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The
Second United Naons Conference on Human Settlements will be held
next year in Istanbul. Shabbir Cheema, Jonas Rabinovitch and Robertson
Work of the Urban Development Unit/Management Development and Governance
Division/UNDP discuss the role of UNDP in promoting a sustainable
urban vision at the "City Summit."
In
its resolution 47/180, the General Assembly of the United Nations
decided to convene the second United Nations Conference on Human
Settlements (HABITAT II) at the highest level of participation,
from 3 to 14 June 1996 at Istanbul, Turkey. The first PrepCom meeting
for HABITAT II was organized at the United Nations Office in Geneva
from 11 to 22 April 1994. As follow-up to the meetings of the United
Nations Commission on Human Settlements and the first PrepCom, two
central themes for the conference were identified: sustainable human
settlements in an urbanizing world and adequate shelter for all.
The
United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) sees HABITAT II as a
good opportunity to establish links between human settlements and
sustainable human development, with technical cooperation among
developing countries (TCDC) playing a key role in this process.
Many model practices and programmes have evolved in developing countries
which can now be shared and transferred.
There
are many reasons to hold a global conference (also referred to as
the "City Summit") on urbanization. First, by the year 2000, half
of the world's population will live and work in cities. Second,
cities and towns are seriously affected by overcrowding, environmental
degradation, under-employment, social disruption and inadequate
housing infrastructure and services. Third, the origin of many environmental
problems such as consumption, waste, and those related to air and
water is in cities. Fourth, cities are engines of economic growth
and, thus, the economic prosperity of nations will depend on the
performance of their cities.
Adequate
access to shelter - including access to land and housing finance,
community organizing, basic services and an enabling framework for
participatory approaches to shelter - in rural and urban areas is
the other central theme. Shelter is an issue of concern to individuals,
families and communities because it directly affects the living
environment of the people. Problems of shelter are universal and
no country is able to completely meet those needs.
According
to the first PrepCom held at Geneva in 1994, the vision of the Conference
includes "creating homes and sustainable communities for all people
living and working in harmony with themselves and Mother Earth,"
and making the world's cities, towns and villages healthy, safe
and sustainable. The objectives of the preparatory process and the
Conference are to: (a) raise global and national awareness of the
positive role of cities and towns as centres of employment, investment,
production, marketplaces, culture and learning; (b) improve people's
living environments through new and more effective investments in
shelter and urban development; (c) design and implement national
plans of action based on national and local priorities; and (d)
adopt and implement a global plan of action in support of national
plans of action.
The
Preparatory Committee recommended that four multisectoral issues
be woven into all programmes: (a) settlement management, with reference
to decentralization and the involvement of people and their organizations;
(b) poverty reduction; (c) environmental management; and (d) disaster
mitigation, relief and reconstruction. Cross-sectoral issues suggested
by the Preparatory Committee are women, the urban economy and employment,
social and economic dimensions of urbanization and shelter development,
education and capacity-building, and equity and vulnerable groups.
The
HABITAT II secretariat has been established at the United Nations
Centre for Human Settlements (UNCHS, also known as HABITAT) at Nairobi.
Preparatory work is underway at three levels: national, regional
and global. Preparatory work at the national and local levels consists
of the establishment of national committees, the adoption of a two-year
work programme by national committees and the preparation of a national
plan of action for the period 1996-2000. The process to be followed
by each national committee in the preparation of a national plan
of action will include an assessment of urbanization and shelter
trends based on housing and urban development indicators, a review
of the effectiveness of existing policies and strategies dealing
with the conference issues of the Conference, dissemination of best
practices and a five-year, first step commitment to implement and
monitor actions for the period 1996-2000.
Preparatory
activities at regional and global levels include global reports
and syntheses dealing with selected issues addressed through workshops,
seminars, exhibitions, publications and media events to increase
awareness and resource mobilization. Actors to be involved in the
preparatory process at the national, regional, and global levels
will include representatives of the central government, local government,
non-governmental organizations, cities' associations and the private
sector.
An
outline of the draft Global Plan of Action has been prepared, and
was discussed during the second PrepCom for HABITAT II, to be held
from 24 April to 5 May 1995 at Nairobi, Kenya. The Plan consists
of key issues, principles, strategies, commitments, programmes,
priority actions and responsibilities.
