarship. Contributions focus on four major themes: reinterpreting material culture; identifying domains and regional boundaries; articulating complexity; and modeling interregional interaction. These studies develop theoretical models that may be applicable researchers studying cultural complexity elsewhere in the world.
The focus of Richard Zgusta's The Peoples of Northeast Asia through Time is the formation of indigenous ethnic and cultural groups of coastal northeast Asia. Most chapters consist of ethnographic ...summaries followed by interdisciplinary reconstructions of ethnogenesis and cultural development.
Why do some societies fare well, and others poorly, at reducing the risk of early death? Wealth, Health, and Democracy in East Asia and Latin America finds that the public provision of basic health ...care and other inexpensive social services has reduced mortality rapidly even in tough economic circumstances, and that political democracy has contributed to the provision and utilization of such social services, in a wider range of ways than is sometimes recognized. These conclusions are based on case studies of Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Costa Rica, Indonesia, South Korea, Taiwan, and Thailand, as well as on cross-national comparisons involving these cases and others.
Over the past fifteen years Northeast Asia has witnessed growing intraregional exchanges and interactions, especially in the realms of culture and economy. Still, the region cannot escape from the ...burden of history. This book examines the formation of historical memory in four Northeast Asian societies (China, Japan, South Korea, and Taiwan) and the United States focusing on the period from the beginning of the Sino-Japanese war in 1931 until the formal conclusion of the Pacific War with the San Francisco Peace Treaty of 1951. The contributors analyse the recent efforts of Korean, Japanese, and Chinese scholars to write a 'common history' of Northeast Asia and question the underlying motivations for their efforts and subsequent achievements. In doing so, they contend that the greatest obstacle to reconciliation in Northeast Asia lies in the existence of divided, and often conflicting, historical memories. The book argues that a more fruitful approach lies in understanding how historical memory has evolved in each country and been incorporated into respective master narratives. Through uncovering the existence of different master narratives, it is hoped, citizens will develop a more self-critical, self-reflective approach to their own history and that such an introspective effort has the potential to lay the foundation for greater self- and mutual understanding and eventual historical reconciliation in the region. This book will be essential reading for students and scholars of Asian history, Asian education and international relations in East Asia.
An epic historical consideration of the Mongol conquest of Western Asia and the spread of Islam during the years of non-Muslim ruleThe Mongol conquest of the Islamic world began in the early ...thirteenth century when Genghis Khan and his warriors overran Central Asia and devastated much of Iran. Distinguished historian Peter Jackson offers a fresh and fascinating consideration of the years of infidel Mongol rule in Western Asia, drawing from an impressive array of primary sources as well as modern studies to demonstrate how Islam not only survived the savagery of the conquest, but spread throughout the empire.This unmatched study goes beyond the well-documented Mongol campaigns of massacre and devastation to explore different aspects of an immense imperial event that encompassed what is now Iran, Iraq, Turkey, and Afghanistan, as well as Central Asia and parts of eastern Europe. It examines in depth the cultural consequences for the incorporated Islamic lands, the Muslim experience of Mongol sovereignty, and the conquerors' eventual conversion to Islam.
The chapters in this volume address international legal issues impacted by the legacy of the Asian region's historical experience with colonialism and its current standing in the international ...system. This volume provides a perspective on these issues from Asian legal scholars who have embarked on an analysis and discussion of the various ways in which international law and the international legal process can resolve these issues in a manner that is appropriate for the region.
The book examines the interconnections between diverse topics, such as current territorial disputes over maritime areas (which includes disputes over maritime delimitation) and the scope of exclusive economic zones in East and Southeast Asia, both of which are aspects of some of the critical political, economic, and legal issues presently confronting the region. These territorial and maritime disputes are partially due to the geography of the region, but the editors make a convincing argument for the genesis of these disputes being rooted in the legacy of the region's colonial past; a legacy which has confounded attempts at resolution of these disputes and still deeply influences international relations in the region.
Asian Approaches to International Law and the Legacy of Colonialism will be of particular interest to academics and students of International Law, Maritime Law and Asian Studies.
In examining the theory and practice of international relations in Asia, this Handbook concentrates on the countries that are pivotal to understanding Asia’s role in global and regional politics, as ...well as the processes that are responsible for the region’s particular characteristics. The Handbook begins with an investigation of the ways in which various theoretical approaches to international relations can elucidate Asia’s empirical realities. Individual chapters then examine the foreign relations and policies of specific countries or sets of countries; their political, economic, and security relations both within the Asian region as well as with the rest of the world; and the key thematic issues that draw states and peoples into particular institutions and networks. A concluding part examines Asia’s future prospects. The geographical scope of the Handbook covers Northeast Asia, Southeast Asia, South Asia, and Central Asia.