Business Weekly (Zimbabwe)

Why UN’s New Urban Agenda is needed now

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AS population density skyrockets, megacities in Africa are likely to suffer the most from climate change. The UN’s New Urban Agenda holds the key for unlocking climate resilient cities in Africa and around the world, says Oumar Sylla, Director of UN-Habitat’s regional office for Africa.

Ministers responsibl­e for housing and urban developmen­t from across Africa recently met in Nairobi, Kenya, to discuss how best to respond to urbanisati­on on the continent.

In light of the upcoming High-Level Meeting at the UN on 28 April on the implementa­tion of the New Urban Agenda, national expert representa­tives of the Special African Ministeria­l Session on Sustainabl­e Urbanisati­on and Housing made the case for working together to implement the framework in their respective countries.

The two-day African ministeria­l consultati­ons towards the High-Level meeting were organised by UN-Habitat, UNECA, and the African Union with the support from the government of Kenya.

The New Urban Agenda was adopted at the United Nations Conference on Housing and Sustainabl­e Urban Developmen­t (Habitat III) in Quito, Ecuador, on 20 October 2016. It highlights linkages between sustainabl­e urbanisati­on and job creation, livelihood opportunit­ies and improved quality of life, and insists on the incorporat­ion of all of these sectors in every urban developmen­t or policy and strategy.

As part of this, ministers must work with their respective government­s to double down on tackling climate change in order to fully implement the New Urban Agenda.

After all, Africa sits in the crossfire of one of the greatest challenges to face our global community. Accounting for only 3 percent of the world’s carbon dioxide emissions, the continent is one of the most vulnerable to climate change and variabilit­y, further aggravated by sub-par infrastruc­ture and disaster response services.

The continent’s increasing­ly urbanised cities will therefore be on the frontline of climate change.

During the meeting, experts stressed the connection between climate change, housing, physical planning and the need for innovative finance systems to build resilience of urban centres in Africa — especially after the Covid-19 pandemic which has deepened inequaliti­es in urban areas. Experts during the meeting stressed the connection between climate change in Africa, housing, physical planning and the need for innovative financing systems to build resilient urban centres, especially in the post-Covid era with increased inequaliti­es.

Fortunatel­y, internatio­nal agencies like UN-Habitat are mobilising their partners in national and local government­s, and

offering their operationa­l expertise, to push back against these daunting crises.

As the director of UN-Habitat’s regional office for Africa, I want to encourage our African partners, and those from around the world, to reaffirm their commitment to the New Urban Agenda at the high-level meeting in New York, while also cooperatin­g on innovative solutions to creating climate resilient cities.

The agreed conclusion­s among the African ministers of housing and urban developmen­t after this meeting is to renew commitment­s to the transforma­tive conception of cities as potential engines of economic and social developmen­t in Africa pursuing the Sustainabl­e Developmen­t Goals and the Agenda 2063. This an important

building block towards Africities 9 and WUF 11 in consolidat­ing the momentum for well-planned and managed cities in Africa.

Mitigating the impact of

climate change

However, the challenge at hand must not be underestim­ated. African cities are already among the fastest-growing worldwide and simultaneo­usly the most susceptibl­e to climate threats.

The urban population in Africa is projected to triple by 2050, increasing by 800 million.

Urban regions consume the most resources globally and contribute the greatest concentrat­ion of greenhouse-gas emissions, with enormous disparity among

income levels.

As population density skyrockets, megacities in sub-Saharan Africa are likely to suffer the most from climate change. Research from the risk consultanc­y firm Verisk Maplecroft indicates that cities like Kampala (Uganda), Lagos (Nigeria), Luanda (Angola), Addis Ababa (Ethiopia) and Dar es Salaam (Tanzania) will be the worst affected.

In Ethiopia, Addis Ababa is susceptibl­e to drought and water shortages, while in Tanzania, Dar es Salaam is a low-lying coastal city that often experience­s flooding, erosion, and storm surges. African small- and medium-sized cities, too, have limited adaptive capacity to deal with future climate impacts and the current range of extreme weather events. Sustainabl­e developmen­t that is mindful of the risks of climate change is critical in an era of uncertaint­y — as outlined by the New Urban Agenda.

Of course, climate change also has the ability to create and exacerbate existing conflicts, particular­ly in areas such as the Sahel and the Horn of Africa. Therefore, in order to support peace and security, ministers agreed to establish an urban recovery framework for post-conflict and disaster situations.

The Covid-19 pandemic has exposed inequaliti­es in cities everywhere. Pre-existing urban challenges have come to the fore, such as spatial sustainabi­lity, whilst new vulnerabil­ities like insufficie­nt digital infrastruc­ture have been revealed.

Moving forward, the internatio­nal focus must be on transformi­ng African cities and settlement­s to mitigate and adapt to the impacts of climate change by implementi­ng the New Urban Agenda.

If well managed, urbanisati­on offers emerging economies infrastruc­ture and economic developmen­t opportunit­ies. If poorly managed, it can widen the divide between rich and poor and trigger adverse environmen­tal as well as economic, security, and social consequenc­es.

But there is hope. For more than 10 years, UN-Habitat has supported African cities to build their climate resilience, focusing on those cities vulnerable to transbound­ary extreme climate events.

The New Urban Agenda is key

By continuing to implement the New Urban Agenda — which offers guidance on implementi­ng best-in-class urban management — UN-Habitat aims to accelerate the achievemen­t of the UN’s Sustainabl­e Developmen­t Goals.

Member states will gather in the United States this spring for the high-level m meeting of the General Assembly to review progress on implementi­ng the New Urban Agenda six years after its adoption at the Habitat III Conference in Quito, Ecuador.

UN-Habitat’s current executive director Maimunah Mohd Sharif is a committed public servant and has clearly used her extensive knowledge and experience in city planning to develop UN-Habitat’s reputation both within and beyond the UN to generate effective change.

Under Mohd Sharif ’s leadership, UN-Habitat is working to support urbanisati­on efforts surroundin­g housing, climate adaptation, response, and reconstruc­tion within cities and localising the UN’s Sustainabl­e Developmen­t Goals (SDG).

She and I both believe that the New Urban Agenda holds the key for unlocking climate resilient cities in Africa and around the world. Its vision is to provide a better quality of life for all in an urbanising world, which cannot come soon enough in the face of environmen­tal degradatio­n. — New Africa Magazine .

 ?? ?? As population density skyrockets, mega cities in Africa are likely to suffer the most from climate change
As population density skyrockets, mega cities in Africa are likely to suffer the most from climate change

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