Publication: Green Roads for Water: Guidelines for Road Infrastructure in Support of Water Management and Climate Resilience
Loading...
Files in English
3,017 downloads
Date
2021-06-14
ISSN
Published
2021-06-14
Editor(s)
Abstract
Roads and water are generally seen as enemies, with water responsible for most of the damage to roads, and roads being a major cause of problems such as erosion, waterlogging, flooding, and dust storms. This tension, however, can be reversed. The concept of Green Roads for Water (also known as “Green Roads” or “roads for water”) places roads in the service of water and landscape management and climate resilience without sacrificing or diminishing their transport functions. With global investment in roads of US$1–US$2 trillion per year, plus maintenance costs, the widespread adoption of Green Roads approaches can leverage investment at a transformative scale, making road development and maintenance a vital tool for achieving climate resilience, water security, and productive use of natural resources. Green Roads for Water: Guidelines for Road Infrastructure in Support of Water Management and Climate Resilience provides strategies to use roads for beneficial water management tailored to diverse landscapes and climates, including watershed areas, semiarid climates, coastal lowlands, mountainous areas, and floodplains. The underlying premise of Green Roads is therefore quite simple: designing roads to fit their natural and anthropomorphic contexts; minimize externalities; and balance preservation of the road, water resources, landscape, and soil resources will usually cost less than traditional protective resilience approaches and will produce more sustainable overall outcomes.
Link to Data Set
Citation
“van Steenbergen, Frank; Arroyo-Arroyo, Fatima; Rao, Kulwinder; Hulluka, Taye Alemayehu; Woldearegay, Kifle; Deligianni, Anastasia. 2021. Green Roads for Water: Guidelines for Road Infrastructure in Support of Water Management and Climate Resilience. International Development in Focus;. © World Bank. http://hdl.handle.net/10986/35752 License: CC BY 3.0 IGO.”
Associated URLs
Associated content
Other publications in this report series
Journal
Journal Volume
Journal Issue
Collections
Related items
Showing items related by metadata.
Publication Economics of Adaptation to Climate Change : Mozambique(Washington, DC, 2010)This report is part of a broader global study, the Economics of Adaptation to Climate Change (EACC), which has two principal objectives: (a) to develop a global estimate of adaptation costs for informing international climate negotiations; and (b) to help decision makers in developing countries assess the risks posed by climate change and design national strategies for adapting to it. The purpose of this study is to assist the Government of Mozambique in its efforts to understand the potential economic impacts of climate change and to support its efforts to develop sound policies and investments in response to these potential impacts. The Mozambique Economics of Adaptation to Climate Change (EACC) study selected four sectors that are believed to be vulnerable to climate change: (1) agriculture, which employs over 70 percent of the population; (2) energy, particularly hydropower generation, which is dependent on water runoff; (3) transport infrastructure, notably roads; and (4) coastal areas, which do not conform to a "sector" but characterize specific geographical areas vulnerable to floods and storm surges directly and indirectly related to sea level rise. The report ends with a discussion of seven lessons learned from the study. Volume 1contains the final report, and Volume 2 contains the Annexes,Publication Making Transport Climate Resilient : Country Report Ethiopia(Washington, DC, 2010-08)This report is the output of the World Bank-financed study on Making Trans-port Climate Resilient for Ethiopia, which is a Sub-Saharan Africa initiative to respond to the impact of climate changes on road transport.The climate scenarios The study is based on four climate scenarios selected by the World Bank to be consistent with the scenarios used in the study Economics of Adaptation to Climate Change. The scenarios span from a "global dry" future with lower temperatures and less rain than today to a "wet Ethiopia" future with more rain than today and an increase in heavy rain so that a 10- year storm in 2050 will be 25% more intensive than today. The foreseen increases in average temperatures range from -1 OC to 2 OC by 2050.Publication Economics of Adaptation to Climate Change : Ghana, Volume 2. Annexes(Washington, DC, 2010)The report is organized as follows. The next section puts the study into context by briefly discussing the global EACC study and the EACC methodology, which was applied in this study at a more disaggregated level. The section highlights the differential impacts of climate change among different regions of the world, including Africa. Chapter three presents an overview of the methodology used, including the key assumptions. An effort has been made to present this information in nontechnical language where possible. The more technical aspects of the study can be found in the annexes. The sector results are contained in chapter four. The chapter begins with an overview of the Ghanaian economy, followed by the climate projections for Ghana and the overall economic impacts. Next, the results for each sector are presented in three parts: climate change impacts, the adaptation options, and the adaptation costs. The final chapter