Dialoguepk

Geo Headlines - 01 PM - 23 February 2018

Deng Han 19.02.2018 Chinese cities are building bicycle expressways but cyclists need more than dedicated lanes, writes  Deng Han A cyclist peddles along Xiamen’s bicycle expressway (Image:  ITDP ) The bicycle has seen a dramatic fall in popularity in China in recent decades. In the period 1978-1996, it’s estimated that  45% of urban commutes  were on two wheels, declining to 35% between 1995-2002, and to 10% in big cities in later years. But some Chinese cities are now trying to stop this decline by building dedicated cycle lanes to encourage people to get on their bikes again. These new expressways allow riders to commute quickly whilst protecting them from car users and other traffic on bustling roads. China’s first elevated bike lane and the world’s longest at 7.6-kilometres is the Yunding road bicycle expressway in the south-eastern province of Fujian, which is now a little over a year old. What’s special about Xiamen’s expressway is that it is fully elevated,

​Ludovica Meacci 25.01.2018 Macron’s call to ‘make our planet great again’ must start at home, writes  Ludovica Meacci President Macron has been carefully positioning France as a leader on climate action (Image:  vfutscher ) Since President Trump announced in June 2017 that the United States would withdraw from the Paris Agreement, French President Emmanuel Macron has been keen to highlight the importance of climate change on the international stage. His well-known catchphrase: “make our planet great again”, is modelled after Trump’s 2017 campaign slogan, and signalled to the world France’s commitment to robust action on climate change. As other EU member states like Germany and the UK have been caught up in domestic issues, France has carefully positioned itself as the climate leader of a divided union.   But Macron’s commitment looks less certain in the context of France’s domestic policy. The country is continuing to invest aggressively in nuclear power at the co