UN Population Division, Department of Economic and Social Affairs,
with support from the UN Population Fund (UNFPA)
|
| UN Population Division, Department of Economic and Social Affairs, with support from the UN Population Fund (UNFPA) |
|
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This document is being made available by the Office of the Executive
Director, United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA), in collaboration with
the Population Information Network (POPIN). For further information
please contact UNFPA at 220 East 42nd Street, New York, NY USA 10017;
tel: 212-297-5124; fax: 212-297-4911; email: nsiah@unfpa.org
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Population and Sustainable Human Settlements
UNFPA Statement for the Third Session of the Preparatory Committee
of the United Nations Conference on Human Settlements (Habitat II)
February 1996
Mr. Secretary-General, Mr. N'Dow, Secretary-General of this
Habitat II Conference, Mr. Speth, Ms. Bellamy, distinguished
delegates and friends,
I am most pleased to have this opportunity to address the third
session of the Preparatory Committee for the Habitat II Conference.
Following other United Nations international conferences that have
dealt with critical aspects of sustainable human development, I have
every confidence that Habitat II will make further important
contributions in the area of human settlements.
Ladies and gentlemen, UNFPA attaches great importance to Habitat
II because we believe that population issues and human-settlement
issues are closely interlinked. We believe that population growth,
population distribution and urbanization are factors that will
vitally effect human-settlement policy in the future.
By the year 2005, more than half the world's population will
live in cities. In ten years, the number of large cities with more
than a million people will increase from 213 to 321, and the majority
will be in the developing world. Almost unique to urban growth in
the late 20th Century is the emergence of massive urban
agglomerations with populations of over 10 million people. Of the
world's 14 such mega-cities, 11 are now in the developing world;
thirteen more will emerge in the next 20 years, all in the developing
world.
Investments in fields important to the eradication of urban
poverty, such as basic education, health care, sanitation, drinking
water, housing, and transportation for rapidly growing populations,
continue to strain economies and limit policy options. The unusually
high number of young people in urban populations in the developing
world further increases pressures on housing and social services and
requires that productive jobs be created for a continually growing
urban labour force under conditions of already widespread
unemployment.
Although rural to urban migration contributes importantly to
urban growth, the growth of urban populations is preponderantly a
reflection of the growth of the world's total population, which
increases by one billion people every eleven years. Over 95 per cent
of future population growth will occur in developing countries and
almost three-quarters of that increase will occur in cities and
towns. Although future population increases are inevitable, the
difference between the United Nation's high and low projections, a
difference of 720 million people over the next 20 years, has
important implications for the goal of sustainable urban development.
The recent series of UN Conferences have emphasized the
paramount place of human beings in sustainable human development.
The policies and goals adopted by these conferences have converged
on this theme as the only viable way to improve the quality and well
being of all people. Such strategies should be foremost in the
deliberations for the development of sustainable human settlements
at Habitat II.
Although it is widely appreciated that population-related goals
and policies should be integral parts of economic, social and
cultural development strategies, including human-settlements
policies, the consequences of population growth and urbanization for
sustainable human settlements need to be better appreciated.
The International Conference on Population and Development
(ICPD) held in Cairo in 1994 stressed the importance of these issues.
The ICPD Programme of Action devotes two chapters to population
distribution and migration issues and their relationship with other
sectors. It is essential that the Habitat Agenda incorporate ICPD's
insights into the worldwide process of urbanization, the strong
interlinkages between rural development and urban growth and the
underlying determinants of migration into multidimensional policies
which will address pressing environmental and human-settlement
problems.
It is equally important for Habitat to incorporate the insights
on gender issues from both Cairo and Beijing. The empowerment and
autonomy of women and the improvement of their political, social,
economic and health status are highly important ends in themselves,
as well as being essential for the achievement of sustainable
development. Experience shows that development programmes are most
effective when steps have simultaneously been taken to improve the
status of women.
Therefore it is necessary that women's contributions to
sustainable development through their full involvement in policy and
decision-making processes and their participation in all aspects of
development -- and in particular with regard to sustainable human
settlements -- should be ensured. Women have a special relevance for
human-settlement issues since they interact daily with the
responsibilities of child-bearing, household work and income-
generating activities in the framework of shelter and community.
The rights of women to buy, hold and sell property and land
equally with men, to obtain credit and negotiate contracts in their
own names and on their own behalf and to exercise their legal rights
to inheritance are goals for which we all must strive. Achieving
them would enhance their status and fuller participation in the
activities which affect their daily lives and thus are central issues
for human-settlement strategies.
Because of the linkages between population and human
settlements, UNFPA is playing an active role in the preparations for
the Habitat II Conference. The Fund is supporting a senior post in
the Habitat Conference secretariat, to facilitate the preparatory
work for the conference and to maintain awareness of the important
population linkages to human settlements.
To further the knowledge of linkages in migration and
urbanization issues with the sustainable human settlements, UNFPA has
also supported selected expert conferences and meetings. Recently,
a symposium was convened by UNFPA on "Internal Migration and
Urbanization in Developing Countries". It discussed such issues as
the determinants and consequences of internal migration and
urbanization in developing countries as it impacts on human
settlements. The recommendations of this symposium on internal
migration and urbanization are available for all delegations at the
back of the room. They succinctly encompass the linkages to the
Cairo document as well as the main population and development issues
which I strongly feel need to be taken into account in framing the
Habitat Agenda document. I hope you will find these recommendations
a useful input in your forthcoming deliberations.
I would also like to point out that UNFPAžs 1996 State of the
World Population Report, has as its theme, urbanization, population
and human resources development. UNFPA, together with the Habitat
Secretariat, will also co-sponsor another symposium to be held from
31 March to 2 April in San Diego, titled žInternational Symposium on
Human Settlements: From Cairo to Istanbulž.
The socio-economic and environmental problems to be solved in
the human settlements, especially in urban areas where the majority
of the population is going to live and work in the coming decades,
are multi-sectoral and multi-dimensional and need active support of
stakeholders in the civil society from local, national, non-
governmental organizations, international and UN agencies. To make
a sustained effort to improve the well being of poor women, men,
children and youth of the world, cross-cutting measures in
development programmes are called for, using a coordinated holistic
approach.
Consequently, in addressing the problems of human settlements
and charting a course for the future, it is to be hoped that
countries will consult the ICPD Programme of Action, keeping in mind
what was perhaps the most significant aspect of the agreement reached
in Cairo: the consensus that population and development are strongly
inter-related. Development policies will be more effective if
population issues are fully considered, just as population policies
that ignore the holistic nature of the development process will not
succeed. By integrating the recommendations of the ICPD into its
total global strategy as well as those of other major UN conferences,
the Habitat II Agenda will be able to steer towards the achievement
of the sustainable and equitable human development.
Mr. Chairman, let me assure you of UNFPAžs commitment to the
Habitat II Conference. In addition to endeavors the Fund is
sponsoring, we shall continue to work closely with the Habitat
Secretariat and with all our UN sister agencies to assure the success
of this important conference.
In closing, I urge this Committee to focus due attention on the
linkages between population and human-settlement issues. I wish you
all every success in your work here.
Thank you.