u r b a n

WORLD
March 2009
Volume 1 Issue 2

Climate Change
Are cities really to blame?

Toronto’s Mayor leads global fight against climate change

India launches new sanitation programme
Singapore: a model for sustainable development?
How Canada is leading the world in green building
Colombian microentrepreneurs provide solution to low-income housing

FOR A BETTER URBAN FUTURE

u r b a n CONTENTS
WORLD
OPINION FEATURES
www.un-habitat.org
© 2008 UN-HABITAT
2 Message from the Executive 32 Water
UN-HABITAT
P.O.Box 30030, GPO Director India’s Gwailor a leader in
Nairobi 00100, Kenya
Tel. (254-20) 762 3120
development
Fax. (254-20) 762 3477 5 A call for action Sahana Singh
E-mail: urbanworld@unhabitat.org
David Cadman, ICLEI President
EDITOR: Roman Rollnick
EDITORIAL ASSISTANTS: Tom Osanjo, Eric Orina
36 Housing Finance
7 The time to act is now Where will the money come
EDITORIAL BOARD
Oyebanji Oyeyinka (Chair)
UN Secretary-General from now?
Daniel Biau Ban Ki-moon Daniel Biau
Lucia Kiwala
Anatha Krishnan
Eduardo López Moreno 10 Why governments are wrong BEST PRACTICES
Jane Nyakairu about climate change
Edlam Yemeru
Nicholas You
Bjørn Lomborg, professor, 40 Construction
Mariam Yunusa Copenhagen Business School Canada blazes a trail in green
Raf Tuts
building
PRESSGROUP HOLDINGS EUROPE S.A. COVER STORY Sarah Marks
San Vicente Martir 16-6-1
46002 Valencia, Spain
Tel. (34) 96 303 1000 Climate Change INTERVIEW
Fax. (34) 96 303 1234
E-mail: urbanworld@pressgroup.net 12 Are cities really to blame?
PUBLISHER: Angus McGovern 49 A man for all seasons
MANAGING EDITOR: Richard Forster
David Dodman and David
David Miller, Mayor of Toronto
STAFF WRITERS: Jonathan Andrews, Satterthwaite
Kirsty Tuxford and chairman of the C40 Cities
ART DIRECTOR: Marisa Gorbe Group, talks exclusively to Urban
ADVERTISING: Fernando Ortiz, Clive Lawson, 14 Our future is in your hands
Kristine Riisbrich Christensen
World on why he has taken up
Hon. Apisai Ielemia, Prime
the global challenge to combat
Urban World is published four times a year by Minister, Tuvalu
UN-HABITAT and Pressgroup Holdings Europe climate change and his aims for
S.A. The views expressed in this publication the UN Copenhagen Meeting. By
are those of the authors and do not reflect the 16 The challenge for Africa’s
views and policies of UN-HABITAT. Use of the
Kirsty Tuxford
cities
term “country” does not imply any judgment
by the authors or UN-HABITAT as to the legal or David Simon and Cheikh Guèye
other status of any territorial entity.

EDITORIAL 19 How construction is vital to

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edit @pressgroup.net
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urbanworld@pressgroup.net 22 India launches youth
programme to fight global
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24 Why sustainable cities hold
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27 Climate change is not gender
neutral
Lucia Kiwala, Ansa Masaud and
Cecilia Njenga

u r b a n
49
2 WORLD March 2009
 FOR A BETTER URBAN FUTURE

IN FOCUS URBAN WATCH

53 Latin America and the 79 People

Caribbean Obituaries: Peter Oberlander and
How female entrepreneurs Peter Swan
are transforming Colombian
housing Executive Director signs
Richard Forster agreement with International
Olympic Committee
58 Asia-Pacific
Singapore: a model for
sustainable development?
Vicente Carbona
81 Publications

82 Book Review
65
Reshaping Economic Geography
66 Middle East and Africa (World Bank)
Abu Dhabi to build the world’s
first zero carbon city 83 Calendar
Jonathan Andrews
84 Conference Briefing
76 Central and Eastern Europe World Urban Forum, Nanjing
UN Poznan conference
provides stark warning to
governments

84

72 Volume 1 Issue 2
u r b a n
March 2009 WORLD 3
OPINION Message from the Executive Director
C limate change is fast becoming the
preeminent development challenge
of the 21st century, and this is why
we have made it the theme for the cover story
of this second issue of our new flagship maga-
zine, Urban World.
No-one today can really foresee the
predicament in which a town or city will find
itself 10, 20 or 30 years down the road. In
this new urban era with most of humanity
now living in towns and cities, we must bear
in mind that the greatest impacts of disasters
resulting from climate change begin and end
in cities. Cities have the greatest influence on
climate change.
Prevention can be greatly enhanced through
better land-use planning and building codes so
that cities keep their ecological footprint to the
minimum, and make sure their residents, especially the poorest, are
protected as best as possible against disaster.
With over one billion people languishing in slums, mostly in
developing countries, global poverty is moving into cities in a process
we call the urbanization of poverty.
In tackling urban poverty and climate change, we therefore have
to think globally and locally at the same time. We need to understand
that the fastest way to mitigate against climate change disaster is to
reduce urban poverty.
It is also no coincidence that global climate change has become a
leading international development issue precisely at the same time
and at the same rate as the world has become urbanized.
We need to be conscious of the fact that some 40 percent of the
world’s population lives less than 60 miles from the coast, mostly
in big towns and cities. A further 100 million people live less than
one metre above mean sea level. Coastal erosion, rising sea levels,
saltwater contamination and potentially more powerful storms are
expected – with ever growing human activity – to put these already
threatened urban and natural environments under increasing
stress.
All coastal cities face these threats, but the impact on cities with
over 10 million people is potentially much more devastating. Water
and sanitation systems placed under unbearable strain can leave
millions of people at even greater risk of disease.
The role cities have to play in tackling the climate change scourge
was very powerfully conveyed to us by delegates in November 2008
at the fourth session of UN-HABITAT’s World Urban Forum in
Nanjing, China.
The Forum stressed that no successful city in the modern world
can afford to ignore the effects of climate change. Harmonious
urban growth has to go hand-in-hand with disaster mitigation
and vulnerability reduction. And here early warning and better
surveillance systems are of paramount importance. Cities must
start by cutting their waste output and emissions, and consume less
energy.
In many countries of the developing world, declining agricultural
productivity due to climate change related weather patterns, and
population pressures are pushing greater numbers of rural residents
towards cities.
The Forum also told us that the nexus between rapid and chaotic
urbanization and climate change has multiple impacts on highly
vulnerable groups particularly women, youth and the very poor.
The need for coordinated and joint action here at the normative and
implementation levels was emphasized.
u r b a n
4 WORLD March 2009
Numerous practices were presented
and discussed at the World Urban Forum
highlighting the actions taken and results
cities have achieved in reducing their
ecological footprints and carbon emissions.
The emerging groundswell of local
initiatives underlines the need for
international and national decision-making
processes to integrate the cities and climate
change agenda in post-Kyoto mechanisms
and regime.
Indeed, the future of hundreds of
millions of people around the world will be
determined by the pace of adaptation and
mitigation undertaken by our cities which
are responsible for at least 75 percent of
greenhouse gas emissions.
How we thus manage and consume energy
in our cities is the key driver behind the phenomenon of global
warming. Seventy-five percent of global energy consumption occurs
in cities and roughly half of this comes from burning fossil fuels in
cities for urban transport. As such, every single dollar spent reducing
this consumption is the single most cost-effective measure local
governments can take in terms of climate change mitigation.
Local authorities must lead the way in finding real solutions
to these global challenges. To date, there are few comprehensive
examples of mitigation and adaptation at the local level, and there is
clearly an urgent need to form a global platform to enable discussion,
and exchange of good practices as well as practical action for local
authorities to mitigate and adapt to climate change.
The United Nations remains determined to provide coordinated
support to the efforts of Member States at the local, national, regional
and global levels in tackling climate change, now, up to, and beyond
2012. To achieve this, the United Nations system is bringing to bear,
in a way perhaps never achieved before, the collective strengths of
all its entities as an integral part of the international community’s
response to this challenge.
UN-HABITAT has therefore designed a new project entitled SUD-
Net: Cities in Climate Change Initiative (CCCI) – thanks to generous
financial support from the Government of Norway. The project has
been designed fully in accordance with our Medium-term strategic
institutional plan 2008-2013.
Through the SUD-Net climate change initiative we will seek to
minimize impacts on human settlements and increase the adaptive
capabilities of local governments by strengthening governance
structures and engaging the private sector and civil society in finding
practical solutions.
It will focus on improving urban governance, decentralization of
powers and responsibilities to the appropriate levels, and enhancing
environmental management. The initiative will seek to provide cities
with integrated strategies to mitigate and adapt to climate change.
Municipalities cannot fight this battle alone. They must have the
backing of government and the business sector, especially in these
times of financial crisis.
Anna Tibaijuka
 ICLEI OPINION

World leaders: an urgent

call for action
The Vancouver City Councillor and International President of ICLEI Local Governments for
Sustainability, David Cadman, makes a passionate call to action for a post-Kyoto Framework
Convention in this message directed primarily at governments when they next discuss the
climate change convention in Copenhagen in December 2009.

Arctic ice is melting into the ocean PHOTO © JOS BROWNING

T he scientific community is un-

equivocal: climate change is upon
us, concentrations of atmospheric
carbon dioxide are at record levels and grow-
ing exponentially.
melting of the adjacent permafrost and the
risk of a massive methane release that is
23 times more potent than carbon dioxide.
From Greenland to the Himalayas, from
Glacier National Park to the snows of Kilimanjaro
weather patterns, stronger storms, more flash
floods and much more damage.

