| United Nations | E/CN.17/1997/2/Add.6 |
Economic and Social Council
Distr. GENERAL
27 January 1997
ORIGINAL: ENGLISH
COMMISSION ON SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT
Fifth session
7-25 April 1997
Overall progress achieved since the United Nations
Conference on Environment and Development
Report of the Secretary-General
Addendum
Promoting sustainable human settlement development *
(Chapter 7 of Agenda 21)
(* The present report was prepared by the United Nations Centre for
Human Settlements (Habitat) as task manager for chapter 7 of Agenda
21, in accordance with arrangements agreed to by the Inter-Agency
Committee on Sustainable Development (IACSD). It is the result of
consultation and information exchange between United Nations agencies,
international and national organizations, interested government
agencies and a range of other institutions, individuals and major
group representatives.)
CONTENTS
Paragraphs Page
INTRODUCTION ................................................ 1 - 2 3
I. SELECTING KEY OBJECTIVES ............................... 3 - 4 5
II. REPORTING ON AND ANALYSING SUCCESS ..................... 5 - 15 5
A. Shelter for all: formulation of national
shelter strategies ................................. 5 - 7 5
B. Improved urban management capacity ................ 8 - 9 6
C. Improved environmental infrastructure and services 10 - 13 6
D. National and local human settlements strategies,
including local Agendas 21 ........................ 14 - 15 7
III. PROMISING CHANGES ..................................... 16 - 24 10
A. Integrated management approaches .................. 16 10
B. Broad-based participatory approaches .............. 17 - 20 10
C. Increased cooperation and networking .............. 21 - 23 11
D. International commitments ......................... 24 12
IV. UNFULFILLED EXPECTATIONS .............................. 25 - 28 12
V. EMERGING PRIORITIES ................................... 29 - 34 14
A. Responding to local and national priorities ....... 29 14
B. Linking the normative and analytical processes .... 30 14
C. Forging new partnerships and dialogue between
major groups ...................................... 31 14
D. Integrated approaches to addressing sectoral
priorities ........................................ 32 15
E. New paradigms for capacity-building ............... 33 15
F. Creating an information and communication system
for the exchange of knowledge, expertise and
experience ........................................ 34 16
Boxes
1. The multiple goals of sustainable development as applied to cities 4
2. Developing local Agendas 21 ...................................... 9
INTRODUCTION
1. The present report reviews progress made in the implementation of
the objectives set out in chapter 7 of Agenda 21 (Promoting
sustainable human settlement development), 1/ taking into account the
decisions taken by the Commission on Sustainable Development on this
subject in 1994 at its second session.
2. Rapid urbanization, the concentration of urban population in large
cities, the spread of cities into wider geographical areas and the
rapid growth of megacities are among the most significant
transformations of our time. Urban settlements hold promise for the
protection and careful use of the world's natural resources through
their ability to support large numbers of people while limiting their
impact on the natural environment. Human settlements should therefore
be at the centre of concern for sustainable development, as they are
essential for social and economic progress and, in an increasingly
interdependent world, critical for the well-being of both urban and
rural populations (see box 1).
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Box 1. The multiple goals of sustainable development as
applied to cities
Meeting the needs of the present ...
- Economic needs: include access to adequate livelihood or
productive assets from which this can be gained; also minimum income
or economic security when unemployed, ill, disabled or otherwise
unable to secure livelihood.
- Social, cultural and health needs: include shelter that is
healthy, safe, affordable and secure, within a healthy neighbourhood
environment with provision for piped water, sanitation, drainage,
transport, health care, education and child development. They also
include a home, workplace and living environment protected from
environmental hazards, including chemical pollution. Equally
important are needs related to people's choice and control - including
homes, neighbourhoods that they value and where their social and
cultural needs and priorities are met. Shelters and services must
meet specific needs of children, adolescents and adults responsible
for child-rearing (usually women). Achieving this implies a more
equitable distribution of income within and between nations.
- Political needs: include freedom to participate in national and
local politics and in decisions regarding management and development
of own home and neighbourhood, within a broader framework that ensures
respect for civil and political rights and respect for environmental
legislation.
