Cities—especially those with substantial poor populations—will face increasingly severe challenges in tackling the impacts of global environmental change (GEC). As economic dynamos and increasingly important population concentrations, cities both contribute substantially, and often are very vulnerable, to the impacts of GEC. This applies strongly in Africa, one of the world’s poorest regions. T...

• China is a large economy with a large absolute gross domestic product (GDP). However, its huge population brings its GDP and wealth level per capita way below developed countries and in-line with many developing countries. • Between 1990 and 2001, China’s economy experienced rapid growth (7-8% on average) as did its telecommunications, information technology (IT) and Internet infrastructures ...