Ploddingly slow progress

The Antarctic ice shelves are collapsing
faster than scientific models had anticipat-
ed. In the north, the Arctic ice that is re-
flective of the sun’s heat is being replaced
by ever larger expanses of dark blue ocean
that absorb more heat in summer. This re-
sults in open passageways, as well as the
and the peaks of the Andes, glaciers all over the
planet are melting and beginning to disappear.
These changes will profoundly affect water
flows that literally billions of people depend
upon as sources of water and will initiate sea
level rises. All over the world we see profound
climatic alterations manifested in changing
But each year when the nations of the world
gather at the Conference of the Parties to
the United Nations Framework Convention
on Climate Change, progress is ploddingly
slow.
Like Nero they fiddle while the planet
heats up and all life including our own is
put in jeopardy. Very few nations, if any,

u r b a n
March 2009 WORLD 5
OPINION ICLEI
Conflict
C onflict in
in Africa
Africa taking
taking the
ICLEI- Local
Governments for
Sustainability
ICLEI’s Cities for Climate Protection is a
powerful mechanism helping over 900
local governments globally reduce their
greenhouse gas emissions. The approach
has been a combination of technical train-
ing, facilitation, reporting, best practice,
policy case studies, and political support
techniques. ICLEI directly helps local gov-
ernments understand their role in address-
ing climate change and how to play that role
effectively. As the debate on mitigation has
moved to mechanisms and the post-Kyoto
framework, the Cities for Climate Protec-
tion has broadened to include focus on
the need for local governments to adapt to
climate change already locked into the en-
vironment. Adaptation work has been de-
veloped in the United States and Australia
through best practice approaches and man-
uals on tools and techniques and in Europe
through case studies and conferences, and
now in Indonesia. ICLEI’s approach builds
on common risk management strategies
and adds long term opportunity creation, a
focus on hard and soft adaptation and the
construction of networks of interest to build
resilience and long-term capability.
will meet their Kyoto targets of reducing
carbon dioxide emissions six percent below 1990
levels. And many signatories have allowed their
emissions to balloon well beyond 1990 levels.
We only have the 15th Conference of the
Parties (COP 15) in Copenhagen in December
2009 to negotiate a post-Kyoto framework with
responsible scientific voices saying we have to
reduce our emissions by 80 percent below 1990
levels by 2050.
We know that if we fail the consequences for
the global economy, to saying nothing of all life
on our planet, will be catastrophic.
Cities are the key
Are we a cognitive species that can plan our
future capable of such profound change?
Can we do it? To borrow from President
Obama: Yes we can!
u r b a n
6 WORLD March 2009
the Responsibility
Responsibility to
to Protect
Protect
Today half of humanity lives in urban
areas and very shortly two-thirds of us will
be living in towns and cities – precisely the
places responsible for 75 percent of global
carbon dioxide with the vast majority coming
from the wealthy nations of the north.
Clearly profound changes are necessary
and growing urban areas are precisely the
places where the most effective changes
can be implemented fastest. Our cities must
become much more efficient users of energy
and we must make a shift from carbon based
fuels to renewable energy.
We have to see buildings, new and old,
not as draws on the power grid, the water
sources and waste disposal systems, but as
net contributors to the power grid, water
supply and zero waste contributors. We
have to reshape our transportation systems
to favour walking, cycling and clean public
transit. To those who say we cannot afford
this shift I would remind them how quickly
we found trillions of dollars for failing
financial institutions and inflated military
budgets.
We can do it if we set our mind to it and
make it a priority. Humanity is faced with
the challenge of the proverbial camel passing
through the eye of the needle. There is very
little room for error and yet we know we are
capable of prodigious achievement.
We set out to put a man on the moon and
did it. We set out to put a landing vehicle
on Mars and did it. It is going to take that
kind of resolve and commitment to meet the
challenge of climate change.
Think of the next generation and use
alternate energy sources
Every step we take along this path will
bring us closer to achieving the Millennium
Development Goals; every day we delay will
mean a steeper more rigorous way forward.
Any oil, gas or coal we avoid using today,
as we begin to approach Peak Oil, will be
the very resources we need to transition to
a renewable energy future. There is ample
passive solar energy for our heating needs
if combined with geothermal heating and
ample capacity for the growth of solar
paneled roofs and walls to meet smart
energy efficient building needs with excess
capacity to feed local grids.
Combine that with harnessing wind power
to its full potential, run of the river hydro
power, tidal power, wave power and shifting
to hydrogen power and systematically we
can make the transition away from fossil fuel
dependence while conserving our fossil fuel
resources for tasks only they can perform.
And the best thing about this transition
is that it will mostly occur locally where
we live and will stimulate growth in local
skilled employment that will remain in
our communities. All that is missing is the
political motivation to drive this agenda
forward to see a bright future and commit
ourselves as a society to reach out and grasp
it, to commit ourselves to achieving it for
future generations.
The 1,000 cities that are members of ICLEI
Local Governments for Sustainability, the
136 national federations of municipalities
that are members of United Cities and Local
Governments, the 40-largest cities that are
members of the C40, and all of the mayors
who are members of the World Mayors
Council on Climate Change, are committed
to this vision and want to work with national
governments and international institutions
to make this transition.
A robust commitment
We want a robust post-Kyoto commitment
with strong participation by the one non-
Kyoto signatory, the United States of
America, to a low carbon emitting future
that will ensure life on earth for future
generations. Is it too much to ask of the
nations of the world that they take climate
change seriously and commit to avoiding
climatic catastrophe for future generations?
We simply cannot continue to “live like there
is no tomorrow”. We must learn from native
people to think how all of our actions will
effect life seven generations into the future.
We must learn to live gently on the earth
to make sure its bounty and abundance
will be there for future generations. It is
now, in this, 21st century, that national
governments must step forward in December
in Copenhagen and together with their
urban agglomerates devise a way to avoid
catastrophic climate change.
They must commit sufficient resources so
that every nation and every urban commu-
nity can be part of the solution. We must be
the ones we have been waiting for. No task is
too large if we set our mind too it. Simply put,
we cannot countenance failure. u
 UN Secretary–General OPINION

The time to act

is now
The United Nations Secretary-General, Ban Ki-moon has
described climate change as the “defining challenge of our
time”. In this message delivered to the Chief Executives’ Board
of the United Nations at the November 2008 climate talks in
Poznan, Poland, he argues that accelerated action is urgently
needed on mitigation to avoid future catastrophic impacts,
while at the same time stepping up efforts at adaptation to
current and future impacts.
UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon PHOTO © UN

M y intention has been to bring

together all the diverse per-
spectives, expertise
strengths of the UN system so as to deliver as
one in the critical area of climate change.
and
international community must demonstrate
extraordinary will to come together and put
in place the foundation for a better future.
An ambitious climate agreement must be
an essential part of this. As we look forward
Working as one UN

A priority of the UNEP and UN-HAB-

Since Bali [December, 2007] we have seen
even more compelling evidence of why we must
act now. Devastating recent climatic events like
the tropical cyclones in Myanmar and the Ca-
ribbean, widespread flooding in India and Chi-
na, and drought in Africa have highlighted the
vulnerability that people all over the world face.
It is clear that those who suffer the most
from the increasing signs of climate change
are the poor. Those that have contributed the
least to this planetary problem continue to be
disproportionately at risk.
We are now witnessing the confluence of a
series of events that threaten the very fabric of
the international system and human and eco-
logical security of individuals everywhere. The
high and volatile food and energy prices have
thrust at least 100 million people back into
poverty. With the global financial crisis, and
the recession that is following it, these num-
bers are likely to rise.
We risk that all the efforts that have been
made by countries to meet the Millennium
Development Goals and to alleviate poverty,
hunger and ill health will be rolled back.
At such a time, risks also present oppor-
tunities. In the face of mounting threats, the
to Copenhagen, we must seize the opportuni-
ties presented by the multiple global crises to
vision a low-carbon economy; one which not
only ensures a secure climate, but also spurs
sustained economic growth.
In other words, greatly enhanced invest-
ment in renewable energy and energy effi-
cient technologies can not only put the earth
onto a sustainable track, it can generate em-
ployment and growth on an impressive scale.
Massively increased investment in forest con-
servation and afforestation can have climate,
biodiversity and economic benefits that are
mutually supportive and strengthen our abil-
ity to reduce disaster risk.
We must raise our collective level of ambi-
tion and commitment.
In delivering on agreements in the fu-
ture, the world needs effective, efficient and
well-coordinated international institutions.
This is particularly the case in the area of
financing for climate change, both in terms
of institutional arrangements and levels of
funding.
The United Nations system is positioning
itself as an effective conduit of international
action on an unprecedented scale.
ITAT collaboration framework is to
support African cities so that they can
develop and implement climate change
adaptation and mitigation plans.
UNDP and UN-HABITAT are planning
to work together on linking sub-national
(state/provincial) plans with local cli-
mate change adapation and mitigation
initiatives.
UN-HABITAT and the World Bank are
planning to expand knowledge manage-
ment and tool development activities on
cities and climate change.
UN-HABITAT and UNITAR, the UN In-
stitute for Training and Research are ex-
ploring the joint development of capacity
building tools, including guidelines on
climate change governance.
We must take a comprehensive approach to
address the interconnected issues of econom-
ic growth and development, climate change,
food and agriculture, and energy. The role
of global markets and financial instruments

u r b a n
March 2009 WORLD 7
OPINION UN-HABITAT and UNEP
to deliver a low-carbon economy and green
growth will be paramount. Stimulus pack-
ages being designed to kick-start economic
activity should be invested in infrastructure
projects that deliver dividends of economic
growth, cuts in greenhouse gas emissions
and new green jobs.
We must give real meaning to the concept
of sustainable development, one that has in-
clusiveness, equity and environmental sus-
tainability at its heart. An ambitious and fair
climate agreement together with the politi-
cal will to implement it will be a central com-
ponent of global sustainable development.
On the way to the next Conference of the
Parties in Copenhagen [Dec. 2009], the UN
system will continue to intensify its efforts
for a more coordinated and effective delivery
in all areas related to climate change.
We hope that our determined efforts in
bridging the current implementation gap
will contribute to long-term cooperative
action on climate change at all levels and
thereby help to reach a successful outcome
in the negotiations. The UN system stands
ready to assist with the implementation of
the new mandates that will result from such
an agreement.
The whole world is watching and waiting.
We should not disappoint them. u
Flooding in Congo town in Liberia — a symptom of
climate change? PHOTO © UN-HABITAT
u r b a n
8 WORLD March 2009
UN-HABITAT and
UNEP working as
one
For a number of years UN-HABITAT and its sister agency
based in Nairobi, UNEP, the United Nations Environment
Programme, have teamed up to ensure that environmental
considerations are carefully woven into the very fabric of
urban sustainability. Here, Karin Buhren, of UN-HABITAT
explains.
T
ment.
ogether the two agencies are ush-
ering a new era of urban environ-
mental planning and manage-
To today’s hard-pressed urban managers,
urban development and environmental sus-
tainability can seem like two opposing con-
cepts. In successful cities, however, the two
objectives merge as sustainable urban devel-
opment, a concept underpinned by carefully
thought out Environmental Planning and
Management (EPM).
The deteriorating environment was rec-
ognized as a problem in the early 1990s and
put at the centre stage during the Rio Earth
Summit at the time. And while awareness,
understanding and knowledge have grown
over the last two decades, so have the prob-
lems multiplied by ever accelerating urban-
ization.
In the early 1990s, UN-HABITAT started
the Sustainable Cities Programme (SCP) -
followed a little later by the Localizing Agen-
da 21 Programme (LA21). It was intended
to help find answers and solutions to these
problems.
It began with about 10 cities which started
to systematically examine the linkages be-
tween their development activities and the
environmental resources, getting institu-
tions and people around the table to identify
and negotiate solutions for the most press-
ing problems.
Soon UNEP joined in and, over the years,
the number of partner cities increased. To-
day there are 120 cities in 33 countries.
Many regional and international partner
institutions are also using the approach pio-
neered by SCP/LA21.
While the problems are as individual as
the cities themselves, it was soon realized,
that a common approach brought solutions
applicable in different cities. Issues tackled
by the cities started with the provision of
basic urban services, road construction, and
managing urban growth all the way to open
spaces, coastal protection and other envi-
ronmental objectives.
What have we learned nearly 20 years on?
That it is important to work at the local level
as well as national level. SCP started working
at city level. Soon it became obvious, however,
that to scale up the results, the national gov-
ernment had to recognize and approve the
approach. It is at the national level that valu-
able lessons learned can trickle down to other
municipalities as experienced in Oyo State,
Nigeria.
It takes time to change how a city is
governed
The aim of SCP/LA21 was to change the way
things were done – to make urban governance
more participatory, more transparent and
more strategic. This was only possible after
many little steps of trust-building and small
successes.
Therefore most SCP/LA21 projects lasted
longer then the anticipated three years as
 UN-HABITAT and UNEP OPINION