... Without compromising the ability of future generations to meet
their own needs
- Minimizing use of waste of non-renewable resources: includes
minimizing consumption of fossil fuels in housing, commerce, industry
and transport plus substituting renewable source where feasible and
reducing use and minimizing waste of scarce mineral resources
(reducing use, reusing, recycling, reclaiming). There are also
cultural, historical and natural assets within cities that are
irreplaceable and thus non-renewable, for instance, historic districts
and parks and natural landscapes that provide city inhabitants with
space for play, recreation and access to nature.
- Sustainable use of renewable resources: includes cities drawing
on freshwater resources at levels that can be sustained; keeping to a
sustainable ecological impact in terms of land area on which producers
and consumers in any city draw for agricultural crops, wood products
and biomass fuels.
- Keeping wastes from cities within the absorptive capacity of local
and global sinks: includes the capacity of rivers to break down
biodegradable wastes and methods to deal with persistent chemicals,
including greenhouse gases, stratospheric ozone-depleting chemicals
and persistent pesticides.
Source: Diana Mitlin and David Satterthwaite, "Cities and
sustainable development", background paper to Global Forum '94,
Manchester City Council, June 1994.
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I. SELECTING KEY OBJECTIVES
3. In the five years since the Earth Summit, the following four
priorities to advance sustainable human settlements development have
emerged: (a) shelter for all; (b) improved urban management capacity;
(c) improved environmental infrastructure and services; and (d)
inclusive and gender-sensitive human settlements plans and strategies,
including local Agendas 21. Priorities for international support to
human settlements development have focused on policy advice; capacity-
building; partnerships with local authorities and other major groups,
including the private sector and non-governmental organizations; and
networking and exchange of best practices in human settlements
development and management. The Habitat Agenda, 2/ the global plan of
action adopted by the second United Nations Conference on Human
Settlements (Habitat II), provides a detailed strategy for sustainable
shelter and human settlements development based on the principles of
partnership and enablement.
4. The effort made during the five years since the Earth Summit in
regard to carrying out numerous activities to advance sustainable
human settlements development is commendable. In many significant
ways, the preparatory process for Habitat II served to accelerate this
process and acted as a catalyst for the launching of new activities as
well as for furthering United Nations system-wide collaboration. The
Habitat Agenda not only represents a reconfirmation of Agenda 21, but
also provides a holistic operational framework for implementing the
relevant decisions and recommendations of a decade of United Nations
conferences.
II. REPORTING ON AND ANALYSING SUCCESS
A. Shelter for all: formulation of national shelter strategies
5. Since the United Nations Conference on Environment and
Development, 80 countries have drafted new or reformulated their
existing housing policies and strategies in line with the
recommendations of the Global Strategy for Shelter to the Year 2000. 3/
A major objective of these strategies is to accelerate construction
and improvement of housing for and by low-income groups. The focus,
furthermore, has been on strategies that are environmentally
sustainable, especially in regard to land use, building technologies
and materials employed, as set out in Agenda 21, and as reconfirmed in
the Habitat Agenda. Emphasis is also given to the need to develop
efficient land and housing markets that broaden access of security of
tenure and credit, a goal for women and men that is linked to, and in
many ways dependent on, progress in the broader areas of economic
reform. Formulation of new national shelter strategies has been
assisted by efforts on the part of the United Nations Centre for Human
Settlements (Habitat) and the World Bank in helping over 100 countries
to develop quantitative, policy-sensitive housing and urban indicators
to help set priorities and guide the policy formulation process.
6. One of the key commitments entered into by Governments in adopting
the Habitat Agenda is to work towards the full and progressive
realization of the right to adequate housing. Efforts in this
direction will, first and foremost, aim at expanding access to housing
for low-income groups and will address such key issues as security of
tenure. The commitment to the right to adequate housing is considered
one of the key achievements of Habitat II and opens the way to further
progress in shelter accessibility in the coming years.
7. In most countries that formulated national shelter strategies, the
process of implementation has begun. This will be given added impetus
as nations engage in broader legislative and policy reforms. The
implementation of enabling shelter strategies requires support by a
broad constituency, which must include local authorities and the
private sector. It is hoped that grass-roots initiatives, encouraged
by Habitat II, will contribute to making such partnerships concrete.
