[sustran] Sustainable Urban Mobility in Asia (SUMA) News Digest 17 December 2007

[Aurora Fe Ables]

Sustainable Urban Mobility in Asia (SUMA) News Digest

Vol. 4 Issue 22
17 December 2007

SUMA News Digest is a free weekly e-mail publication that features
news, information, and events related to sustainable urban
transportation in Asia.

To contribute articles, news items, or event announcements for the
next issue, send an email with the complete details and URL source to
suma-news-owner at googlegroups.com with subject "FOR SUMA NEWS".
mailto:suma-news-owner at googlegroups.com?subject=FOR_SUMA_NEWS .

Past issues from Feb 2007 are found at http://groups.google.com/group/suma-news
Read about the SUMA program at http://www.cleanairnet.org/suma

* * * * *
HEADLINES

Beijing, PR China: Cleaner energy for Beijing cars
12 December 2007 Xinhua
Beijing will introduce cleaner energy for automobiles and greatly cut
emissions, as air pollution has become a major concern for the city in
the preparation for "green" Olympic Games. From January 1, 2008,
automobile distributors in Beijing will have to sell gasoline and
diesel meeting the new China IV standards that are equivalent to the
Euro IV standards in the European Union, according to Du Shaozhong,
deputy director of Beijing Environment Protection Bureau.
http://www.chinadaily.com.cn/olympics/2007-12/07/content_6306101.htm

Bangalore, India: India's techies take to cycling
10 December 2007 By Sumana Mukherjee
When GV Dasarathi pulls up his bicycle at a traffic intersection on
his way to work in India's InfoTech city, Bangalore, heads turn.
Bicycles may be the most popular two-wheeler on India's roads, but the
millions who use them to commute and to transport goods and family in
India's towns and villages certainly don't wear white helmets,
fluorescent jackets or biking gloves. Through his attire and vehicle
of choice, Mr Dasarathi, 48 and director of a software products
development company, makes a potent statement for an alternative mode
of daily transport in the choked roads of India's Silicon Valley.
http://www.cleanairnet.org/caiasia/1412/article-72304.html

Taipei,China: Public transport must be a priority
09 December 2007 By Lee Ker-tsung, Taipei Times
The demand for public transport in southern Taiwan has decreased. At a
time when oil prices are rising, 250 remote bus routes will be axed by
the end of this month. This will shrink the public transportation
network and affect at least 40 townships in southern Taiwan, leaving
residents with no public transport options. Of these, mountainous
areas, sea front locations and Aboriginal settlements will be most
seriously inconvenienced. The access to education and medicine, as
well as the standard of living for the elderly and for school
children, will suffer.
http://www.cleanairnet.org/caiasia/1412/article-72303.html

Global: Does building new roads help or hurt global warming?
05 December 2007 By James Kanter, International Herald Tribune
PARIS: Seeking a place in the vanguard of the battle against global
warming, France last month unveiled a package of ambitious pledges
that included a particularly bold proposition: An end to new highway
construction.
http://www.cleanairnet.org/caiasia/1412/article-72300.html

Fazilka, India: Fazilka amongst first in Asian Cities for setting best
examples to fight against Global Warming
04 December 2007 By NAVDEEP ASIJA, Punjabnewsline.com
Another reason to celebrate for this India's smallest big town Fazilka
in Punjab. Fazilka has been selected first amongst all Asian cities
for adopting best energy saving practices to fight against global
warming in transportation.
http://www.cleanairnet.org/caiasia/1412/article-72297.html

Global: Considering the Urban Planet of 2050
04 December 2007 By Sewell Chan, earth
What does New York City have in common with cities in Africa and Asia,
like Mumbai, Seoul, Jakarta, Lagos, Cairo and Kinshasa? Population
growth, aging and environmental pressures will transform these
metropolises by 2050, according to a panel of experts who took up the
issue of "sustainable cities" at a panel discussion.The members of the
panel -- a population scientist, a deputy mayor and an architectural
critic -- made sobering predictions about urban change over the next
several decades.
http://www.cleanairnet.org/caiasia/1412/article-72305.html

Metro Manila, Philippines: Study: Coco-biodiesel use improves MM air
quality
04 December 2007 ABS-CBN News
The Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) said that
air quality in Metro Manila has substantially improved after the first
four months of blending one percent coco-biodiesel as mandated by the
Biofuels Act.
http://www.abs-cbnnews.com/storypage.aspx?StoryId=101394