Collaborations
Climate knowledge is the foundation for the development of an effective response to
the climate change challenge. The UN system plays a central role in this area, bringing
together global resources for observation and analysis of climate change trends.
It is committed to reinforcing its efforts to provide sound and unbiased scientific
information and climate services to enable evidence-based policy and decision making
at all levels.

UN-HABITAT works closely with its sister agencies in the following areas:

- Support for national planning for adaptation, particularly for the Least
Developed Countries through the UN’s National Adaptation Programmes of
Dar es Salaam, Tanzania PHOTO © GEOF WILSON Action.

- Capacity development for national and local policy makers in addressing

illustrated by the Urban Authority Support
climate change-related challenges through workshops and seminars at the local,
Unit in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania.
national and regional levels. This includes raising awareness, and providing geo-
referenced demographic and socio-economic data, particularly for cities and
Link the local and the global
about cities.
For a better implementation of international
treaties, but also for better implementable
- Technology transfer through handbooks and training; providing policy support
treaties, the local and global levels in the
and technical assistance for climate-friendly urban infrastructure investment at
field of urban environment need to be con-
the public and private levels.
nected.
As the ICLEI Secretary-General, Konrad
At the fourth session of the World Urban Forum in Nanjing, China in November,
Otto-Zimmermann states: “National gov-
UNEP and UN-HABITAT jointly arranged a seminar on Cities and Climate
ernments can get substantial support in
Change: the road from Bali to Copenhagen. Participants discussed a Local
reaching their GHG reduction targets if they
Government Climate Roadmap process from Bali to Copenhagen with the
empower municipalities to act on climate.
objective of strengthening the role of local governments in the post-2012 climate
They are well advised to recognize local ac-
agreement. There were also lively discussions on practical measures to address
tion in their national climate plans.”
climate change through urban environmental planning, and innovative ways of
UN-HABITAT’s long-standing experi-
mobilizing finance and technological solutions.
ence in dealing with sustainable urban
development, specifically through this ex-
perience, and the organization’s tried and
tested capacity-building tools, will benefit
the global Sustainable Urban Develop-
ment Network (SUD-Net) and its compo-
nent, the Cities in Climate Change Initia- “The world’s cities, which account for
tive (CCCI).
SUD-Net further develops an understand-
80 percent of humanity’s production of
ing and application of the principles of sus- greenhouse gases, recognize that inaction is
tainable urbanization, at global, regional, not an option. Mayors of the world’s cities are
national and city level. CCCI will more spe-
cifically develop, adapt and make available the great pragmatists on the world’s stage.
the necessary methodologies that will pro- Results, not ideology, are what matter to us.”
vide city managers and practitioners with
guidelines on how to best cope with climate
Michael R. Bloomberg, Mayor, New York
change. For further information, contact City.
the UN-HABITAT Urban Environmental
Planning Branch by sending an e-mail to
uepb@unhabitat.org, or see the website,
www.unhabitat.org/scp u

u r b a n
March 2009 WORLD 9
OPINION Climate change

Why governments are

wrong about climate
change
In this article reproduced with the kind permission of Project Syndicate 2009, Bjørn Lomborg, ad-
junct professor at the Copenhagen Business School, offers a contrarian view on the climate change
debate. Prof. Lomborg is the author of The Skeptical Environmentalist and Cool It: The Skeptical En-
vironmentalist’s Guide to Global Warming. He is the organizer of the Copenhagen Consensus.

Profesor Bjørn Lomborg PHOTO © EMIL JUPIN Eradication of malaria should be a priority PHOTO © JANICE BOVANKOVICH

P resident Barack Obama’s book,

Dreams from My Father reveals
a lot about the way we view the
world’s problems. Obama is in Kenya and
wants to go on a safari. His Kenyan sister
Auma chides him for behaving like a neo-
colonialist:
“Why should all that land be set aside for
tourists when it could be used for farming?
These wazungu [white people] care more
about one dead elephant than they do for
a hundred black children.” Although he
ends up going on safari, Obama has no
answer to her question.
That anecdote has parallels with the cur-
rent preoccupation with global warming.
Many people – including America’s new
president – believe that global warming is the
preeminent issue of our time, and that cut-
ting CO2 emissions is one of the most virtu-
ous things we can do.
To stretch the metaphor a little, this seems
like building ever-larger safari parks instead
of creating more farms to feed the hungry.
Make no mistake: global warming is real,
and it is caused by our CO2 emissions. The
problem is that even global, draconian, and
hugely costly CO2 reductions will have virtu-
ally no impact on the temperature by mid-
century.
Instead of ineffective and costly cuts, we
should focus much more on our good cli-
mate intentions of dramatic increases in
zero-carbon energy, which would fix the cli-
mate towards mid-century at low cost. But,
more importantly for most of the planet’s

u r b a n
10 WORLD March 2009

citizens, global warming simply exacerbates exist-
ing problems – problems that we do not take seri-
ously today.
Consider malaria. Models show global warm-
ing will increase the incidence of malaria by about
three percent by the end of the century, because
mosquitoes are more likely to survive when the
world gets hotter.
But malaria is much more strongly related to
health infrastructure and general wealth than it
is to temperature. Rich people rarely contract ma-
laria or die from it; poor people do.
The world is waiting to see Obama’s response to climate change
Strong carbon cuts could avert about 0.2 per-
cent of the malaria incidence in a hundred years.
The cheerleaders for such action are loud and
multitudinous, and mostly come from the rich
world, unaffected by malaria.
The other option is simply to prioritize eradica-
tion of malaria today. It would be relatively cheap
and simple, involving expanded distribution of
insecticide-treated bed nets, more preventive
treatment for pregnant women, increased use of
the maligned pesticide DDT, and support for poor
nations that cannot afford the best new therapies.
Climate change
Tackling nearly 100 percent of today’s ma-
laria problem would cost just one-sixtieth of
the price of the Kyoto Protocol. Put another
way, for each person saved from malaria by
cutting CO2 emissions, direct malaria poli-
cies could have saved USD 36,000.
Of course, carbon cuts are not designed
only to tackle malaria. But, for every prob-
lem that global warming will exacerbate
– hurricanes, hunger, flooding – we could
achieve tremendously more through cheaper,
direct policies today.
PHOTO © STEVE JURVETSON
For example, adequately maintained le-
vees and better evacuation services, not lower
carbon emissions, would have minimized the
damage inflicted by Hurricane Katrina on
New Orleans.
During the 2004 hurricane season, Haiti
and the Dominican Republic, both occupying
the same island, provided a powerful lesson.
In the Dominican Republic, which has in-
vested in hurricane shelters and emergency
evacuation networks, the death toll was fewer
than 10. In Haiti, which lacks such policies,
OPINION
2,000 died. Haitians were a hundred times
more likely to die in an equivalent storm than
Dominicans.
Obama’s election has raised hopes for a
massive commitment to carbon cuts and
vast spending on renewable energy to save
the world – especially developing nations.
As Obama’s Kenyan sister might attest, this
could be an expensive indulgence. Some be-
lieve Obama should follow the lead of the
European Union, which has committed itself
to the ambitious goal of cutting carbon emis-
sions by 20 percent below 1990 levels within
12 years by using renewable energy.
This alone will probably cost more than
one percent of GDP. Even if the entire world
followed suit, the net effect would be to re-
duce global temperatures by one-20th of one
degree Fahrenheit by the end of the cen-
tury. The cost could be a staggering USD 10
trillion.
Germany has subsidized solar panels, as
some hope Obama might. Thus, everybody,
including the poor, pays taxes so that mostly
wealthier beneficiaries can feel greener. But
climate models demonstrate that Germany’s
USD 156 billion expense will delay warming
by just one hour at the end of the century. For
one-50th of that cost, we could provide essen-
tial micronutrients for two to three billion
people, thereby preventing perhaps a million
deaths and making half the world’s popula-
tion mentally and physically much stronger.
Again and again, we seem to choose the du-
bious luxury of another safari park over the
prosaic benefits offered by an extra farm.
Most economic models show that the total
damage imposed by global warming by the
end of the century will be about three percent
of GDP. This is not trivial, but nor is it the
end of the world. By the end of the century,
the United Nations expects the average per-
son to be 1,400 percent richer than today.
An African safari trip once confronted
America’s new president with a question he
could not answer: why the rich world prized
elephants over African children.
Today’s version of that question is: why
will richer nations spend obscene amounts
of money on climate change, achieving next
to nothing in 100 years, when we could do so
much good for mankind today for much less
money?
The world will be watching to hear Obama’s
answer. u
u r b a n
March 2009 WORLD 11
COVER STORY Climate change
Are cities really to
blame?
The Clinton Climate Initiative says that cities produce 80 percent of the world’s greenhouse
gas emissions (GHGs) write David Dodman and David Satterthwaite. These two
distinguished researchers of the International Institute for Environment and Development
(IIED) question whether we really do have an accurate picture.
Cities are said to consume 75 percent of the world’s energy
A ccording to our calculations, draw-
ing on the most recent figures of the
Intergovernmental Panel on Climate
Change (IPCC), cities produce between 30 and 41
percent of these emissions. But actually, the data
do not exist to provide an accurate figure which
is probably why the IPCC made no estimates for
the relative roles of cities, other urban centres and
rural areas.
To arrive at any figure for the contribution of
cities to GHGs from human activities, some heroic
assumptions have to be made. We are clear about
the assumptions we made to arrive at the figure of
between 30 and 40 percent.
To claim that 80 percent of such emissions
come from cities is always a puzzling statistic when
30 percent of emissions come from agriculture
and deforestation (almost all of which is outside
cities). So perhaps cities account for all other emis-
sions and so contribute to 70 percent of total emis-
sions. But this cannot be correct as there are all the
other sources of emissions that are not in cities but
in rural areas or in urban centres too small to be
considered cities - including many coal, oil and gas
fired power stations, many heavy industries and
a large percentage of wealthy, high-consumption
households. In high-income nations, a large part
of the wealthy population do not live in cities. This
helps explain why cities in high-income nations
have much lower levels of GHGs per person than
the average figure for their nation.
u r b a n
12 WORLD March 2009
Confusion and limitations
The high estimates for the role of cities in global
GHGs may be muddling up fossil fuel burning
with greenhouse gas emissions. IPCC figures
for 2004 suggest that carbon dioxide from fos-
sil fuel use accounted for 57 percent of global
anthropogenic GHGs. So cities may have 70
percent of fossil fuel combustion but this would
mean around 40 percent of all GHGs.
The figures that overstate the role of cities in
global emissions may be making false assump-
tions. For instance, they may be assuming that
all industries and power stations are in cities.
Or they may be muddling up ‘cities’ with ‘urban
centres’ (a considerable part of the world’s ur-
ban population live in urban centres too small
to be considered cities). When cities are said
to consume 75 percent of the world’s energy, it
would be interesting to know what proportion
of emissions from industries and power stations
are assumed to be within ‘cities’.
Any attempt at creating a globally compa-
rable emissions index for cities is confounded
by boundary issues. It is difficult to compare
even relatively simple data – such as popula-
tion figures – between cities, because of the
different measures used to identify these. Are
figures for an historic administrative area, the
contiguous built-up area, or the larger munici-
pal or metropolitan area which may contain
substantial areas of open countryside?
PHOTO © ADAM JAKUBIAK
From production to consumption-
based analyses
But it is not cities, other urban centres or
rural areas that produce GHGs, but particular
activities located there. It is also confusing to
assign all such emissions to particular places.
Most large coal-powered power stations may
be outside cities but much of the electricity
they produce is used in cities. Large airports
are used by far more than the population
living in that city – so should the city where
they are located get allocated all the aircraft
fuel that they use?
If we choose to allocate GHGs not to where
they are produced but to the home of the peo-
ple whose consumption led to these emissions,
the entire picture changes. So emissions from,
say, the steel plant are not allocated to the place
where the plant is located but to the home of
the person who bought and uses the goods into
which the steel went. Using this kind of GHG ac-
counting system would mean wealthy cities such
as London, New York or Tokyo suddenly have
much higher emissions per person because most
of the goods consumed by their inhabitants are
made elsewhere.
The big manufacturing cities in, for instance,
China, would have much lower levels of emis-
sions because most of their GHGs are from their
industries and these would now be allocated to
the cities where those who bought these goods