B. Improved urban management capacity
8. The second key objective in implementing chapter 7 of Agenda 21 is
management improvement and capacity-building, in order to assist local
authorities in facing the challenge of rapid urbanization and
environmental sustainability. Experience has demonstrated that a
strongly participatory approach to urban management results in
increased commitment of key actors and stakeholders. Increased
awareness of the value of stakeholder involvement in human settlements
support programmes is resulting in projects with a higher rate of
successful implementation and replication. Local authority
associations and organizations have also increasingly strengthened
their networking internationally, regionally and nationally,
establishing the basis for productive partnerships in support of
improving local self-government as an essential element in capacity-
building.
9. Since the United Nations Conference on Environment and
Development, the Urban Management Programme (UMP) has emerged as the
principal United Nations-system effort to improve urban management
capacity in developing countries and is currently active in 55
countries with the support of 10 bilateral external support agencies.
The principal methods of work are capacity-building at both country
and regional levels, facilitating dialogue on policy and programme
options that draw on developing-country experts, and developing
mechanisms for technical cooperation among developing countries
(TCDC). A number of such new programmes have been launched in the
post-Rio period. The most successful of these are multi-agency
programmes such as the Sustainable Cities Programme (SCP). As a joint
Habitat-United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) facility promoting
participatory approaches to environment planning and management, the
Sustainable Cities Programme spearheads the United Nations efforts in
this field, and its work over the last five years has catalysed
similar initiatives by others.
C. Improved environmental infrastructure and services
10. One of the most promising ways to improve the quality and range of
infrastructure services for the urban poor is to draw on the resources
and experience of the communities themselves. Over the past years,
national and international non-governmental organizations in many
developing-country cities have demonstrated that much can be achieved
even with modest resources. The successes have been achieved as a
result of programmes undertaken by grass-roots organizations. Over
the past five years, most external support agencies have increased the
priority they give to working in partnership with the private sector
and community groups in order to improve urban infrastructure and
services. Importantly, an increasing share of financial commitments
have also been made in the area of integrated urban development
programmes that combine investments in various kinds of urban
infrastructure and services. Many of these projects incorporate a
capacity-building component to strengthen local authorities.
Multilateral financial institutions, in particular, have increased
their lending with regard to urban pollution control.
11. There is a growing awareness that urban technical cooperation
should focus, in the long term, on developing the capacity of national
and local Governments to plan, invest in and manage urban
infrastructure, and on mobilizing the resources of all local actors,
especially of the private sector. The challenge, however, is
enormous. By 1994, for example, more than 1 billion people in urban
and rural settlements were without suitable water supply.
12. A milestone in building global awareness concerning the impending
urban water crisis was reached at the Beijing Water Conference in
March 1996. Held in conjunction with World Day for Water, 1996, the
Conference focused unprecedented media attention on the looming water
crisis, especially in rapidly growing cities. Almost all of the
world's major cities are today facing serious shortfalls either in
water supply, or in water quality, or in both. The Beijing Conference
has led to a number of follow-up consultations at the international
level, geared to remedial action and involving, in particular, the
World Bank and the Administrative Committee on Coordination (ACC)
Subcommittee on Water Resources.
13. Developing-country cities face an equally daunting challenge in
the area of sanitation. The situation is further complicated by the
poverty of the millions who are without access to this most basic of
services. Here, the relationships between poverty, environmental
decay and decline in the quality of life of people in urban areas are
most evident. Given the scale of needs, the most effective approach
has been the one that supports city- and neighbourhood-based efforts
that mobilize the energies of the affected population. Some United
Nations programmes that take this approach include the World Health
Organization (WHO) Healthy Cities Programme, the United Nations Centre
for Human Settlements (Habitat)/UNEP Sustainable Cities Programme, the
United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) Basic Urban Services Programme
and the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) Local Initiative
Facility for Urban Environment.