Human
settlement problems are a central and integral part of the sustainable
human development (SHD) vision. In his letter of 17 October 1994,
addressed to the Secretary-General of HABITAT II, Gustave Speth,
UNDP's Administrator, reiterated the organization's b commitment
to the goals of HABITAT II. The primary objective of UNDP for HABITAT
II is to establish a thematic connection between human settlements
and sustainable human development - poverty elimination/sustainable
livelihood, regenerating and improving the environment, job creation,
the reduction of gender imbalances and sound governance. Specific
objectives of UNDP's involvement are as follows:
-
Incorporate relevant recommendations of Agenda 21, the World Summit
on Social Development, the International Conference on Population
and Development and the Fourth Conference on Women into HABITAT
II. Translate the results of these conferences into concrete actions
at the human settlement level in cities, towns and villages;
-
Promote a unified UN-system response to the issues addressed through
the Conference both at the preparatory stage and at the follow-up
to the Conference;
-
Provide substantive inputs to the Conference through concrete activities
designed and monitored by UNDP in collaboration with UNCHS and other
partner agencies in the UN system;
-
Mobilize resources for the preparatory work for HABITAT II at national,
regional and global levels in collaboration with the HABITAT II
secretariat;
-
Encourage the active participation of Resident Representatives/Coordinators
in the preparatory activities for the Conference;
-
Promote South-South cooperation through the exchange of ideas, experiences,
policies and practices on urban management and human settlements
development.
The
Global Plan of Action (GPA), being prepared for HABITAT II by its
Secretariat emphasizes technical cooperation opportunities among
developing countries and between developing and developed countries
through a section of the plan called, "International Cooperation
and Coordination." In this connection, recent trends in the globalization
of the world economy, the involvement of the private sector in urban
infrastructure and services development and technological advances
in communications and information facilities provide important technical
and institutional cooperation prospects in dealing with urban-related
problems throughout the developing world.
Prospects
for international cooperation also provide direct linkages between
the local goal of making cities healthy, safe and equitable, and
the international goals of world peace, justice and stability. For
developing countries presently faced with unprecedented rates of
urban growth, these linkages between local and international goals
are particularly important.
The
Special Unit for Technical Cooperation among Developing Countries
(SU/TCDC) within UNDP is supporting two concrete set of activities
leading up to the HABITAT II Global Conference. First, it has commissioned
the preparation of a monograph on effective urban practices which
was designed to disseminate information on urban policies and practices
which have proved effective in addressing pressing urban problems
in different regions of the world. The monograph is also to serve
as background document to the second set of activities supported
by the Special Unit for TCDC. These are the regional workshops which
are scheduled to take place in the Latin American and the Caribbean,
African, Asian Pacific and the Arab States regions. These workshops
will focus on regional urban themes and will facilitate the exchange
of ideas, policies and practices on urban issues based on country
case studies to be presented by the participants who will be drawn
from the central governments, municipalities, non-governmental organizations
and the private sector of the invited countries.
The
HABITAT II Global Plan of Action, specifically recommends the development
of appropriate mechanisms for North-South and South-South cooperation.
The Global Plan of Action acknowledges a growing need for new and
improved ways of international networking to disseminate experience
on institutional, legal and regulatory frameworks, and on governance,
management practices and successful programmes in all these areas.
The Special Unit for TCDC is particularly well placed to support
the implementation of the Plan of Action on the basis of the TCDC
modality, in particular the new forms of TCDC as embodied in the
TCDC New Directions mandate endorsed by the recent meeting of the
High-level Committee on the Review of TCDC. These new TCDC forms
of TCDC cooperation include concepts, such as triangular technical
cooperation arrangements, which include a South-South/North configuration
whereby development priorities are defined and the implementation
of their activities managed by the developing countries themselves
with specific technical, or financial inputs from developed countries.
Another new TCDC form is the "pivotal country" approach which involves
the identification of a "lead developing country" which, by virtue
of having certain technical or financial capacities, might take
a lead role in the development of other developing countries in
a sub-regional or regional context.
Through
its global network of country offices, UNDP is in a unique position
to provide an upward flow of successful urban management practices,
enhancing technical cooperation opportunities unveiled on the occasion
of HABITAT II. Initiatives, such as those undertaken by the SU/TCDC,
could be expanded to facilitate even more specific technical exchanges
between cities in the South. The development of an "urban best practices"
database, being constantly updated by UNDP Country Offices, represents
another idea for further consideration. The contact between cities
is simpler and more objective than contacts between national governments,
which tend to involve a higher number of administrative details.
Technical cooperation between cities can concentrate directly on
the interchange of successful urban management practices.