Comparing cities and their nations for greenhouse gas
emissions per person
30
25 USA
District of
GHG emissions per capita
Columbia
20
15
SPAIN
10
New York
5 Barcelona
0 urban centres in low-income nations is a focus on
Source: Dodman, David (2009), “Blaming cities for climate change? An analysis of urban greenhouse gas emissions
inventories”, Environment and Urbanization Vol 21, No 1.
live. The same can be done for electricity – with
the GHGs from power stations being allocated to
the homes of the people or the businesses and in-
stitutions that consumed the electricity. Similarly,
GHGs from travel get allocated to the person who
does the travelling (or to where they live). Emis-
sions from agriculture and deforestation get allo-
cated to the persons who consumed the food or
wood products. Under this kind of scheme, cities
may account for 60 or more percent of all GHGs
– although this is a bit misleading because most
of these emissions are from a relatively small pro-
portion of the world’s cities which are the most
prosperous ones with the most inhabitants with
high-consumption lifestyles.
So here too, it is not cities in general but a small
proportion of cities that account for most GHGs.
However, even here, a very large part of the con-
sumption-driven emissions would come from
wealthy households living outside cities – in ur-
ban centres too small to be considered cities and
in rural areas. Generally, a wealthy rural house-
hold will have higher GHGs than a comparably
wealthy city-based household because of greater
private automobile use and generally larger heat-
ing and cooling demands from their homes.
This consumption-based accounting would
also produce even larger differentials between
cities in per capita emissions. Cities that con-
Climate change
UK
Glasgow BRAZIL
London
Rio de Janeiro
Sao Paulo
centrate wealthy people with high-consumption
lifestyles would probably have GHGs per person
that were thousands of times larger than most
small urban centres in low-income nations.
Inter-city and intra-city differentials
But it is not cities in general but particular cities
that have high per capita GHG emissions. Most
cities in Africa, Asia and Latin America still have
low emission-levels per person; most cities in the
least developed countries are likely to have between
a twentieth and a hundredth of the emissions per
person of say, New York or London.
However, it can be misleading to focus on city
averages for per capita figures in that there will
be very large differentials within cities. Since the
poorest households have very small per capita
emissions, the differentials between the individ-
uals with the highest and the lowest per capita
emissions are going to be very large.
Do we see cities as problems or
solutions?
One justification for emphasizing the very large
role of cities in GHGs (including greatly over-
stating it) is to pay more attention to cities.
This is much needed, given how little attention
has been given to the role of cities in economic
and social development. But it would seem
COVER STORY
counterproductive to over-state their contribution
to GHGs as this diverts attention from the real
problem – the high-consumption lifestyles and
life-choices of a relatively small proportion of the
world’s population, most but not all of whom live
in high-income nations.
It also draws attention away from the
very large differentials in average GHGs
per person between cities and within cities.
Finally, focusing on cities in low- and mid-
dle-income nations as large GHG emitters
(when most are not large emitters) pro-
duces the wrong agenda for change. Most
of the cities most at risk from the impacts
of global warming are in low- and middle-
income nations, and it is generally among
their low-income populations that risks are
concentrated. So these are cities that con-
tribute very little to GHGs but which are far
more at risk from the global warming created
by GHGs.
What is so urgently needed for cities and other
adaptation, including getting the protective infra-
structure in place so their populations are not se-
riously impacted by more extreme weather or sea
level rise or constraints on fresh water supplies.
But perhaps worse than this, blaming cities for
most GHGs misses the point that well-planned
and governed cities are central to delinking a
high quality of life from high levels of consump-
tion (and so high GHG emissions). This can be
seen in part in the very large differentials between
wealthy cities in gasoline use per person. Most US
cities have three to five times the gasoline use per
person of most European cities – and it is difficult
to see that Detroit has five times the quality of life
of Copenhagen or Amsterdam. Singapore has
one-fifth of the automobile ownership per person
of most cities in other high-income nations, yet
also has a higher income per person. It is also evi-
dent in the fact that many cities in high-income
nations have GHGs per person that are far below
their national averages.
Cities have long been places of social, cul-
tural economic and political innovation, and
indeed, in high-income nations, city politi-
cians often demonstrate a greater commit-
ment to GHG reduction than do national
politicians.
Achieving the needed reduction in global
greenhouse gas emissions depends on seeing
this potential of cities to combine high quality
of life with low greenhouse gas emissions and
acting on it. u
u r b a n
March 2009 WORLD 13
COVER STORY Climate change

Our future is in your

hands
There are few places in the world where people are more terrified of climate change and
its impacts than on small islands. Here, the Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs of
Tuvalu, Hon. Apisai Ielemia, speaks out in this article adapted from a speech delivered at the
14th Conference of the Parties held in Poznan, Poland in December 2008 under the auspices
of the United Nations Climate Change Conference (UNFCCC).

Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs of Tuvalu, Hon. Apisai Ielemia UN PHOTO © MARCO CASTRO

u r b a n
14 WORLD March 2009

E very year it becomes more and more
evident that climate change is upon
us. We, the Pacific island peoples,
have consistently over the years been expressing
our concerns over the threats posed by climate
change. And we have called for increased adap-
tation and mitigation efforts, including global
reductions to greenhouse gas emissions.
Recent scientific evidence on ice sheet melting
and ocean acidification suggests that we must
act more rapidly before it is too late for countries
like Tuvalu. Our future is in your hands.
The months of this year will be crucial in es-
tablishing a new climate change regime. I would
like to highlight five key issues that we believe
are necessary to tackle climate change. It is
critical that we have the [world’s] support in en-
suring that together we effectively address the
threats posed by climate change.
“Unlike the economic crisis which originated
from a lack of transparency and a failure of
regulation and which may be corrected by anti-
cyclical fiscal stimulus packages, climate change
is not a phenomenon which will work its way
through an economic cycle. Lack of action will
make things irreversibly worse, will cause more
human suffering and will be even more expensive
to solve in the longer term.” President Bharrat
Jagdeo of the Republic of Guyana
On the issue of reducing greenhouse gas
emissions, we believe that there needs to be
a more comprehensive approach by all major
emitting countries. For those large emitting
developing countries we acknowledge the
need for development. But we need assurance
that development does not cause other coun-
tries, like ours, to suffer. We cannot sink while
others rise. Given our extreme vulnerability as
a small, low-lying atoll country, we must not
sink from the problems caused by the big and
industrialized countries.
First, we believe that the Kyoto Protocol
should be strengthened. This can only be done
by the industrialised countries, known as
Annex One, taking deep emission reductions
during the next commitment period. The ar-
chitecture of the Kyoto Protocol must remain.
Climate change
Second, we must use the commitments
made in the Kyoto Protocol to contribute
towards funding adaptation. We must use
a share of the proceeds from the allocation
of emission targets in Annex One Parties to
provide a new revenue stream for adapta-
tion. This is critical. For extremely vulner-
able countries like Tuvalu, we need guaran-
teed and substantial sources of income for
adaptation. Handouts from aid budgets will
not be sufficient.
The Adaptation Fund, in this regard, is
the survival fund for Tuvalu and many oth-
ers. Small Island Developing States like Tu-
valu need direct access and expeditious dis-
bursement of funding for real adaptation,
urgently, because we are suffering already
from effects of climate change.
How else can we say it more clearly!
Yet it appears that some key industrialized
countries are trying to make the Adaptation
Fund inaccessible to those most in need. I am
compelled to write that we are deeply disap-
pointed with the manner some of our partners
are burying us in red tape. This is totally unac-
ceptable.
The most vulnerable countries to the im-
pacts of climate change must be able to ac-
cess this fund without delay. We do not want
the Adaptation Fund to turn into all the other
funds administered by the Global Environ-
ment Facility, where the only countries that
can properly access the funds are the ones
that can afford consultants and UN agencies
to write lengthy and endless project proposals
and work their way through metres of red tape
and survive lengthy delays.
COVER STORY
Thus my third proposal is that we must ne-
gotiate a new international legal instrument to
ensure that developed countries who are not
parties to the Kyoto Protocol take deep emission
reduction targets. In particular, we are look-
ing to the United States to step out of the dark
ages of inaction and become a leading light on
climate change. I certainly hope that President
Barack Obama will lead his country into a new
enlightened period of global responsibility and
stewardship.
We are seeking substantial emission reduc-
tion targets from the United States. It must
provide a comparable effort with Kyoto Protocol
Parties. The United States has a lot of catching
up to do.
Therefore we must create a process to allow
major emitting developing countries to take tar-
gets to reduce their emissions well below their
current emission trajectories. We need a global
response to climate change and we need all ma-
jor greenhouse gas emitters in the world to con-
tribute to a global response.
Fourth, we need a new arrangement for least
developed countries and small island develop-
ing states to pursue a low-carbon future. We
need strong international assistance to allow
us to develop and deploy renewable energy and
energy efficiency technologies so that we are
guaranteed energy security. We cannot afford to
be held hostage to continual leaps in the price of
imported fuels.
Fifth, we seek a new arrangement for ad-
aptation under the new legal agreement we
will agree upon in Copenhagen at the 15th
United Nations Climate Change Conference
in Copenhagen in December this year. This
new agreement on adaptation should provide
new finance over and above any new arrange-
ments developed under the Kyoto Protocol.
We envisage that the United States and major
developing countries will contribute to this
arrangement. Within this new arrangement
on adaptation we are seeking a new interna-
tional regime on insurance to ensure that the
countries that are the most vulnerable to the
impacts of climate change are able to recover
from these impacts.
It is our belief that Tuvalu, as a nation,
has a right to exist forever. It is our basic hu-
man right. We are not contemplating migra-
tion. We are a proud nation of people with
a unique culture which cannot be relocated
somewhere else. We want to survive as a
people and a nation. We will survive. It is our
fundamental right. u
u r b a n
March 2009 WORLD 15
COVER STORY Climate change