D. National and local human settlements strategies,
including local Agendas 21
14. Since the United Nations Conference on Environment and
Development, and as a direct result of the Habitat II preparatory
process, 138 countries have prepared detailed reports on the state of
their human settlements: 127 of these contain first-step, five-year
National Plans of Action for Sustainable Human Settlements Development
prepared in line with the guidelines established by the Preparatory
Committee for the United Nations Conference on Human Settlements
(Habitat II). The inclusive nature of plan preparation, and the
information component of these plans provided by the indicators and
best practices initiatives, as well the substantial donor interest in
their preparation, should help to ensure that these plans will not
only benefit from broad-based political and social support, but will
also be more likely to be translated into tangible policies and
programmes able to elicit both local and international support and
financing. Most plans stress greater involvement of civil society and
of major groups. Almost without exception, they emphasize the need to
strengthen local authorities in their decision-making powers and in
their managerial and financial capacities. What emerges from these
national reports is that, for developing countries, the direct
linkages between environmental improvement and the reduction of
poverty through the provision of basic infrastructure such as water
supply, sanitation and waste management and disposal are given
priority attention. The national reports of industrialized countries,
on the other hand, reflect their concern with the sustainability of
production and consumption cycles in human settlements and their
impact on the quality of life. In all countries, without exception,
resource mobilization and identification of new sources of finance for
sustainable human settlements development are a prime necessity.
Ensuring the financial viability of local institutions is also a top
priority, for without such viable institutions, sustainable
development cannot be achieved at the local level.
15. Assiduous follow-up of these priorities will certainly influence
the ultimate success of local Agendas 21 (see box 2). An important
contributor to the accelerated pace of local Agenda 21 initiatives has
been the work of the International Council for Local Environmental
Initiatives (ICLEI), which works closely with local authorities and
their associations as well as with a number of donors. One of the
principal aims of the implementation of the Habitat Agenda will be to
strengthen local Agenda 21 initiatives and to support their
replication worldwide.
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Box 2. Developing local Agendas 21
Hundreds of local authorities around the world are developing
"local Agendas 21" as the means to introduce into or strengthen
environmental concerns in their plans and operations. Local Agenda 21
processes differ from city to city since they reflect the different
local contexts in which they are operative as well as the existing
institutional structures.
Some countries have national programmes of support for such
initiatives. They include Australia, the Netherlands, Denmark,
Sweden, the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, and
Finland. In the United Kingdom, such initiatives promote local
consultative processes on sustainable development; disseminate
guidance for local authorities on how to move towards sustainability
at a local level and on how to develop models of community
consultation, participation and local consensus-building; and involve
other sectors and major groups in the local Agenda 21 process at a
national level. In Sweden, all local authorities have environmental
strategies that include provision for waste minimization and
recycling. Most municipalities have also started work on local
Agendas 21. Several European countries are exploring the
possibilities of linking work on local Agendas 21 to formal land-use
planning systems. For instance, the city of Stockholm is currently
preparing a new plan that takes a more strategic and longer-term view
than previous plans and will explicitly promote the integration of
environmental, social and economic goals. The new plan will become
part of the local Agenda 21 for the city. In Denmark, existing
planning instruments are being adapted to Agenda 21 requirements so
that municipal plans become overall action plans for the environment
not only nationally but also in the context of Europe.
A large number of local authorities in developing countries have
developed local Agendas 21. For instance, each of the municipalities
that make up the Bogota' metropolitan area in Colombia is developing
its own local environmental agendas, sponsored by the metropolitan
authority, non-governmental organizations and academics. Other urban
centres in Colombia such as Manizales also have a well-established
local Agendas 21 process. Among other cities in the South that are
developing local Agendas 21 are Cajamarca in Peru, Durban in South
Africa and Santos in Brazil. Both ICLEI and the United Nations Centre
for Human Settlements (Habitat) are expanding their collaboration with
African cities in the area of local Agenda 21 initiatives.
Source: United Nations Centre for Human Settlements (Habitat),
An Urbanizing World: Global Report on Human Settlements, 1996
(Oxford, Oxford University Press, 1996), pp. 407-409.
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III. PROMISING CHANGES
A. Integrated management approaches
16. Today a major emphasis is being given to local capacity-building
by multilateral and bilateral donors, financing institutions and other
external support agencies, as well as by non-governmental
organizations and local authority associations over the past years.
This issue is also closely tied to the broader issue of improvement of
governance and management, which has increasingly become a focus of
governmental efforts worldwide.
B. Broad-based participatory approaches
17. Central to virtually each of the success stories referred to above
have been the involvement and increased activism of major groups,
especially local authorities, non-governmental organizations and the
private sector. In fact, all indications point to a future strategic
role for United Nations agencies in promoting sustainable development
by concentrating on the facilitating of new partnerships. The global
and regional exchange of new knowledge and expertise derived from
local best practices, as well as new networks among major groups
active in human settlements development will need to be supported.