For more news on China see also Ms. Li Shuang's CAI-Asia Project e-
newsletter, http://www.cleanairnet.org/caiasia/1412/article-69329.html

More air quality and sustainable mobility news at
http://www.cleanairnet.org/caiasia/1412/propertyvalue-14783.html

* * * * *
INTERESTING FINDS

Climate Change Mitigation Strategies for the Transportation Sector in
China (2006)
Vance Wagner, Alex Whitworth, and Feng An, PhD of the Auto Project on
Energy and Climate Change jointly prepared this report for the Stern
Review on the Economics of Climate Change in July 2006. The report
describes three overall strategies to mitigate climate change in
China's transportation sector: (1) reduce transportation demand by
improving public transportation and introducing progressive urban
transportation policies; (2) reduce energy demand by improving fuel
efficiency of vehicles; and (3) replace fossil-fuel based energy
sources with alternative and renewable energy sources.
http://www.cleanairnet.org/caiasia/1412/article-72302.html

Transporte y Cambio Climático (2007)
The Sustainable Urban Transport Project (SUTP) has published the
Spanish translation of the module 5e "Transport and Climate
Change" (Transporte y Cambio Climático), originally written by Holger
Dalkmann and Charlotte Brannigan.
http://www.cleanairnet.org/caiasia/1412/article-72196.html

* * * * *
OPPORTUNITIES

2008 Spring Internships at IGES Projects
IGES is accepting applications for spring internships at its research
projects with the aim of promoting understanding of its work by
offering the opportunity for practical training through internships to
capable people who wish to be active in fields related to the research
of policies concerning environmental issues in the future.
http://www.cleanairnet.org/caiasia/1412/article-69633.html

* * * * *
MARK YOUR CALENDARS

TRB 87th Annual Meeting
13-17 Jan 2008 Washington, DC
Online registration now open.
http://www.cleanairnet.org/caiasia/1412/article-72251.html

Third Regional Environmentally Sustainable Transport (EST) Forum
17-19 Mar 2008 Singapore
http://www.cleanairnet.org/caiasia/1412/article-72269.html

International Conference on Funding Transportation Infrastructure & la
Dixième  Journée Transport
19-20 Jun 2008 Paris, France
Call for papers deadline 15 January 2008
http://www.cleanairnet.org/caiasia/1412/article-72268.html

4th International Symposium on Travel Demand Management
16-18 Jul 2008 Vienna, Austria
Call for Papers Deadline: December 17, 2007
http://www.cleanairnet.org/caiasia/1412/article-72218.html

Towards Carfree Cities VIII
16-20 Jun 2008 Portland, Oregon, USA
Call for Program Proposals
http://www.cleanairnet.org/caiasia/1412/article-72243.html

See more SUT events
 http://www.cleanairnet.org/caiasia/1412/propertyvalue-27089.html

See CAI-Asia's events calendar
 http://www.cleanairnet.org/caiasia/1412/propertyvalue-13577.html


* * * *  THANKS * * * *
Thank you Li Shuang and Bert Fabian for your inputs; and to Jaja
Panopio and Mike Co for uploading the articles. - Aurora Fe Ables,
Editor, SUMA News; Transport Specialist, CAI-Asia Center

* * * ABOUT SUMA * * *
The Sustainable Urban Mobility in Asia (SUMA) program of the Clean Air
Initiative for Asian Cities ( www.cleanairnet.org/caiasia), Asian
Development Bank (www.adb.org), EMBARQ-the World Resources Institute
Center for Sustainable Transport ( http://embarq.wri.org ), GTZ
Sustainable Urban Transport Project ( www.sutp.org), Interface for
Cycling Expertise (www.cycling.nl), Institute for Transportation and
Development Policy ( www.itdp.org), and United Nations Center for
Regional Development (www.uncrd.or.jp/est) is made  possible through
the generous support of the Swedish International Development
Cooperation Agency (www.sida.se).

SUMA works with Asian countries and cities to strengthen then
formulation and implementation of sustainable urban transportation
policies, specifically in (i) improving urban air quality by adopting
AQM planning in sustainable transport policies and promoting public
transportation, (ii) improving road safety by encouraging non-
motorized transport and public transport, and (iii) reducing
transport's contribution to climate change by adopting a co-benefits
approach with urban air quality management.