The challenge for Africa’s

cities
Along with all the development problems confronting African cities, they are under-resourced
and ill prepared to cope with the hazards of Global Environment Change (GEC). Here leading
experts*, David Simon and Cheikh Guèye, explain some of the challenges.

Low-income housing in Africa is threatened by climate change PHOTO © DAVID SIMON

u r b a n
16 WORLD March 2009

Homes in the low-lying area of Bariga are under threat from rising sea levels
I n poorer countries,
fundamental development and an
environment and governance challenge
Global
Environment Change represents a
that threatens to undermine all recent
development gains and to increase hu-
man poverty and vulnerability.
Addressing the skills, knowledge and
resource gaps is therefore an urgent
priority. Cities represent key concentra-
tions of wealth, power, infrastructure and
economic dynamism which can be
harnessed in the search for solutions.
Conversely, they also have concentra-
tions of poverty, and the problems that
go with it.
Effective urban action to mitigate the
impacts of and to adapt behaviour to their
changing realities requires a good un-
derstanding of the complex interactions
Climate change
of causes and effects in order to identify
the groups and areas most at risk, and to
formulate appropriate strategies.
The key priorities should be the most vul-
nerable (usually poor) people living in the
most vulnerable localities such as low-lying
or steeply-sloping land. There is still time to
plan for Global Environment Change by in-
tegrating appropriate changes into relevant
plans and actions. Simply adding these to
shopping lists for donor funding will not be
adequate.
Coastal and inland cities face different
combinations of risks. Inundation from sea
level rise and overwash of low-lying areas
during storm surges, along with saliniza-
tion of the water table, are particular coastal
problems. Heat islands and intensified local
winds may be more severe for inland urban
areas. Security of fresh water and adequate
COVER STORY
PHOTO © DAVID SIMON
food supplies are likely to be problematic
everywhere affected by increasing tempera-
tures and falling rainfall.
In Senegal, for example, agricultural fail-
ure is already contributing to increased ru-
ral-urban migration. These challenges also
underline the importance of understanding
city functioning as part of broader systems
rather than as self-sufficient entities.
To most people in Senegalese capital,
Dakar, home to some 2.5 million people,
Global Environment Change represents
something that is both distant, due to the
number of immediate priorities related to
widespread poverty, and at the same time
very close when we see the powerful impact
of GEC in some areas.
The government’s political will to ad-
dress any given issue is commonly mea-
sured by the presence of that issue in the
u r b a n
March 2009 WORLD 17
COVER STORY Climate change

discourse of President Abdoulaye Wade
on emerging themes. Faced with the worst
floods that Dakar has ever known, he has
recently announced an ambitious and
unprecedented initiative: the Plan Jax-
aay. This plan allows for the relocation
of entire suburban neighbourhoods into
thousands of homes built largely with
state subsidies.
Rufisque East in metropolitan Dakar
is symbolic of the type of disaster that
could in future affect the inhabitants of
African cities. This city’s centenary cem-
etery (in the Lébougui neighbourhood of
Thiawlène) has been partly destroyed by
the fury of waves and the encroachment
of the sea that has already engulfed
the neighbourhood mosque and entire
houses.
Bargny Guedj, another area near Ru-
fisque, has experienced the same prob-
lems. Farther south, the town of San-
gomar, has become an island through
erosion of its land bridge to the main-
land. Inappropriate low-income housing
in the sprawling peri-urban fringe be-
yond the airport is also threatened (See
photo on page 17).
These cases exemplify what will hap-
pen increasingly in years to come both
in Senegal and some of its West African
neighbours like Gambia, Guinea Bissau
and Nigeria. Real strategies to antici-
pate and manage risks do not yet exist.
A sea wall is the only measure that has
been implemented in Rufisque.
For example, the newly constructed
Bar Beach promenade on Victoria Island
at the mouth of Lagos Lagoon in Nige-
ria was not designed to cope with likely
sea level rises of 30-50 cm during this
century. It also does not protect the
numerous densely populated, low-ly-
ing areas of the city around the lagoon
like Bariga, where poor residents are
very vulnerable. Similar examples exist
across Africa. It is inevitable that, in addi-
tion to all their existing development chal-
lenges, African cities will face the effects
of climate change, for which they remain
under-resourced and ill prepared. u
*David Simon, Professor of Development
Geography and Head of Department at
Royal Holloway, University of London, is
Chair of the UK National Committee on the
Human Dimensions of GEC. Cheikh Guèye
is in charge of Prospective and Convergence
at the Executive Secretariat of the NGO
ENDA-Tiers Monde in Dakar, Senegal.
Both are serving members of the Scientific
Steering Committee of the International
Human Dimensions Programme (IHDP)
core project on Urbanization and Global
Environmental Change.

Putting urban vulnerability on the international agenda

Michail Fragkias, Executive Officer, International Human Dimensions Programme,

Urbanization and Global Environmental Change project, reports back on two recent
international workshops organized by the IHDP and its partners – UN-HABITAT, ENDA-Tiers
Monde, the CUNY Institute for Sustainable Cities, and the Global Institute of Sustainability
at Arizona State University.

The joint conclusions of scholars and mayors and their advi-
sors suggested strong interest in collaboration with local and
international initiatives to combat the adverse effects of climate
change and increase the resilience of cities to climate change.
Concerns over drought, sea level rise, coastal erosion and land
use change were raised frequently. But agreeing on the necessity
to incorporate environmental concerns is not enough because
the main challenge is convincing leaders and politicians.
There exists a need for a good balance between responsibili-
ties at local, regional, national and international level – a shared
responsibility.
They found a striking imbalance in the governance decentral-
ization process: while more responsibility is being devolved to
the local authorities, this is not being matched by adequate re-
sources.
Mayors identified specifically the difficulty of utilizing human
resources: some key skills did not exist or were inadequate but
others (such as the basic one of environmental management) do
exist but deployment is hampered by the funding problems.
Finally, there is a mandate to move ahead: mayors agreed that
even small steps can help create momentum for change. The
truly responsive actors and agents of change exist at the local
level. Mayors are prepared to move forward once they get fund-
ing associated with policy changes that could build improved re-
silience in their cities.
Both workshops identified a pressing need for additional em-
phasis on adaptation to climate change in cities. A collaboration
of local and international institutions is critical for strengthen-
ing local responses to climate change.
Practitioners also suggested the need for a better coordination
and organization of capacity building initiatives. Local develop-
ment plans are a good entry point for integrating climate change
aspects into local planning.
There was consensus that we now face a pressing need for
the development of new initiatives and programmes for climate
change and cities in the global south.

u r b a n
18 WORLD March 2009
 Climate change COVER STORY

How construction is vital

to reducing emissions
UN-HABITAT has an important role in supporting institutions, professionals and the private
sector in the housing and construction sector to mitigate climate change, writes
Mohamed El Sioufi, Head of UN-HABITAT’s Shelter Branch.