Moreover, the experience of such programmes as the Sustainable Cities
Programme, the Healthy Cities Programme and the Urban Management
Programme, to cite just three examples, clearly demonstrates that
United Nations agencies, because of their perceived neutrality, can
play a pivotal role in bringing together actors, from governmental
departments to community organizations, to discuss problems, identify
priorities and decide on joint actions.
18. Community involvement in decision-making and implementation at the
local level normally has outcomes that exert an immediate and visible
effect on people's lives. Such inclusive strategies also increase the
likelihood of compliance with agreed upon action, particularly if they
have financial implications. In other words, people are more likely
to pay for new and improved services, for cleaner water, for cleaner
air and for better transport, if they have been part of the decision-
making process leading up to these outcomes.
19. Looking ahead, it seems obvious that the rate of success of plans
of action and national policies will depend on the extent to which
they are anchored in civil society and can generate local commitments,
whether from the business community or the people. The times are over
when policy and programme development, planning, financing and
execution were primarily a matter for government agencies and
development institutions.
20. The above observations are validated by the unprecedented call and
experience of the Habitat II process. In most countries, this process
resulted in broad-based dialogues between government and civil
society. These dialogues identified priority issues of common concern
as well as ways and means to address them. Similarly, the active
participation of local authorities and their associations in the
Habitat II preparatory process has not only strengthened the global
network of local authorities but also led to their call for a new
partnership with the United Nations, a partnership that these
associations specifically requested at Istanbul. The establishment of
such partnerships between the United Nations and major groups has
been, all along, one of the principal goals of Agenda 21, and the
significant progress achieved therein must be seen as a major
accomplishment of Habitat II. In fact, it has become evident that the
implementation and follow-up process of Habitat II and its plan of
action is being driven by the expectations of these groups of partners
as well as by member States, and this has implications also for the
implementation of Agenda 21 in the years ahead, and not just in the
area of human settlements.
C. Increased cooperation and networking
21. As a direct consequence of recommendations of the Commission on
Sustainable Development and the Inter-Agency Committee on Sustainable
Development (IACSD) in 1994, more than a dozen multilateral and
bilateral assistance agencies began discussions leading to the
formation of the "Urban Forum", to serve as a vehicle for information
exchange, and joint programming in the field of sustainable human
settlements development. The success of "A Day of Local Authorities"
at the third session of the Commission on Sustainable Development in
1995 and the joint publication by local authorities and their
organizations (ICLEI, the United Towns Development Agency (UTDA) and
the Group of 4 Plus (G4+)) and the United Nations Centre for Human
Settlements (Habitat) and UNEP, of the book Making Cities Work: The
Role of Local Authorities in the Urban Environment 4/ have also served
to focus attention on the critical role of local authorities as
custodians of the urban environment. Such initiatives point the way
towards more cost-effective pooling of resources in the accomplishment
of shared goals.
22. A key to future progress lies in networking among all the partners
and groups of partners. Considerable recent progress has been made
here. The creation of the Huairou Commission as a high-level advisory
board to the United Nations Centre for Human Settlements (Habitat) and
other United Nations bodies, composed of women at the grass-roots
level, women from non-governmental organizations, women politicians,
activists and researchers, and women of the United Nations, has been
instrumental in terms of ensuring that women's issues remain priority
ones in the Habitat Agenda. Major progress has also been achieved by
local authorities and their associations in establishing city networks
to exchange information and experience, and to promote city-to-city
cooperation on specific issues. Further efforts are being made in
this regard to consolidate a global network linking United
Nations-sponsored networks with those of international associations of
cities and those established, for example, by ICLEI in the course of
its work in promoting local Agenda 21 initiatives.
