Group make ‘Buffalo City declaration’

DELEGATES from cities in the Brics coalition yesterday renewed their commitment to working together on urban development that will promote prosperity within their respective countries.

The government ministers, mayors and other representatives from Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa adopted the Buffalo City Declaration at the end of intensive discussions on the challenges and opportunities of rapid urbanisation.

The declaration was accepted during the Friendship Cities and Local Government Cooperation and Urbanisation Forum at East London’s ICC on the beachfront.

Among the commitments, the countries:

● Agreed to share knowledge and capacity for sustainable urbanisation processes, to learn from best practices and access available technologies, to better manage and plan for the rapid rate of urbanisation in the Brics partner countries, and to better understand the issues identified as major urban challenges by the member countries.

● Reaffirmed their commitment to effectively implementing the United Nations’ New Urban Agenda, the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, Agenda 2063 – The Africa We Want, and the Sendai Framework for Disaster Risk Reduction 2015-2030.

● Supported the “leave no one behind” policy by addressing the specific needs of vulnerable or marginalised population groups and moving towards the accessible and inclusive city.

● Endorsed the role of Brics member states in “building sustainable and inclusive cities through innovation and partnership”, recognising the significant role of both government and the private sector, and civil society.

● Committed to sharing understanding of the impact of the urban century across borders, and to harness the respective country experiences and expertise to achieve the “urban dividend” or the benefits of urbanisation.

● Acknowledged the importance of harnessing modern technologies to advance their objectives for smart and well-governed cities.

● Recognised that sustainable financing of urbanisation requires more integrated financing frameworks, innovation for financial modelling, enhanced financial management capacities, encouragement of public and private investments, and access to additional sources of finance.

● Reiterated the imperative of inclusive growth to overcome poverty, inequality and unemployment in our societies.

● Accepted that informal urbanisation was important and should be encouraged in the interests of livelihood options for the urban poor; and

● Endeavoured to promote youth employment, gender equity and skills development across communities and reduce discrimination.