Most greenhouse gas emissions come from buildings’ heating, air-conditioning and lighting PHOTO © TINOU BAO
COVER STORY Climate change
M inistries of construction, mu-
nicipalities, physical planners,
architects and the construc-
tion sector have a pivotal role in mitigating
climate change
Urban greenhouse gases (GHG) are emitted
mainly from buildings, industry, and transpor-
tation. It is estimated that buildings use up to
40 percent of energy and emit about 30 percent
of greenhouse gases during their life cycle.
The building life cycle
Urban planning and design provide the frame-
work in which buildings are set while architec-
tural design is the conceptualization of how
buildings are shaped, built and utilized. Build-
ings consume energy and emit GHGs during
their life cycle.
Beginning with the excavation of raw ma-
terials, the production of building materials,
the construction and, most importantly, the
utilization of the buildings ending with their
demolition. Climatic conditions are key in
determining the amounts of energy used by
buildings and their emissions.
Urban environmental planning and
design
Environmental urban planning and urban
design play important roles in saving energy
and reducing GHGs. Compact cities enable
people to walk, use non-motorized transport,
enjoy effective public transit systems and thus
reduce commuting distances and emissions.
Environmental issues, when taken into con-
sideration during the urban design phase,
impact more directly on buildings with regard
to orientation exposure to or protection from
the sun and wind depending on climate. Water
and waste management also need to be con-
sidered in a more planned and efficient way.
Both urban planning and design are the re-
sponsibility of physical planners and are regu-
lated by municipalities. All should strengthen
urban climate change mitigation.
Architectural design
Architecture has now moved to respond here.
The new trends have a variety of names – Pas-
sive, Sustainable, Green, Emerald, Eco, Envi-
ronmental…. Architecture or Buildings.
Some of these trends revive traditional in-
digenous wisdom used over the centuries to
mitigate against harsh climatic conditions on
buildings. Walls and roofs, for example, or
u r b a n
20 WORLD March 2009
shading devices on buildings can be designed
for better insulation to reduce heat loss in cold
climates and keep it out in hot climates.
Architects and architecture schools are
encouraged to produce new designs that will
contribute to climate change mitigation. These
new designs need also to address the issues of
urban poverty and consider low-cost build-
ing materials and technologies. Municipal
capacities should be strengthened to regulate
the types of buildings under their jurisdiction
through building licenses for new buildings or
retrofitting those that are inefficient.
Construction
When it comes to the selection and use of con-
struction materials, importing those that need
to be brought is a major cause of transport
emissions. Therefore the use of local materials
and the proper natural resource management
are important. In the case of the use of con-
crete, about three-quarters of the carbon emis-
sions emanate from on-site production, and
efforts to convert cement plants so that this is
reduced to one quarter must be studied.
In moderate climates, where most de-
veloped countries are located, there is little
need for cooling and heating. But the use of
energy and GHG emissions in the life cycle of
the buildings peak in the construction phase.
Where bricks and tiles are produced by burn-
ing clay for example, GHG emissions are
significant. In fact there is usually a double
jeopardy from this practice: firstly, wood or
charcoal is frequently used to fuel inefficient
furnaces. Secondly, vital carbon sinks are re-
duced because of deforestation. This situation
is exacerbated in the case of displacement of
large numbers of people in post-crisis situa-
tions where there is a need for shelter and the
only materials available are trees resulting in
deforestation and desertification.
Ministries of housing, construction and in-
dustry, bureaus of standards, the private sec-
tor, architects and others have an important
role in promoting this agenda. Building ma-
terial production licenses help ensure quality
and thus lower emission during construction.
Technologies such as stabilized soil blocks
produced through labour-intensive hand
presses achieve zero emissions and should be
encouraged. Production of construction mate-
rials close to the building site reduces trans-
port emissions. These concepts need careful
planning and by architects and builders. In
“In the case of the use
of concrete, about
three-quarters of the
carbon emissions
emanate from on-site
production, and efforts
to convert cement
plants so that this is
reduced to one quarter
must be studied.”
the case of population displacement, relief
agencies have to provide sustainable shelter
alternatives.
Building use and management
Most greenhouse gas emissions come from
heating, air-conditioning and lighting. If the
previously mentioned phases of the building
cycle are climate-change-mitigation compli-
ant, then their performance should be efficient.
In cases of existing buildings with high GHG
emissions, retrofitting is a good idea.
This however, is not enough. The role of
people using and managing a building is
very important. A passive house needs active
inhabitants who remember, for example, to
turn out the lights. In developing countries,
for example, high GHG emissions emanate
from the use of wood and charcoal in inef-
ficient cookers that fill homes where women
and children spend a good deal of their time
with unhealthy fumes. Utility companies
should be encouraged to produce clean en-
ergy. Likewise energy efficient household
electrical equipment. Municipalities are en-
couraged to utilize energy-saving bulbs in
all public buildings. Penalties for wasting
power could be levied through incremental
billing.
Incentives
While the solutions seem straightforward,
there is always a cost involved. For exam-
ple, renewable energy generation necessi-
tates an initial cost that must be calculated
through a life cycle analysis. Builders usu-
ally invest the minimum in construction
leaving the high energy costs to the users.

Air-conditioning does not help buildings’ efficiency
Environmental costs are also not factored in
these calculations which once accounted for
would show a different picture. Retrofitting
building material production units to use less
polluting fuels also has cost implications.
In order to overcome this it is necessary
to tap into available financial incentives. Para-
doxically, despite the above, none or extremely
few construction plans have benefited from
the Clean Development Mechanism. There is
a role for UN-HABITAT to explore this and
help make these funds accessible to central
and local governments as well as building ma-
terials industries. The highest impact would
be to address the construction industries in
Climate change
PHOTO © ROBERT DUCK
fast-growing countries where GHG emissions
from the production of building materials and
the use of buildings are significant.
The role of professionals in planning cities
and designing and converting buildings using
green principles can contribute significantly to
mitigate climate change. On the regulatory side,
ministries of housing and construction as well
as local authorities that issue building licenses
can all contribute positively to ensure that the
state-of-the art design concepts are applied and
appropriate building materials, sources of en-
ergy and other measures are utilized to reduce
GHG emissions and minimize the use of non–
renewable energy.
COVER STORY
PHOTO © TINOU BAO
UN-HABITAT through its Shelter Initia-
tive for Climate Change Mitigation as part
of the Sustainable Urban Development Net-
work aims at supporting various partners
mentioned above in achieving significant re-
ductions in energy use and GHG emissions in
buildings and urban settings. u
Born in Egypt, Mohamed El Sioufi has
a doctorate in Environmental Architecture
and Urban Planning. He has over 30 years
of international experience advising through
technical cooperation, training and teaching
in the human settlements field.
u r b a n
March 2009 WORLD 21
COVER STORY Climate change

India targets young

people to fight global
warming
Padma Prakash, editor of the online social science portal, eSocialSciences.com, encourages
young people to take up the climate change challenge and ride the green road.

The Climate Caravan aims to promote eco-friendly transport PHOTO © EMILIANO SPANA

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22 WORLD

I n January, a Climate Caravan convoy of
vehicles travelled 4,000 kilometres from
Chennai to New Delhi, passing through
15 Indian cities. The cars were electric with so-
lar panelled roofs, and the truck ran on biofuel
made from the Jatropha plant. They were fired
up further by hand-cranked radios and a solar
powered live band who travelled with them.
Quite apart from the sheer excitement of driv-
ing these cars on their longest run, the group
had a more serious purpose: to turn the public
gaze on how young people in all walks of life
across the country are tackling global warming,
mitigating its effects and reducing greenhouse
gas emissions.
Meet the road show: Reva, the local version
of the electric city car, rapidly becoming not
The Climate Caravan vehicles run on biofuel
just an eco-friendly auto option, but a symbol of
youth. The travellers in the vehicles all use bio-
degradable materials and reusables such as clay
tea cups and stitched-leaf plates.
Their entertainment – hand-cranked radios,
and Solar Punch, the world’s first solar powered
band.
In India, work participation rates of all groups
between 18 and 29 has fallen by three to six per-
centage points. Young first-time job-seekers are
increasingly being pushed into low end manufac-
turing and services jobs in the informal sector.
The young are overwhelmingly represented
at the two ends of the spectrum — they are the
ones with incomes and aspirations that lead to
unsustainable lifestyles. They are also the ones
with poor incomes working at precarious low-
end jobs that contribute to ecologically unsus-
tainable processes and practices.
Climate change
Growth trajectories of mega cities like
Mumbai show that the marginalized are being
pushed further and further away from Main
Street and Garden Suburb to reclaimed tree-
less landscapes of concrete blocks, brackish
soil, poor drainage and services. In so many
ways theirs is the kind of living that only en-
hances the carbon footprint. The marginal-
ized travel longer distances to work. They
have limited choices and must work where
they find it.
They pursue occupations that are typically
the most polluting – the unregulated factories,
the small, home-based units, and as vendors
swelling the ranks of the informal sector.
All this makes for a complex link between
cities, youth and climate change that is not
PHOTOS © ALEXIS RINGWALD
easy to untangle or modify. The Climate Cara-
van is a good example of one kind of interven-
tion: it seeks to involve young people in show-
casing climate change.
There are others too. Associations and net-
works have sprung up to generate social and
scientific knowledge on climate change and
to create awareness about the wide-ranging
impact of climate change. The Club of Youth
Working for Environment in Ahmedabad,
the South Asia Youth Environment Net set
up in July 2002 with UN Environment Pro-
gramme’s support and more recently the In-
dian Youth Climate Network.
Yet, there is much to be done in devising
innovative means of adaptation to the impact
of climate change. This is where groups tra-
ditionally working on employment and liveli-
hood issues come in.
COVER STORY
SEWA, a member-based organization of
over 70,000 women workers of all ages in the
informal sector is one such. Its Clean Ahmeda-
bad and volunteer Arogya Bhagini (health
worker) campaigns to take two examples have
been very successful in defining the connec-
tion between living well and securing sustain-
able lives.
Its members, many of whom are young
women rag pickers, ensure the separation of
garbage, undertake community drain cleaning,
construct rainwater harvesting tanks and plas-
tic lined ponds and are educating communities
to be self-sufficient in all resources.
An estimated 2.5 percent of the urban popu-
lation earns its living on the streets as vendors
or in other informal occupations. Youth-led
groups that focus on livelihood and employ-
ment, housing and other rights often find it dif-
ficult to include climate change issues — such as
energy-efficient housing and public transport —
in their livelihood and labour campaigns.
It isn’t easy to nest environmental demands
within campaigns for labour, housing or health
rights.
A survey in September 2002 by the National
Centre for Agricultural Economics and Policy
Research in the Kendra Para district of Orissa
showed that people felt that the frequency and
intensity of droughts, floods and cyclones had
increased.
It is not enough to educate people on the
possible impact of global warming. They have
to be trained to cope. Capacity building is what
institutions and groups like the People’s Science
Institute in Dehra Dun and Pukar from Mum-
bai do through research and action targeting
and including young people. PSI set up in 1988
by a group of newly graduated engineers from
Indian Institute of Technologies, has been at
the forefront of disaster mitigation research and
training young people on soil pollution, forest-
water linkages, and food security in collabora-
tion with local communities.
Pukar, a Mumbai research initiative of-
fers youth fellowships that have drawn young
people from the slums and tenements and
injected in them the spirit of evidence-based
decision-making on urban issues such as
transportation options, use of open space, city
governance and so on.
In the current economic downturn it will be
even more difficult to resolve the tensions that
arise in prioritising environment over other im-
mediate concerns. u
u r b a n
March 2009 WORLD 23
COVER STORY Climate change

Why sustainable cities

hold the key to climate
change
Cities are the foundation of civilizations, driving economies, progress, creativity, and
implementing political imperatives. But when they fail, so can civilizations. Here, Daniel
Hoornweg and Perinaz Bhada, of the World Bank’s Finance, Economics and Urban
Department argue that humanity’s response to climate change will depend on, and hopefully
strengthen, the relationship between citizens and their cities, and cities and their national
governments.