concludes with a summary and policy implications.Publication Economics of Adaptation to Climate Change : Ghana, Volume 1. Main Report(Washington, DC, 2010)The report is organized as follows. The next section puts the study into context by briefly discussing the global EACC study and the EACC methodology, which was applied in this study at a more disaggregated level. The section highlights the differential impacts of climate change among different regions of the world, including Africa. Chapter three presents an overview of the methodology used, including the key assumptions. An effort has been made to present this information in nontechnical language where possible. The more technical aspects of the study can be found in the annexes. The sector results are contained in chapter four. The chapter begins with an overview of the Ghanaian economy, followed by the climate projections for Ghana and the overall economic impacts. Next, the results for each sector are presented in three parts: climate change impacts, the adaptation options, and the adaptation costs. The final chapter concludes with a summary and policy implications.Publication Zimbabwe Infrastructure Dialogue in Roads, Railways, Water, Energy, and Telecommunication Sub-Sectors(Washington, DC, 2008-06)In the 1990s, Zimbabwe's economic growth began to slow following a balance of payments crisis and repeated droughts. By the late 1990s Zimbabwe's economy was in serious trouble driven by economic mismanagement, political violence, and the wider impact of the land reform program on food production. During 2007 Gross Domestic Product (GDP) contract by more than 6 percent, making the cumulative output decline over 35 percent since 1999. The unrelenting economic deterioration is doing long-term damage to the foundations of the Zimbabwean economy, private sector investment is virtually zero, infrastructure has deteriorated, and skilled professionals have left the country. With inflation accelerating, the Government introduced, in 2007, blanket price controls and ordered businesses to cut prices by half. Despite the strict price controls inflation continues to rise as the root cause of high inflation, monetization of the large public sector financing needs remains unaddressed. A large part of the high public sector deficit is due to quasi-fiscal spending by the central bank on mainly concessional credits and subsidized foreign exchange for priority sectors, unrealized exchange rate losses, and losses incurred by the central bank's open market operations to mop up liquidities.
Users also downloaded
Showing related downloaded files
Publication Applying the Degree of Urbanisation(European Union/FAO/UN-Habitat/OECD/The World Bank, 2025-01-31)This manual develops a harmonised methodology to facilitate international statistical comparisons and to classify the entire territory of a country along an urban-rural continuum. The degree of urbanisation classification defines cities, towns and semi-dense areas, and rural areas. This first level of the classification may be complemented by a range of more detailed concepts, such as: metropolitan areas, commuting zones, dense towns, semi-dense towns, suburban or peri-urban areas, villages, dispersed rural areas and mostly uninhabited areas. The manual is intended to complement and not replace the definitions used by national statistical offices (NSOs) and ministries. It has been designed principally as a guide for data producers, suppliers and statisticians so that they have the necessary information to implement the methodology and ensure coherency within their data collections. It may also be of interest to users of subnational statistics so they may better understand, interpret and use official subnational statistics for taking informed decisions and policymaking. This report has been produced in close collaboration by six organisations, the European Commission, the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), the United Nations Human Settlements Programme (UNHabitat), the International Labour Organization (ILO), the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) and The World Bank.Publication Global Economic Prospects, January 2025(Washington, DC: World Bank, 2025-01-16)Global growth is expected to hold steady at 2.7 percent in 2025-26. However, the global economy appears to be settling at a low growth rate that will be insufficient to foster sustained economic development—with the possibility of further headwinds from heightened policy uncertainty and adverse trade policy shifts, geopolitical tensions, persistent inflation, and climate-related natural disasters. Against this backdrop, emerging market and developing economies are set to enter the second quarter of the twenty-first century with per capita incomes on a trajectory that implies substantially slower catch-up toward advanced-economy living standards than they previously experienced. Without course corrections, most low-income countries are unlikely to graduate to middle-income status by the middle of the century. Policy action at both global and national levels is needed to foster a more favorable external environment, enhance macroeconomic stability, reduce structural constraints, address the effects of climate change, and thus accelerate long-term growth and development.Publication Services Unbound(Washington, DC: World Bank, 2024-12-09)Services are a new force for innovation, trade, and growth in East Asia and Pacific. The dramatic diffusion of digital technologies and partial policy reforms in services--from finance, communication, and transport to retail, health, and education--is transforming these economies. The result is higher productivity and changing jobs in the services sector, as well as in the manufacturing sectors that use these services. A region that has thrived through openness to trade and investment in manufacturing still maintains innovation-inhibiting barriers to entry and competition in key services sectors. 