[00:00.10]From VOA Learning English,
[00:02.62]this is the Economics Report.
[00:05.92]The United Nations is warning that the world
[00:09.65]is not prepared to deal with
[00:12.30]the fast growth of cities.
[00:15.04]The World Economic and Social Survey 2013 calls for
[00:21.57]new ways to meet the needs of city populations.
[00:26.05]More than 6.5 billion people
[00:29.84]are expected to be living in cities by 2050.
[00:34.92]Most new city dwellers will be in developing countries.
[00:41.19]The United Nations says the effect on limited resources
[00:46.92]in many countries will be huge.
[00:50.42]The World Economic and Social Survey
[00:53.41]points to the increasing demand for energy, water,
[00:58.59]sanitation, public services, education and health care.
[01:06.21]The world population is expected to rise
[01:09.75]to more than nine billion by 2050,
[01:13.69]two-thirds of all people are expected to live in cities.
[01:18.47]The United Nations says about 80 percent of
[01:23.17]this growing urban population will be found in Africa and Asia.
[01:30.60]The report says sustainable development of urban areas
[01:34.99]requires coordination and investments
[01:39.56]to deal with important issues, these include land-use,
[01:45.50]food security, job creation and transportation.
[01:52.08]Willem Van Der Geest is with the United Nations
[01:56.07]Department of Economic and Social Affairs,
[01:59.70]he says cities need to work closely with rural communities,
[02:06.21]so that food supplies can be secured,
[02:09.94]and the environment can be protected.
[02:13.04]"We need sufficient integration with cities...
[02:16.67]An integration between the rural
[02:18.97]and urban economies is absolutely vital for issues of nutrition,
[02:24.45]food security, and environmental sustainability."
[02:27.99]The report says development in a sustainable way
[02:31.88]is important to ending poverty.
[02:36.42]The report also examines the problem of food insecurity,
[02:40.90]which affects hundreds of millions of people around the world.
[02:46.48]One in eight people are still chronically undernourished.
[02:53.00]UN officials says somethings are clear.
[02:56.84]The Assistant Secretary-General for Economic Development,
[03:01.65]Shamshad Akhtar,
[03:04.20]says world food production will have to increase by 70%,
[03:09.93]that increase will be needed to feed the additional
[03:14.87]2.3 billion people expected on the planet by the middle of the century.
[03:22.79]She says an important part of meeting that need is to waste less food.
[03:30.01]"There has to be efforts to reduce food wastage.
[03:33.11]Changes will have to take place in the food chain-production,
[03:39.18]storage, transportation and consumption."
[03:42.28]Food and nutrition security
[03:44.47]are core elements of the sustainable development agenda.
[03:49.15]And that's the Economics Report from VOA Learning English,
[03:55.29]I'm Mario Ritter.