Cities now have to address issues such as traffic congestion PHOTO © DROUU

u r b a n
24
24 WORLD

C ities are increasingly leading the
climate change dialogue, sometimes
at odds with the position of the
national government.
At the climate change negotiations in Bali, In-
donesia in December 2007, local governments
launched the World Mayors and Local Govern-
ments Climate Protection Agreement. They will
play a critical role in the next round of negotia-
tions in Copenhagen.
The link between climate change, cities and
their suburbs is inextricable. While changes in
farming, land-use practices and deforestation
clearly impact climate dynamics, the concen-
tration of economic production and house-
holds associated with cities, and their grow-
ing demand for products and resources, has
caused most of the greenhouse gas emissions,
especially in the last half century.
While it is well documented that GHG emis-
sions increase with per capita income and city
sprawl, it is also clear that cities can curb emis-
sions effectively by increasing the efficiency of
urban transport, legislating for energy-efficient
buildings, and by adopting more efficiency and
denser urbanization patterns.
On the other hand, it is clear that cities will
bear the brunt of climate impacts. For example,
more than 80 percent of the damage caused in
the Gulf of Mexico by Hurricane Katrina was felt
in cities; and the majority of the world’s poor at
threat from climate change now live in cities.
Many cities recognize that mitigation and ad-
aptation to climate change is one of their fore-
most challenges. And indeed, over 880 US cities
have voluntarily agreed to meet or exceed Kyoto
Protocol targets.
Cities need to be at the forefront of the overall
political debate as they will be called upon to play
a greater role in creating awareness, initiating
greening policies, and leading by example. These
efforts will need to be added to today’s - at times
overwhelming - challenges faced by cities as they
struggle to provide adequate local services.
As local governments assume a greater role in
the global response to climate change, the advo-
cacy and endorsement of their citizens, over dis-
cussions in cafes, schools, and myriad grass-roots
programmes will be critical to define humanity’s
response to climate change.
Thirty-seven of the world’s largest economies
are cities (see the table on page 26 – Economies
based on GDP for cities and countries and annual
sales for corporations). By 2050 70 percent of
the world’s population will live in cities, and an
Climate change
ever greater proportions of pollution, resource
consumption, innovation, capital, higher learn-
ing, economy, culture and the arts will originate
from cities.
Cities are also the world’s largest employer. The
economic heft of cities is significantly greater than
that of global corporations and yet far more train-
ing and salaries are provided to business leaders
and management than to local governments.
Cities in developing countries are particularly
challenged by climate change since most of the
world’s urban growth (economic and popula-
tion) is occurring there. Vulnerability to climate
change includes urban populations at risk and, as
emerging cities become wealthier, risk to infra-
structure.
The growing vulnerability of cities is critical as
climate change appears as the major challenge to
the new Urban Century. Climate change will push
cities to become more assertive in international
negotiations; to develop networks among them-
selves; build trust with citizens; and most criti-
cally, especially for cities in emerging economies,
concentrate on management and strengthening
of local institutions.
On 4 February, 2008 some two million people
peacefully marched in Bogotá, Colombia, to pro-
test the FARC guerillas. The march was initiated
by Oscar Morales through Facebook. Today’s so-
cial networks can readily link people across com-
munities and highlight the power of citizens and
cities to quickly turn a single voice into action, a
movement, and with increasing speed, a culture.
Cities need to work within a changing culture
of connectivity and real-time public involvement.
If a peaceful march of millions can be started by
a single person, so too can small groups foment
Hurricane Katrina caused devastation in the Gulf of Mexico
COVER STORY
opposition against much needed infrastructure
or critical policy changes. Without effective early
public consultation in today’s connected world a
handful of local residents can delay and increase
the costs associated with critical infrastructure
programming.
Cities must better articulate the impacts as-
sociated with key economic and infrastructure
decisions and build trust with the community.
Climate change will force cities to govern more
broadly, fully integrate citizens within service
provision, and work more closely with national
governments.
As economies strain under greenhouse gas
mitigation programmes and weather stresses in-
tensify, cities still need to manage their numerous
responsibilities such as land development, hous-
ing, waste management, wastewater treatment,
and traffic congestion.
Effective municipal management is a prerequi-
site for citizens to move toward more sustainable
solutions. Citizens need to be more active in infra-
structure solutions such as user fees, waste sepa-
ration, and shared services such as rental cars.
Sustainable development needs sustainable
cities. The most critical stakeholders in deliv-
ering progress on the Millennium Develop-
ment Goals are cities, especially those in de-
veloping countries.
These same cities are now being called
upon to respond to climate change. During
the next 30 years cities and their citizens
will face an even tougher struggle to miti-
gate the causes of, and adapt to, increased
greenhouse gas emissions. How humanity
responds will define much of the rest of the
Urban Century. u
PHOTO © THOMAS BUSH
u r b a n
March 2009 WORLD 25
COVER STORY Climate change

Top 100 Economies: countries, cities, and companies

GDP/Revenues GDP/Revenues
Country/City/Company (D billions PPP, 2005) Country/City/Company (D billions PPP, 2005)

1 United States 12,434 51 Greece 262

2 China 8,610 52 Malaysia 262
3 Japan 4,013 53 Vietnam 250
4 India 3,787 54 Buenos Aires, Argentina 245
5 Germany 2,409 55 Hong Kong, China 244
6 United Kingdom 1,969 56 San Francisco/Oakland, USA 242
7 France 1,859 57 Atlanta, USA 236
8 Italy 1,690 58 Houston, USA 235
9 Brazil 1,534 59 Miami, USA 231
10 Russian Federation 1,523 60 Sao Paolo, Brazil 225
11 Tokyo, Japan 1,191 61 Algeria 222
12 New York, USA 1,133 62 Seoul, South Korea 218
13 Spain 1,121 63 Toronto, Canada 209
14 Korea, Republic of 1,055 64 Portugal 208
15 Canada 1,041 65 Czech Republic 206
16 Mexico 1,034 66 Detroit, USA 203
17 Indonesia 821 67 General Motors 194
18 Los Angeles, USA 639 68 Romania 193
19 Australia 622 69 Madrid, Spain 188
20 Turkey 607 70 Norway 187
21 South Africa 568 71 Chile 187
22 Iran, Islamic Republic of 549 72 Seattle, USA 186
23 Thailand 542 73 Denmark 182
24 Argentina 539 74 Moscow, Russia 181
25 Netherlands 530 75 DaimlerChrysler 177
26 Poland 515 76 Israel 175
27 Chicago, USA 460 77 Toyota Motor 173
28 Paris, France 460 78 Ford Motor 172
29 London, UK 452 79 Sydney, Australia 172
30 Philippines 440 80 Venezuela 171
31 Pakistan 366 81 Hungary 171
32 Belgium 342 82 Finland 164
33 Osaka/Kobe, Japan 341 83 Peru 163
34 Saudia Arabia 341 84 Phoenix, USA 156
35 Colombia 338 85 Minneapolis, USA 155
36 Egypt 329 86 San Diego, USA 153
37 Ukraine 316 87 General Electric 153
38 Mexico City, Mexico 315 88 Total 153
39 Philadelphia, USA 312 89 ChevronTexaco 148
40 Washington, DC, USA 299 90 Ireland 144
41 Bangladesh 296 91 Rio de Janeiro, Brazil 141
42 Boston, USA 290 92 Barcelona, Spain 140
43 Walmart 288 93 Shangai, China 139
44 BP 285 94 Nigeria 137
45 Sweden 284 95 Melbourne, Australia 135
46 Switzerland 276 96 Istanbul, Turkey 133
47 Austria 273 97 Morocco 132
48 Exxon Mobil 271 98 Denver, Usa 130
49 Royal Dutch/Shell Group 269 99 Singapore, Singapore 129
50 Dallas/Fort Worth, USA 268 100 Mumbai, India 126

u r b a n
26 WORLD March 2009
 Climate change COVER STORY

Climate change is not

gender neutral
Integrating gender into climate change policy at the local, national and international levels is
of paramount importance. Here Lucia Kiwala, Chief of UN-HABITAT’s gender mainstreaming
department, and colleagues Ansa Masaud in Geneva and Cecilia Njenga in Nairobi, explain
that putting gender at the top of the climate change agenda is more important than most
people realize.

A t UN-HABITAT, the UN agency

for the built environment, there is
growing concern about the impacts
of climate change on towns and cities around the
world in an age when, for the first time now, more
than half of humanity lives in urban areas.
We have learned painfully at first hand
from disasters around the world that climate
change adaptation and mitigation measures
cannot be gender neutral. This is because
climate change impacts are not gender neu-
tral. (See fact box on page 29).
In this new urban era, one billion people live
in urban slums. Our research shows that their

Women are the first to suffer when disaster strikes Photo © S.Singh
u r b a n
March 2009 WORLD 27
COVER STORY Climate change
numbers are set to double in little more than a
generation if current trends prevail. Everywhere,
it is the slum dwellers whose homes will be swept
away if floods strike or a hurricane hits.
Woman can play an important role in shaping policies regarding climate change
Women and the children they support are
usually the first to suffer when disaster strikes.
Yet women are also the most important agents
of change at the household and community
levels.
In our humanitarian work as part of the One
UN country teams helping pick up the pieces af-
ter a terrible disaster, we ensure that gender is
incorporated, so that we can build back better.
A woman who loses her home, after all, should
not lose her inheritance, land or property rights
as well.
“It is heartening to see here governments like
Finland and the Global Gender and Climate
Alliance bringing the voices of women to the
global deliberations on climate change,” said
Mrs. Tibaijuka in a speech at the 14th Con-
u r b a n
28 WORLD March 2009
ference of the Parties held in Poznan, Poland
in December 2008 under the auspices of the
United Nations Climate Change Confer-
ence (UNFCCC). “I support your drive to
PHOTO © SOFIA HENRIQUES
exchange knowhow and experiences, and
most importantly, your push to translate
the language of the UNFCCC so that people
at the local level people can understand the
implications of the decisions being taken,
complex as they are.”
Women can and do make a difference.
They are knowledgeable and experienced in
adaptation and mitigation strategies, natu-
ral resource management, conflict resolu-
tion and peace building. Women leaders
at the national, local and community levels
have already made a visible difference in
natural disaster responses, both in humani-
tarian and post-disaster recovery.
Many slum residents around the world are
often environmental refugees who have fled
from floods, droughts or other calamities in
outlying areas. And in the slums themselves, the
residents often live in places highly vulnerable to
the impacts of disasters such as floods, and are
also least able to cope with the effects. Women’s
groups in these cases should be the direct ben-
eficiaries of adaptation funds to ensure access to
energy, and the protection of water catchment
areas so that streams don’t run dry.
We have to increase awareness of the dis-
proportionate impacts of climate change on
women within the predominantly male world of
technocrats working in this field. We must have
gender responsive policy-making, planning and
programming, and ensure the effective partici-
pation of women at every level if the Copenha-
gen climate talks in December 2009 are to be a
watershed.
The solutions aside, human face of climate
change must be strengthened through increased
focus on women, youth and the very poor.
In many countries of developing world, de-
clining agricultural productivity due to climate
change related weather patterns and population
pressures are pushing greater numbers of rural
residents towards the cities.
More than a quarter of the populations of
the world’s Least Developed Countries now live
in urban areas. From 15 million in 1950, their
numbers have jumped to 234 million today.
The nexus between rapid and chaotic urban-
ization and climate change has multiple impacts
on highly vulnerable groups, especially women,
youth and the very poor.
Look at it this way: in many households in
these countries, especially in the slums, women
rely on firewood for cooking fuel. Yet if cities had
the capacity to deliver power, or for that matter
to provide cooking gas, fewer trees would be
felled. This is where the battle to save our forests
starts – right in the slums!
Look at this too: women often have to risk
their lives to walk long distances to fetch water
or go to the toilet. Sometimes, household and
human waste is simply dumped in rivers or
streams. Yet if cities had the capacity to deliver
better water and sanitation services, key water
sources would not get contaminated, and there
would be fewer health and environmental risks.
Cities spew out huge amounts of the so-called
greenhouse gases responsible for global warm-
ing. Seventy-five percent of global energy con-
sumption is thought to take place in cities. At the
same time, cities and local authorities in some
countries hold tremendous power, leverage and

