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Articles by Xavier Espinet
How can we protect Caribbean airports against growing climate change risk?
Read the report In the Caribbean, June 1st isn’t just another day – it’s marked with a bold, red underline on every calendar, signifying the onset of the hurricane season. This period of heightened vigilance lasts until November, reaching its zenith in early September. Each year, every country in the Caribbean finds itself potentially in the crosshairs of tropical storms and hurricanes, which are only becoming more frequent and extreme under the effect of climate change.
Mapping rural Mozambique: Findings from my first World Bank mission
Mapping gravel roads in flood-prone areas amidst talk of guerrilla ambushes was not what I had imagined when I signed up as a climate change specialist for the World Bank.
In data-scarce environments, disruptive thinking is needed: Freetown transport resilience
When our team started working in Freetown one year ago, we found very limited data on how people move or what are the public transport options to access jobs and services from different neighborhoods. How do you plan your public transport system when you do not have data? And what if you are also constrained by a highly vulnerable environment to natural disasters and poverty? Keep reading: Disruptive thinking has the answer.
The road to healthier communities: Rethinking rural accessibility amid a health crisis
When compared to densely populated areas, rural communities are more vulnerable to major health crises, facing personnel and medicine shortages, insufficient hospital bed capacity, and substandard medical equipment. In many developing countries, these challenges are made more acute by poor road conditions in rural areas that can prevent patients from reaching hospitals and accessing health services. This is particularly true during the rainy season, when flooding is common.
Preparing transport for an uncertain climate future: I don’t have a crystal ball, but I have a computer
In 2015, severe floods washed away a series of bridges in Mozambique’s Nampula province, leaving several small villages completely isolated. Breslau, a local engineer and one of our counterparts, knew that rebuilding those bridges would take months. Breslau took his motorbike and drove the length of the river to look for other roads, trails, or paths to help the villagers avoid months of isolation.
In booming Vietnam, climate-smart transport is the obvious choice
Beboy/Adobe Stock" data-entity-type="" data-entity-uuid="" src="/sites/default/files/users/user1001/vn-two-wheeler.jpg" /> Vietnam’s transport system is at a critical juncture. Vehicle ownership, freight movement, and daily commutes are all growing exponentially. At the same time, Vietnam is on the front lines of climate change, facing a growing number of floods, landslides, and typhoons. In that context, the case for climate-smart transport has never been stronger.
How urban mobility data transformed Freetown
In the buzzing, vibrant city of Freetown, you’ll find lush forests, buzzing markets, and oceans with water so blue it almost seems unreal. What you won’t find, however, is a public transportation system that’s kept up with the city’s increasingly mobile population. Professor Obafemi Davies of Fourah Bay College (FBC) writes: “It is not easy for my students to access the university, especially when it rains.
Mapping out mobility in Cap-Haïtien: A successful building-block approach!
Understanding the supply and demand of transport is often a challenge in the development world. Data gaps and institutional weaknesses require a creative approach when one attempts to capture residents’ mobility (see previous blog). The World Bank transport team has been conducting an urban mobility study intending to map out the ins-and-outs of mobility in Cap-Haïtien, Haiti’s second-largest city.
Through technology and creative thinking, African youth are reinventing the future of urban transport
In the path of becoming an innovation hub in West Africa, Sierra Leone is showing the rest of the world how local young talent can revolutionize urban mobility. Do you want to know how? Keep reading! Although Freetown is the main employment center in Sierra Leone, access to jobs and services in the city is heavily impaired by inadequate transport services, poor infrastructure, and chronic traffic congestion.
Resilient recovery: How can Nature-Based Solutions improve transport infrastructure resilience? Lessons from Haiti
From hurricanes to tropical storms, floods, droughts, and earthquakes, Haiti has experienced it all. The human and economic impacts of these hazards have been extremely severe for the country. In 2016, Hurricane Matthew affected over 2 million people, causing damages and losses equivalent to around 32% of GDP. On top of that, the global COVID-19 outbreak has only worsened existing challenges, rendering communities even more vulnerable.
How better transport will help Latin America get ahead of the climate crisis
Sustainable transport can help LAC reduce its climate emissions while also creating a stronger, more inclusive economy | © Nelson Antoine, Shutterstock Time is running out to address the global climate crisis. All countries, regions, and communities have a shared responsibility to fight climate change by mitigating further emissions and adapting to growing climate risks. Latin America is no exception.
Africa’s students can transform the future of transport-let’s invest in them!
Over the last three years, our team has been working hand in hand with the government of Sierra Leone to enhance urban mobility in the capital city of Freetown, and to protect the local transport system against growing climate risk. This past year have been especially hard, with remote working, multiple virtual missions, and dramatic economic slow-down in Sierra Leone.
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