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How can cities and communities leverage technology to enhance safety on roads?
The need for better road safety measures is obvious: road crashes are a leading cause of death and severe injuries to people across the world. Each year, road accidents cause an estimated 50 million injuries, of which nearly 1.3 million are fatal. In other words, traffic accidents account for more than 3,000 deaths each day, making it the leading cause of death of children and young adults worldwide.
According to the World Health Organization (WHO), 93% of road traffic deaths occur in low and middle-income countries, although these have only approximately 60% of the world's vehicles.Unless instant and effective action is taken, road traffic deaths are predicted to become the seventh leading cause of death worldwide by 2030, resulting in an estimated 1.9 million deaths each year.
In line with the UN-led "Decade of Action for Road Safety (2021-2030)", the Authority of Social Contribution (Ma'an) has designed an innovation challenge that seeks solutions in the areas of road safety management, safer vehicles, safer road users, post-crash response or a safer driving environment. Technology solutions to promote road safety could range from the innovative application of surveillance cameras to flying robots or drones and new uses of IoT-generated real-time data on traffic situations.
Ma'an welcomes contributions from innovators and entrepreneurs around the world that:
- Promote an integrated approach to road safety such as a safe system approach, pursue long-term and sustainable safety solutions, and strengthen national intersectoral collaboration.
- Solve challenges in the areas of road safety management, safer vehicles, safer road users, post-crash response or a safer driving environment through the application of advanced technologies (such as AI, Robotics or IoT)
- Help design inclusive solutions that harness the collaboration of different stakeholders, such as non-governmental organizations, civil society, academia, as well as businesses and industry,which contribute to countries social and economic development.
Sources
UNGA Resolution 74/299 (2020) on Improving Global Road Safety
https://www.who.int/news-room/events/detail/2022/06/30/default-calendar/high-level-meeting-of-the-un-general-assembly-on-global-road-safetyhttps://www.who.int/news-room/fact-sheets/detail/road-traffic-injuries
https://www.itf-oecd.org/sites/default/files/docs/irtad-road-safety-annual-report-2021.pdf
https://www.unep.org/resources/report/walking-and-cycling-africa-evidence-and-good-practice-inspire-action
How can cities and communities leverage technology to minimize waste, increase re-usability and promote green spaces?
With only eight years remaining, the interest of the global community to stay within the 1.5-degree target of Agenda 2030 and secure a net-zero greenhouse gas (GHG) emission status has surged considerably.
Significant potential in reducing the global carbon footprint comes from improvements in urban waste treatment systems, particularly in incineration and landfill disposal. However, if current trends continue, we are far from reaching an overall reduction of landfilling as municipal waste production is projected to double from about 2 billion tons in 2016 to nearly 4 billion tons by 2050.
The transition from linear to circular economies is, therefore, a cornerstone of achieving global net-zero status. A circular economy promises to restore the environment by reducing the consumption of finite resources, which drastically lessens the production of waste and, as a result, greenhouse gas emissions.
The Sustainable Cities & Communities Challenge seeks high-tech and innovation-driven solutions that increase the sharing, leasing, reusing, repairing, refurbishing and recycling of existing materials and products. To do so, Ma’an welcomes solutions from innovators and entrepreneurs around the globe that:
- Enable municipalities to access technologies that will noticeably elevate recycling capacities
- Drive the transition into a circular economy through new ways of thinking that increase the quality and performance of current upcycling (eco-effectiveness) methods
- help with the incremental reduction of waste and minimize negative impacts on the environment through downcycling (eco-efficiency)
- Harness innovative solutions in the areas of climate adaptation that strengthen nature’scapacity for resilience
https://unhabitat.org/waste-wise-cities
https://unhabitat.org/global-public-space-programme-annual-report-2021
https://earth5r.org/crucial-reasons-implementing-circular-economy