23. Given the positive response to the idea of exchanging best
practices in human settlements development and management, which was
established during the Habitat II preparatory process and endorsed by
the General Assembly at its fiftieth session, efforts are now under
way to establish a global network of capacity-building institutions
actively engaged in the exchange of best practice knowledge, expertise
and experience with support from the private sector and using the
latest information technology to allow for easy local and global
access. In another promising step, parallel to this one, over 100
countries around the world have adopted urban and housing indicators
as tools to inform policy-making in the human settlements sector. To
consolidate the impact of these programmes, the Commission on Human
Settlements, at its fifteenth session, requested the Executive
Director of Habitat to establish a "global housing and urban
observatory that would permit comparative international evaluation of
progress in meeting the aims" of the Habitat Agenda, "and which would
draw attention to and provide information on human settlements
conditions worldwide". 5/
D. International commitments
24. At Habitat II, 171 countries committed themselves to sustainable
human settlements development. The Habitat Agenda represents a
reconfirmation of Agenda 21 in general and its human
settlements-related programmes in particular. On another level, the
Habitat Agenda also provides clear and detailed expression of the
local environmental agenda and priorities of developing countries,
which are focused on essential services, such as water supply,
sanitation and waste management, among others, and are informed by the
relationship between poverty and environmental decline, and thus by
the need for sustainable economic growth to address both issues.
Their cross-cutting nature also clearly links the discrete and
sectoral chapters of Agenda 21 to sustainable human settlements
development.
IV. UNFULFILLED EXPECTATIONS
25. It has become increasingly evident that land and land management
policies should be dealt with not separately at the urban and rural
levels, but rather in an integrated manner. The need for such a
comprehensive approach is further called for given the environmental
impact of city growth. The absence of a comprehensive national land
policy is one of the principal constraints in most countries to
achieving sustainable human settlement development and sustainable use
of land and water resources, both for agriculture and for settlement
needs. Up to now, however, only limited progress has been made to
establish comprehensive national policies and appropriate
institutional arrangements. The agencies of the United Nations system
active in the area of social and economic development have also not
been able, as of yet, to effectively cooperate in the critical area of
land management although efforts to remedy this have begun.
26. Given the rates of urbanization in developing countries and
subsequent new needs for services and infrastructure in human
settlements, it is somewhat alarming to note that not much progress
has been made on developing new mechanisms for sustained financing, on
the scale required for the building, operating and maintaining of
basic services and infrastructure (see table).
Government expenditures per person on water supply, sanitation,
drainage, garbage collection, roads and electricity
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Government expenditures per person on water supply, sanitation,
drainage, garbage collection, roads and electricity
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Income Grouping, $US per Regional grouping, $US per
Cities in: person cities in: person
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Low-income countries 15.0 Sub-Saharan Africa 16.6
Low-mid-income
countries 31.4 South Asia 15.0
Middle-income
countries 40.1 East Asia 72.5
Mid-high-income
countries 304.6 Latin America and
the Caribbean 48.4
High-income
countries 813.5 Eastern Europe, Greece, North
Africa and the Middle East 86.2
West Europe, North America,
Australia 656.0
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Source: The Housing Indicators Programme, vol. III, Preliminary
Findings, A Joint Programme of the United Nations Centre for Human
Settlements (Habitat) and the World Bank, Washington, D.C., April
1993.
27. Related to the above is the fact that, as cities grow, their
transport problems get worse because the number of motorized vehicles
and their level of use grow even faster than income, population, and
investment in infrastructure and transport facilities, prompting
further congestion and environmental decay. It is also particularly
disheartening to note that the pace of motorization has led to policy
paralysis in many countries and cities, despite recognition that
something has to be done.
28. Improvements in housing, infrastructure and services must go hand
in hand with economic and social development policies that produce
sustained and significant growth and employment. From all
indications, countries that do not have sufficient levels of urban
infrastructure and services, as well as good urban management, are
being sidelined by the economic changes and globalization processes
under way. When cities do not work, investment does not take place,
either from national sources or from foreign ones; and when cities
fail, economies of countries generally tend to fail. Likewise, social
exclusion and discriminatory policies and practices must be replaced
by the promotion of social cohesion and human solidarity.
V. EMERGING PRIORITIES
A. Responding to local and national priorities
29. In preparation for Habitat II, over 130 countries formulated
first-step, five-year National Plans of Action for Sustainable Human
Settlements Development. The implementation of these Plans provides
the operational and programmatic framework for international
assistance and further provides the focus for assistance on
substantive priority areas that have been identified at the national
and local levels.
B. Linking the normative and analytical processes
30. The monitoring of progress in implementing the human settlements
components of Agenda 21 and in implementing the Habitat Agenda
provides an opportunity for linking policy development with the
analysis of the information generated by national and local plans of
action. Lessons learned from best practices in improving the living
environment and the development of normative benchmarks based on urban
and shelter indicators should help ensure that the implementation of
plans of action will be translated into new policy reforms and
strategies. These in turn should elicit both local and international
support, investment and financing. This will be a major area of
concentration of the United Nations Centre for Human Settlements
(Habitat) in the implementation of the Habitat Agenda.
