SANF 05 no 49
A set of agreements and international guidelines for sustainable urban living are being developed as part of efforts to create “green cities” through environmental management in urban areas across the globe.
The agreements, once signed, will represent a pledge by the world’s cities to tackle, within seven years, issues around energy, waste reduction, urban design, environmental health and climate change.
The pledges will be formalised by the UN, but unless legislative bodies in the respective cities implement them, they will not be binding.
Mayors from some of the world’s largest cities are set to sign the agreements as well as discuss guidelines for the development of “green cities” at the international celebrations for this year’s World Environment Day on 5 June in San Francisco.
San Francisco lobbied for this year’s World Environment Day theme, “Green Cities”, in an effort to focus environment management issues on cities and other urban areas, said James Sniffen, an official at the Nairobi-based United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP).
The set of international guidelines for sustainable urban living — has been described as a municipal version of the Kyoto Protocol on global warming.
The Kyoto Protocol, adopted in Japan in 1997, requires industrialised nations to cut greenhouse gas emissions by an average of five percent below 1990 levels.
The treaty was ratified by at least 140 countries, including all countries in the Southern African Development Community (SADC), and came into force on 16 February 2005.
The agreements known as Urban Environmental Accords, are an effort to promote commitment by cities to eco-friendly urban development in seven areas — energy, environmental health, transportation, urban design, urban nature, waste reduction and water.
The accords spell out 21 specific actions mayors can take to make their cities greener. Parties to the accords will be bound to annually adopt at least three new policies, many of which involve economic incentives or legislation.
In the energy arena, for example, cities can adopt policies to increase use of renewable power, boost energy efficiency and reduce greenhouse gas emissions. Such actions can help cities save money and clean up the environment.
For southern Africa where an energy gap is anticipated by 2007 if no serious investments in the sector are made, measures to save energy are a priority.
The focus on urban areas is timely, considering that half the world’s population now live in cities, a proportion that is projected to rise dramatically this century. In addition cities consume about three-quarters of the world’s resources while producing three-quarters of the world’s pollution.
According to the forthcoming Southern Africa Environment Outlook 2005, about 40 percent of the people in southern Africa live in urban areas with each of the major cities such as Cape Town, Dar es Salaam, Durban, Harare, Johannesburg, Kinshasa, Lusaka and Maputo being home to more than one million people.
The vision for the Urban Environmental Accords is to create a grassroots political movement through public citizens’ ability to influence mayors to tackle urban environmental issues.
Cities have a great deal in common — they have to provide energy, water, transportation, recycling, parks, trees, and clean air for their citizens.
Urban areas are becoming the dominant institution of global civilisation and will be the focus of commemorations of the World Environment Day across the globe.
In southern Africa local level celebrations of World Environment Day have been lined up in different countries. In Mtubatuba, Botswana, the Department of Agriculture and Environmental Affairs is organising anti-litter campaigns and a tree planting exercise.
The Women Environmental Management Society in Dar es Salaam is will carry out various activities including solid waste collection, road sweeping, tree planting activities, as well as planning a campaign to promote the use of solar and wind as sources of power and energy.
In Zimbabwe an Environment Action Support Youth group are expected to launch the implementation of a sustainable waste management plan at one of the universities in the country. (SARDC)
