Climate Change and Threatened Communities

A. Peter Castro, Dan Taylor, David W. Brokensha

Global climate change disproportionately affects rural people and indigenous groups, but their rights, knowledge, and interests concerning it are generally unacknowledged. Shifts in precipitation, cloud cover, temperature, and other climatic patterns alter their livelihood pursuits and cultural land...

Sustainable Cities

Mélanie Robertson

As urbanization, environmental degradation, and poverty become increasingly urgent problems, understanding the links between sustainability and poverty reduction is imperative. A sustainable urban future for all requires raising the quality of life of the most vulnerable. Existing at the margins of...

Farmers' Choice

Helene Bie Lilleør, Ulrik Lund-Sørensen

Food security is an urgent international priority. However, agricultural extension methods that relied on imposing centrally-developed technological solutions have been ineffective, since small farmers in developing countries often cultivate marginal lands, working under constraints for which these...

Poor People's Energy Outlook 2012

Access to energy is essential for poor people to earn a decent living, to work their way out of the vicious cycle of poverty and subsistence. Whether you earn off the land, from a small business, through a job in a larger enterprise or through the supply of energy itself, energy is important. Poor P...

Decentralized Energy Access and the Millennium Development Goals

Gwénaëlle Legros, Kamal Rijal, Bahareh Seyedi

Decentralized, off-grid power supplies such as micro hydropower can be perceived as expensive investments by poor countries like Nepal. Can these investments be justified by the benefits that electricity brings to villages in remote mountainous regions? This book describes research into the developm...

Rammed Earth Structures

Julian Keable, Rowland Keable

Ramming earth has been a method of construction for centuries in many parts of the world and the technique can produce buildings that are strong, durable, safe and desirable. Because earth is an abundant and cheap resource, rammed earth buildings are often very economical. To achieve the best result...

Spurs and Dykes for Flood Protection

Spurs and dykes are structures that protect river banks and contain flood waters. They can be built by communities using stones and wire.

How to Build a Small Vertical Shaft Lime Kiln

An example of a continuous production, mixed feed kiln from Zimbabwe.

Solar Thermal Energy in Nepal

Renewable energy practices in Nepal

Health Care Waste Management in Developing Countries

This brief gives an overview on health care waste treatment options focusing on incineration.