The
International Colloquium of Mayors, held at the United Nations Headquarters
in August, 1994, involved international agencies, cities' associations,
non-governmental organizations, the scientific-academic community,
community-based organizations, the private sector, trade unions
and various other potential partners in development. The conference
amply demonstrated the mayors' willingness to cooperate with each
other. UNDP is following up the recommendations of the Colloquium
of Mayors, through the development of regional workshops for the
interchange of successful urban management practices, inviting mayors,
non-governmental organizations, the private sector and other stakeholders
to discuss and develop recommendations for HABITAT II.
The
UNDP action package in support of HABITAT II consists of activities
at three levels. At the national level, UNDP is supporting the preparatory
process. National HABITAT II Committees have been established in
most countries. The Administrator has sent a letter to Resident
Representatives/Coordinators urging them to take leadership in providing
a unified UN-system response to support governments in the preparatory
activities for HABITAT II. Three types of activities are to be supported:
shelter and urban development assessments and indicators; review
of existing policies, strategies and best practices and; the organization
of national consultations to prepare national action plans.
At
the regional level, the five regional workshops supported by SU/TCDC
described earlier will take place.
At
the global level, the first major activity organized by UNDP in
support of HABITAT II was the International Colloquium of Mayors
which led to the Mayors' Declaration on Social Development and Sustainable
Human Settlements. As follow-up to the Mayors' Colloquium, several
activities at the global level - some touched upon earlier - have
been initiated. These include: the preparation of a synthesis report
on TCDC exchange and transfer of experiences and innovations; preparation
of a monograph on "Urban Agriculture: Food, Jobs and Sustainable
Cities"; a workshop on "Gender and Shelter"; support to the development
of a database on best practices: a roundtable on HABITAT II.
The
Urban Management Programme is the largest multi-donor technical
assistance programme at the global level in urban development. UNDP
provides core funding and overall substantive monitoring. HABITAT
is the executing agency, with the World Bank as associate agency.
The Programme provides assistance in five areas of concentration:
municipal finance, land management, urban infrastructure, poverty
alleviation and the urban environment. The Programme has been decentralized,
with authority devolving to four regional offices based in Cairo,
Quito, Accra and Kuala Lumpur.
Local
Initiative Facility for Urban Environment (LIFE) is designed to
promote "local-local" dialogue among municipalities, non-governmental
organizations, and community-based organizations to improve the
quality of the urban environment. The objective of the programme
is to promote a sustainable human development approach to local
initiatives of urban environmental improvement by linking three
priority areas - governance, environmental improvement and poverty-to-equity
- with the potential of influencing policies and programmes at the
municipal and national level. LIFE currently operates through a
decentralized structure, within seven countries, and will add five
countries in the next year. It also supports regional and inter-regional
projects with the aim of generating dialogue, documentation, interchange
of information and actual transfers of innovations.
The
largest regional programme in this field is the Urban Management
Programme for Asia and the Pacific (UMPAP). The programme has four
main goals: to strengthen urban management capacity involving civil
society groups, local authorities and central governments; to encourage
urban networking and support TCDC; to generate sustainable urban
environmental policies and practices; to ensure the involvement
of non-governmental organizations in all aspects of urban management
programmes. One of the components, Asia-Pacific 2000, is especially
involved with the empowerment of civil society groups at both national
and regional levels. The programme focuses on ten countries: Bangladesh,
China, India, Indonesia, Malaysia, Nepal, Pakistan, Philippines,
Sri Lanka and Thailand, and is executed by UNDP's Office for Project
Services in association with UNCHS, ESCAP and the World Bank.
The
programmes above are not designed to provide isolated "one-off"
solutions to individual problems. On the contrary, they present
a number of opportunities for South-South and other forms of cooperation
between developing and developed countries. Urban-related problems
are alike worldwide, thus strengthening prospects and opportunities
for cooperation. The International Colloquium of Mayors corroborated
this fact. On that occasion, UNDP's Administrator, Mr. James Gustave
Speth, said: "We feel that by asking mayors around the world to
identify their main concerns, UNDP could illustrate that urban problems
are more than just localized ones, but rather part of broad global
patterns. Local solutions to local problems can be shared globally
and organizations like UNDP can see what works best in which locations."
The
following table describes a number of upcoming South-South initiatives
focused around the Conference. Outlined below are the activity's
venue and timing, lead unit, collaborating agencies/units and funding
and a description of the activity and its expected outcome. The
activities included in the table are those specifically designed
for the HABITAT II process and are in addition to those of UNDP's
on-going urban and human settlements programmes.
[Table
is available only in the hard-copy issue].
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