By 2030, 100 million more people in Southeast Asia will move from the countryside to cities.
What solutions are needed to ensure these urban centres can take the strain, and provide liveable, sustainable environments for their inhabitants?
On Tuesday, Temasek Foundation Ecosperity, the philanthropic arm of Singapore’s state investor Temasek, and sustainability publication Eco-Business, launched the third edition of The Liveability Challenge, a global search for sustainable solutions for Asia’s cities.
So what are the biggest problems that Asian urban planners are facing?
Speaking to Eco-Business on the sidelines of The Liveability Challenge launch at the Temasek Shophouse building in Singapore, Malavika Bambawale, Managing Director of Sustainability Solutions for ENGIE Impact, and a former resident of India’s capital New Delhi, singled out air pollution as an often overlooked environmental challenge.
“Air pollution is an environmental crisis. So how do we find solutions? First, we need to tackle the problem at the source, whether it’s fossil fuel plants, deforestation from palm oil expansion, or agricultural crop burning. It’s all linked to human population growth and carbon emissions.”