Dubai, UAE, 17 March, 2008 - MasterCard Worldwide
recently announced the results of the inaugural MasterCard Worldwide
Insights Report - Urbanization and Environmental Challenges in
Asia/Pacific, Middle East and Africa with Dubai ranking at fourth
position. Melbourne took the first place, Johannesburg second and
Singapore third.
The report features data drawn from
the 21 key centers of commerce in the Asia/Pacific, Middle East and
Africa region as identified in last year's MasterCard Worldwide Centers
of Commerce Index™ and reviews these cities' relative vulnerability and
degrees of protection from key environmental challenges such as air
pollution, infectious disease and natural disasters. The report's
observations make clear what impact environmental factors are already
having on a city and what challenges further urbanization might present
in this context. This makes the report an invaluable tool for any city
leader planning for their city's future.
Looking at
indicators considered being under government control such as water
potability, water availability or waste removal, Dubai comes in at
fifth place after Sydney. This illustrates the presence of good
standards of water access and cleanliness, good sewage management, and
low levels of incidences of infectious diseases and air pollution.
Dubai has a lower score when assessing indicators that are subject to
climate change such as the rise of the sea level or water scarcity or
factors that are highly unpredictable such as earthquakes or
hurricanes. Dubai's geographic location, influences the city's ranking
in these dimensions.
Economic advisor to MasterCard Worldwide
,
and author of the report, Dr. Yuwa Hedrick-Wong said, "The overall
picture for Dubai is that by and large the city has done exceptionally
well in creating a high quality environment within its urban setting,
managing increasing population growth and a degree of unpredictable
environmental impacts to ensure a good quality of life for residents.
However, as this report also shows, that unpredictability means there
is still no room for complacency."
He continued, "The
environmental dimension of urban development looms large as a central
policy issue to be addressed by governments and businesses. Centers of
commerce are critical nodes of economic growth and connectivity in the
Asia/Pacific, Middle East and Africa region; and the sustainability of
their growth momentum is closely linked to the sustainability of their
environments and quality of life. Our research findings constitute an
objective perspective in assessing the performance of centers of
commerce in this regard; and in so doing provide a new road map for
governments and business leaders to address the challenge.
An analysis of the report's environmental rankings indicates that
historically, the higher-income cities have been able to provide
improvements in environmental quality.
Meanwhile poorer
cities at a lower level of development usually suffer from a lack of
basic infrastructure services such as clean drinking water and
sanitation. As they industrialize and income levels increase, basic
services are usually improved, but new environmental problems emerge,
such as traffic congestion, air pollution and toxic wastes.
This diversity of performance across cities is perhaps best illustrated
in the report by the stark contrast between Melbourne (1st) and Mumbai
(21st).
The differential between these two cities can
at least in part be explained due to Melbourne's low population and
city growth rates, positive wealth and income levels and a generally
healthy economic condition. As a result Melbourne experiences a low
incidence of infectious diseases, good air quality and limited risk
from climate change and extreme natural disasters.
Conversely Mumbai shows the signs of a city challenged with keeping up
with the rapid growth of its population and city size. The strain on
natural resources, goods and services and general infrastructure is
apparent through the prevalence of such negative features as frequent
outbreaks of endemic diseases, partial coverage and frequent
malfunctions of sewage systems, and poor air quality from traffic and
industry.
Similarly in China, Chengdu (12th) Shanghai
(13th) and Shenzhen (15th) and Beijing (17th) are growing (or
urbanizing) rapidly, but as the report shows all four cities perform
poorly with regards to air pollution, water potability and waste
removal. This combined with the high risk of natural disasters such as
typhoons and earthquakes in these cities leads to their low rankings in
the report.
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