Priority Experts

12/04/2025

26/08/2023

1. MAKE ELECTRICITY USE MORE EFFICIENT

We use natural resources, such as coal and natural gas, to produce the electricity we use in homes, offices, stores and elsewhere. We can conserve some of that electricity simply by turning things off and unplugging them when we’re not using them and by using more energy-efficient appliances and light bulbs.

Advanced technologies, such as smart thermostats, also help conserve energy by automatically turning appliances on and off as needed.

2. USE MORE RENEWABLE ENERGY

About 63 percent of our electricity comes from fossil fuels, which are natural resources that only replenish over an extremely long time.

Resources like wind and sunlight, however, can also be used to generate electricity, but these resources are renewable. That means once they are used, they become available again quickly. While using fossil fuels to generate electricity burns up finite resources, using renewables does not.

Renewable energy also doesn’t release greenhouse gases, which are causing climate change.

3. PROMOTE SUSTAINABLE FISHING RULES

One-third of the world’s fish populations are overexploited or severely depleted.

Reduced fish populations can alter entire ecosystems and hurt coastal economies that depend on fishing. Introducing new laws — and ensuring existing ones stay in place — that protect at-risk fish populations and ecosystems is crucial to preventing these problems.

At the consumer level, buying only sustainably sourced fish can help.

Further reading: What Is a Sustainable Fish

4. AVOID SINGLE-USE PLASTICS

In 2016, global plastics production was approximately 335 million metric tons, and about half of that was used to make single-use products, according to the Earth Day Network.

Reducing our plastic use helps us avoid the use of the resources needed to make plastic and prevents plastic waste from harming the natural environment. Substituting single-use plastics like plastic grocery bags, utensils and straws with durable items can help.

5. DRIVE LESS

Gasoline is a product made from crude oil, a finite natural resource and fossil fuel. Car manufacturing also requires many different kinds of natural resources, includes rubber and various metals.

You can conserve natural resources by not owning a car, owning a more fuel-efficient car or driving less. Walking, bicycling taking public transportation and carpooling are all excellent alternatives to driving.

6. RECYCLE MORE AND IMPROVE RECYCLING SYSTEMS

In addition to switching away from single-use plastics, we can also recycle more to help with the plastic problem. Check with your local government or recycling company to see what you can recycle curbside where you live. For other items, you may be able to find a business in your community that can help recycle items.

Improving our recycling systems can also help. Researchers can find new, more efficient ways to recycle, local governments can make recycling easier and businesses can implement recycling programs for their employees.

7. USE SUSTAINABLE AGRICULTURE PRACTICES

Agriculture is necessary but extremely resource-intensive. There are, however, ways to farm more sustainably.

Rotating crops and planting cover crops helps to keep soil healthy. Using fewer chemicals and integrating biological pest control and natural fertilizers can help, as well. Precision agriculture, which uses technology to optimize resource use, can help farmers use less fertilizer, pesticides, water and other inputs.

8. REDUCE FOOD WASTE

Approximately a third of the food produced for human consumption every year gets wasted or lost. Because of all the resources required to grow, transport and prepare the food, this is a huge waste. Keeping track of the food you have, planning meals and shopping trips ahead of time and properly storing food can help reduce food waste at home.

9. PROMOTE SUSTAINABLE FOREST MANAGEMENT

Forests are full of natural resources. The ecosystem services they provide are valued at approximately $33 trillion annually, and about a quarter of the world’s population depends on them to make a living. Yet, we’re destroying forests faster than the earth can replenish them — at a rate of about 60 acres each minute.

Sustainable forest management practices can help prevent this. These practices mimic the natural destruction and regeneration patterns of nature and involve aspects such as establishing protected areas, create a harvesting plan and using logging techniques that are easier on the natural environment.

The Forest Stewardship Council and the Rain forest Alliance Certified certify businesses and products, so consumers can tell which ones are created using sustainable forestry management.

10. TREAT WASTEWATER BEFORE DISCHARGING IT

Water is, of course, crucial to survival, but more than 2 billion people don’t have clean drinking water at home.

Part of the reason for this is that some industrial plants and wastewater treatment plants, especially in developing countri

02/05/2023

What is the purpose of development strategy?

Strategy development is the process of researching and identifying strategic options, selecting the most promising and deciding how resources will be allocated across the organisation to achieve

02/05/2023

What are the benefits of economic integration to developing countries?
Advantages

Helps developing nations take advantage of economies of scale. ...
Expands production capacity and creates new opportunities.
Supports international specialization.
Leads to the development of new products with quality output.
Free flow of labor, capital, and goods.
More items...

02/05/2023

What are local economic development strategies?
Local Economic Development (LED) is an approach towards economic development which allows and encourages local people to work together to achieve sustainable economic growth and development thereby bringing economic benefits and improved quality of life for all residents in a local municipal area.