C. Forging new partnerships and dialogue between major groups
31. The broad-based participatory processes engaged in by the vast
majority of countries in preparation for Habitat II provide a solid
foundation for the development of strategic partnerships among major
groups, notably, Governments at all levels, non-governmental
organizations and community-based organizations, and the private
sector. Continued international support in strengthening and
nurturing civic engagement, popular participation and partnership
should provide added impetus to ongoing efforts in urban management
and governance. Emphasis should be placed on networking, both among
these groups, and between them and the United Nations system. The
multiple benefits of the participation of major groups at this
international conference will have a major impact on the
implementation of the global plan of action adopted at the Conference.
These are also reflected in current efforts to involve representatives
of local authorities, non-governmental organizations and the private
sector in the work of the Commission on Human Settlements as is called
for in the Habitat Agenda. Notable among these partnerships is the
work of the women within the Huairou Commission regarding the
continuous monitoring of the Habitat Agenda from a gender perspective.
D. Integrated approaches to addressing sectoral priorities
32. The Habitat Agenda provides a useful organizing framework for
integrated and holistic approaches for the implementation of relevant
goals of many of the sectoral chapters of Agenda 21. Implementation
will require, however, that the United Nations system become more
systematic in promoting participatory processes. By using the
framework provided by the Habitat Agenda and the National Plans of
Action, implementation support will be based increasingly on
cross-sectoral and cross-institutional linkages and should provide
through the use, inter alia, of indicators and best practices, the
means by which to assess the local impacts of the social, economic and
environmental dimensions of Agenda 21.
E. New paradigms for capacity-building
33. A key emerging priority will be capacity-building, particularly at
the local level, to implement:
(a) National shelter strategies in order to achieve adequate
shelter for all;
(b) Land management and policy reforms to achieve well-functioning
land markets and security of tenure;
(c) Application of economic instruments to urban development and
mobilization of domestic and international financial resources;
(d) Legal and policy frameworks in support of public-private
partnerships;
(e) Policies, strategies and technologies for solid waste
management, recycling and reuse;
(f) Policies for water demand management and the reduction of
water wastage;
(g) Guiding principles of local self-government;
(h) Enhancing the role of women in settlements management and
policy decision-making;
(i) Training and management development-systems;
(j) Institutionalizing of participatory and consultative processes
and mobilizing of civic engagement;
(k) Fostering of social integration and human solidarity;
(l) Policies and systems for disaster preparedness and mitigation.
These priorities for capacity-building which are compatible with the
priorities contained in national reports for Habitat II should help
build up the institutional and human capital needed for the
implementation of the National Plans of Action and of local Agendas
21.
F. Creating an information and communication system for the
exchange of knowledge, expertise and experience
34. A major contribution of the Habitat Agenda to implementing Agenda
21 lies in the initial development of effective information and
communication systems using new information technologies wherever
possible to facilitate the sharing and exchange of knowledge,
expertise and experience gained at the national and local levels.
Networking, information exchange and communication, using modern
methods, should greatly facilitate the sharing and exchange of, inter
alia, best practice expertise and experience, the use of shelter and
urban indicators, and the transfer of technology in development.
Notes
1/ Report of the United Nations Conference on Environment and
Development, vol. I, Resolutions Adopted by the Conference (United
Nations publication, Sales No. E.93.I.8 and corrigendum), resolution
1, annex II.
2/ Report of the United Nations Conference on Human Settlements
(Habitat II), Istanbul, 3-14 June 1996 (A/CONF.165/14), chap. I,
resolution 1, annex II.
3/ Official Records of the General Assembly, Forty-third Session,
Supplement No. 8, addendum (A/43/8/Add.1).
4/ London, Earthscan Publications, 1996. Authored by Don Stevenson
and others.
5/ See Official Records of the General Assembly, Fiftieth Session,
Supplement No. 8 (A/50/8 and Corr.1 and 2), annex I, sect. A,
resolution 15/6, para. 6.
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Date last posted: 10 December 1999 17:25:35
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