'Services Unbound: Digital Technologies and Policy Reform in East Asia and Pacific' makes the case for deeper domestic reforms and greater international cooperation to unleash a virtuous cycle of increased economic opportunity and enhanced human capacity that would power development in the region.Publication World Development Report 2021(Washington, DC: World Bank, 2021-03-24)Today’s unprecedented growth of data and their ubiquity in our lives are signs that the data revolution is transforming the world. And yet much of the value of data remains untapped. Data collected for one purpose have the potential to generate economic and social value in applications far beyond those originally anticipated. But many barriers stand in the way, ranging from misaligned incentives and incompatible data systems to a fundamental lack of trust. World Development Report 2021: Data for Better Lives explores the tremendous potential of the changing data landscape to improve the lives of poor people, while also acknowledging its potential to open back doors that can harm individuals, businesses, and societies. To address this tension between the helpful and harmful potential of data, this Report calls for a new social contract that enables the use and reuse of data to create economic and social value, ensures equitable access to that value, and fosters trust that data will not be misused in harmful ways. This Report begins by assessing how better use and reuse of data can enhance the design of public policies, programs, and service delivery, as well as improve market efficiency and job creation through private sector growth. Because better data governance is key to realizing this value, the Report then looks at how infrastructure policy, data regulation, economic policies, and institutional capabilities enable the sharing of data for their economic and social benefits, while safeguarding against harmful outcomes. The Report concludes by pulling together the pieces and offering an aspirational vision of an integrated national data system that would deliver on the promise of producing high-quality data and making them accessible in a way that promotes their safe use and reuse. By examining these opportunities and challenges, the Report shows how data can benefit the lives of all people, but particularly poor people in low- and middle-income countries.Publication Inequalities in Sub-Saharan Africa(Washington, DC: World Bank, 2025-01-17)The growing disparity between the rich and poor remains a critical challenge, affecting countries across all continents, irrespective of their per capita gross domestic product. This widening gap not only impedes efforts to eradicate extreme poverty but also hinders progress toward social justice and resilience-building. Rising inequalities pose substantial barriers to sustainable development, and it is within this context that this book, 'Inequalities in Sub-Saharan Africa: Multidimensional Perspectives and Future Challenges', contributes to ongoing debates, offering a comprehensive analysis of the current challenges and future perspectives of inequality on the African continent. Despite the intensification of calls for wealth taxation and inequality reduction, progress has been slow. A key challenge lies in creating a viable political path for implementing progressive taxation policies. Resistance from those benefiting from the current system often stalls efforts, making progress difficult. Moreover, reducing inequality requires mechanisms that address inequality at its roots. Policies targeting education, competition, financial market regulation, and industrial development all hold the potential to create equitable economic opportunities, ensuring access to credit, job creation, and more-balanced economic growth. Despite facing unique, profound challenges, Africa is often overlooked in these global discussions. This book seeks to place the continent’s issues of income inequality, unequal access to education and health care, climate vulnerability, and inclusive growth at the center of the conversation. The book further advocates for innovative policies, including competition reforms and bargaining frameworks that shift the balance between capital and labor. Given that inequality in Africa is deeply rooted in historical, economic, and institutional factors, a stronger focus on pre-distribution policies is necessary. These systemic changes can help reshape the conditions under which inequality emerges and persists. In addition to policy reforms, it is vital to strengthen the research and academic infrastructure that underpins the understanding of inequality. Equity concerns must be addressed within the scientific field, and African research capabilities must be bolstered. This volume, written in collaboration with the African Center of Excellence for Inequality Research, calls for a greater focus on empowering African researchers as part of a broader development strategy. By doing so, it aligns with the World Bank’s and the Agence Française de Développement’s commitment to supporting research as a critical tool for sustainable development.