02/05/2023

Strategies

What is the importance of economic development strategy?
An economic development plan helps you realize your community's economic vision and take control of your economic future. It can help bring together community residents with private and public sectors. Together you can choose economic development goals and outline how to accomplish those goals

24/02/2023

Political Realism in International Relations

First published Mon Jul 26, 2010; substantive revision Wed May 24, 2017

In the discipline of international relations there are contending general theories or theoretical perspectives. Realism, also known as political realism, is a view of international politics that stresses its competitive and conflictual side. It is usually contrasted with idealism or liberalism, which tends to emphasize cooperation. Realists consider the principal actors in the international arena to be states, which are concerned with their own security, act in pursuit of their own national interests, and struggle for power. The negative side of the realists’ emphasis on power and self-interest is often their skepticism regarding the relevance of ethical norms to relations among states. National politics is the realm of authority and law, whereas international politics, they sometimes claim, is a sphere without justice, characterized by active or potential conflict among states.

Not all realists, however, deny the presence of ethics in international relations. The distinction should be drawn between classical realism—represented by such twentieth-century theorists as Reinhold Niebuhr and Hans Morgenthau—and radical or extreme realism. While classical realism emphasizes the concept of national interest, it is not the Machiavellian doctrine “that anything is justified by reason of state” (Bull 1995, 189). Nor does it involve the glorification of war or conflict. The classical realists do not reject the possibility of moral judgment in international politics. Rather, they are critical of moralism—abstract moral discourse that does not take into account political realities. They assign supreme value to successful political action based on prudence: the ability to judge the rightness of a given action from among possible alternatives on the basis of its likely political consequences.

24/02/2023

Understanding Emergencies From Prevention to Mitigation

What Is Disaster Management? Understanding Emergencies From Prevention to Mitigation

September 3, 2021



The 2021 Surfside condo collapse in Florida destroyed homes and lives. In the same year, unprecedented deluges flooded Germany and China, with tragic results. We cannot entirely avoid disasters, but we can prepare for and address them.

Prevention efforts and coordinated responses to disasters save lives and lessen their impact on communities. Professionals in disaster management play a crucial role in preventing suffering, protecting people’s livelihoods, and helping communities recover. What is disaster management? To answer the question, you should examine how these professionals deal with disaster — before, during, and after it strikes.

Defining Disaster Management

Disasters take many shapes. Human-made disasters result from human errors and include industrial explosions or structure failures. Natural disasters result from physical phenomena and include earthquakes and droughts. Disasters classified as complex can include epidemics or armed conflicts.

In whatever form, disasters disrupt communities and can take a serious toll on people, property, economies, and the environment. They often stretch a community’s capacity to cope.

Disaster management is a process of effectively preparing for and responding to disasters. It involves strategically organizing resources to lessen the harm that disasters cause. It also involves a system.

24/02/2023

Explore historical and projected climate data, climate data by sector, impacts, key vulnerabilities and what adaptation measures are being taken. Explore the overview for a general context of how climate change is affecting Zambia.

CLIMATE CHANGE OVERVIEW

COUNTRY SUMMARY

CURRENT CLIMATE

CLIMATOLOGY

TRENDS & VARIABILITY

CLIMATE PROJECTIONS

MEAN PROJECTIONS (CMIP6)

MEAN PROJECTIONS (CMIP5)

TRENDS & VARIABILITY

EXTREMES

VULNERABILITY

SEA LEVEL

SEA LEVEL RISE

Vulnerability

Historically, Zambia is frequently inundated with seasonal floods and flash floods, extreme temperatures and droughts, with increased severity and frequency in recent decades. Inadequate infrastructure paired with the fact that a large proportion of the population is rural and poor, makes Zambia highly vulnerable to natural hazards, especially floods.

This section provides a summary of key natural hazards and their associated socioeconomic impacts in a given country. And it allows quick evaluation of most vulnerable areas through the spatial comparison of natural hazard data with development data, thereby identifying exposed livelihoods and natural systems.

Natural Hazard Statistics

The charts provide overview of the most frequent natural disaster in a given country and understand the impacts of those disasters on human populations.

PeopleKey Natural Hazard Statistics for​1980-2020Number of People AffectedDroughtEpidemicFloodLandslide198020002020101001k10k100k1M10M

Average Annual Natural Hazard​Occurrence for 1980-2020Drought​DroughtEpidemic​EpidemicFlood​FloodLandslide​LandslideMiscellaneous​accident​Miscellaneous​accident

METADATA

Climate change is now recognized to have a significant impact on disaster management efforts and pose a significant threat to the efforts to meet the growing needs of the most vulnerable populations. The demands of disaster risk management are such that concise, clear, and reliable information.