The 2007 report of the Intergovernmen-
tal Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) pre-
dicts that greenhouse gases and aerosols
will alter the energy balance of the cli-
mate system. Over the next two decades
it is projected that there will be a warming
of 0.2°C (IPCC, 2007). Climate changes are
expected to have unprecedented effects on
people worldwide, particularly through
the increase in natural disasters. Social,
economic and geographical characteristics
will determine the vulnerability of people
to climate change. Many studies have de-
termined that poor women are more vul-
nerable to natural disasters given socially
constructed gender roles and behaviour.
A study of disasters in 141 countries
provided decisive evidence that gender
differences in deaths from natural disas-
ters are directly linked to women’s eco-
nomic and social rights. In inequitable
societies, women are more vulnerable
to disasters; for example, boys are likely
to receive preferential treatment in res-
cue efforts and both women and girls
suffer more from shortages of food and
economic resources in the aftermath of
Gender Mainstreaming in Local Authorities
Since the 1980s, there has been a growing
recognition of the need to ensure women’s
equal access to urban public spaces. This
handbook documents initiatives, which
promote women’s empowerment, equal
opportunities and outcomes for men and
women in the development of cities and
local authorities. Some are comprehen-
sive and are based on supportive policies,
while others are ad-hoc and address spe-
cific issues as a result of crises. Whatever
the context, the initiatives provide lessons
that others can learn from. UN-HABITAT
provides technical advice, training, re-
source materials and support for women’s
networks on gender-related work in ur-
ban development. For further informa-
tion contact, gender@unhabitat.org
Climate change COVER STORY
Fast facts Recommendations
by women’s groups
disasters (Neumayer and Pluemper,
at the climate
2007). change talks
Women and children are 14 times more
The UNFCCC international Adaptation
likely to die than men during a disaster.
Fund must include gender consider-
In the 1991 cyclone disasters which killed
ations.
140,000 in Bangladesh, for example, 90
National and international adaptation
percent of victims were women. Similarly,
plans, strategies, and budgets should
in industrialized countries, more women
mainstream gender.
than men died during the 2003 Europe-
Global and national studies should pro-
an heat wave. During Hurricane Katrina
duce gender-differentiated data on the im-
in the United States, African-American
pacts of climate change and emphasize the
women, who were the poorest population
capacities of men and women to adapt and
in that part of the country, faced the great-
mitigate climate changes. Studies should
est obstacles to survival. During the 2006
also determine the advantages of imple-
Indian Ocean tsunami, more women died
menting gender-sensitive adaptation
than men – for example in Indonesia and
projects.
Sri Lanka, male survivors outnumber fe-
Governments should understand and
male survivors by three or four to one (Da-
use the knowledge and specialized skills
vis et al., 2005).
of women in natural disaster survival and
Although women are disproportion-
management strategies.
ately impacted by disasters and swift
Women must be recognized as power-
environmental changes, women have
ful agents of change and that their lead-
also contributed to curbing the impacts
ership is critical. Women should be in-
of climate change. Women’s knowledge
cluded in all levels of strategies to adapt
and responsibilities related to natural
to climate change.
resource management have proven to be
Women’s access to, and control over,
critical to community survival.
natural resources need to be improved in
order to reduce poverty and vulnerability
and to ensure that women have resources
to adapt properly.
Training and educational programmes
for women and girls (especially in
vulnerable communities) that provide
general information about disasters, and
strategies to cope with them should be
developed.
resources to influence both the causes of climate
change and the solution to advance climate pro-
tection through mitigation and adaptation.
The perspectives of women, youth, and chil-
dren must inform policy, programme design
and implementation at the global, national and
local levels. The local knowledge and experience
of women must be tapped in designing climate
change mitigation and adaptation strategies.
International gender and climate change
organizations should strengthen linkages with
grassroots organizations and local authorities
in all countries, and especially those bearing the
brunt of climate change impacts.
Human settlements planning needs to take
u r b a n
March 2009 WORLD 29
COVER STORY Climate change
Developing countries are most at risk from climate
change. Road flooded in Chennai, India
PHOTO © GURU THILAK
the level and type of impacts of climate vari-
ability into account. Any action to reduce
the impacts of climate variability in human
settlements can only succeed with an under-
standing of overall vulnerability – and that
includes the situation of women in slums and
informal settlements.
Next, we need to develop gender indicators
to monitor impacts of climate change, and to
ensure that planning strategies respond to
the specific needs of women and men.
And finally, we must support the response
capability of vulnerable groups by strength-
ening their assets – social, natural, physical,
human, and financial. And on the latter – es-
pecially in these times of global financial cri-
sis and economic downturn. u
u r b a n
30 WORLD March 2009
UN-HABITAT in the driving seat - a strategy
towards gender equality
UN-HABITAT promotes the empower-
ment of women and gender equality in
the sustainable development of cities.
By creating awareness of the differ-
ent effects of urbanization on men and
women and promoting gender equality,
whole communities can benefit, societ-
ies can become fairer and services more
effective. The Gender Equality Pro-
gramme (GEP) is UN-HABITAT’s road-
map towards gender equality.
If we are to meet the global anti-pov-
erty targets as pledged in the Millennium
Development Goals, we cannot afford to
overlook the needs of women and girls,
who not only make up half the world’s
population but represent the majority
of the urban poor. To stabilize and pre-
vent the growth of slums and promote
liveable, productive cities, we need to
respond to enduring gender differences
and inequalities. These persist despite
decades of campaigning from women’s
rights organizations. For example:
lWomen hold less than two percent of
the world’s private land.
lWomen in slums and informal settle-
ments are particularly at risk of vio-
lence in public spaces.
lWomen generally spend more time
in slums than men, since many men
leave for work in other areas. This
leaves women to bear the brunt of
confrontational evictions, which gen-
erally take place during the day.
lWomen also have more exposure to all
the attendant risks and dangers lurk-
ing in slums.
lThe lack of separate toilet facilities for
boys and girls in slums and informal
settlements deters many girls from
attending school, particularly after
the onset of puberty.
UN-HABITAT tackles gender equal-
ity in housing and urban development
through:
Compiled by Emily Wong
lAdvocacy and monitoring
of gender equality in cities –
Inequality between men and women has
previously been under-reported due to a
shortage of data on women’s situations
in comparison to men’s. UN-HABITAT is
promoting and developing global reports
and policy guides that reflect gender dif-
ferences, so that inequalities in specific ar-
eas can be identified and then addressed.
lUrban planning, governance and
management — Gender-responsive pol-
icies and legislation help governments and
stakeholders design and develop inclusive
cities and urban services that respond bet-
ter to the needs of women and men—for
example in resource allocation, personal
safety and security, and post-conflict and
disaster reconstruction.
lAddressing inequalities in land and
housing — A woman’s right to land and
housing is largely linked to marital prop-
erty and inheritance rights. Women gen-
erally have more difficulty securing land
and property and keeping it. UN-HABI-
TAT works with governments to improve
policy, legal and regulatory frameworks
that also respond to women’s land and
housing.
lDeveloping environmentally-
sound urban services — The agen-
cy works to improve governance and
infrastructure such as clean drinking
water, sanitation and waste manage-
ment, transportation and power. More-
over, UN-HABITAT seeks to ensure
that women are engaged in the design,
management and evaluation of these
services.
lImproving finance systems for
affordable housing — Promoting
programmes on financing affordable
housing and infrastructure for the ur-
ban poor, especially women.
 u r
b a

2008
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FOR
A BETT
ER UR
BAN
FUTU
RE

Urban World is the leading publication for those responsible for the social and
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FOR A BETTER URBAN FUTURE

FEATURES Water

India’s Gwalior a leader

in development
Sahana Singh, editor of Asian Water, the region’s leading magazine on water and wastewater,
last year won the prestigious Developing Asia Journalism Award (2008) in the Infrastructure
Category for this article* on a UN-HABITAT water project in Gwalior, India. What she saw,
revealed many surprises…

“O King, I will marry you on

the condition that you ar-
range for water from my
village to be delivered to the palace in Gwalior,”
said an audacious girl to the besotted King Man
Singh of Gwalior. The King acquiesced and the
girl went on to become famous as Queen Mri-
gnayani. Considerable engineering expertise
was exercised to ensure that water from River
Rai was delivered via an aqueduct to the palace
of the assertive queen.
Water, which was the central concern of a
queen in the 15th century continues to be a sub-
ject of major importance even today in the city of
Gwalior situated in the Indian state of Madhya
Pradesh. Incidentally, the main source of water
for the city is the Tighra Waterworks which is
not far from the medieval queen’s hometown.
The historical city of Gwalior, along with three
other cities in Madhya Pradesh – Bhopal, Indore
and Jabalpur, has been targeted by the Water
for Asian Cities Programme. This programme
is a collaborative initiative of the UN-HABITAT,
the Government of the Netherlands and the
Asian Development Bank (ADB) and countries
in the region for achieving the Millennium De-
velopment Goals (MDGs). This includes Goal
seven, Target 10: to reduce by half the propor-
tion without sustainable access to safe drinking
water and basic sanitation by 2015.

The Water for Asian Cities Programme

The Water for Asian Cities Programme was of-
ficially launched during the Third World Water
Forum on 18 March, 2003. Several cities in In-
dia, China, Nepal, Laos and Vietnam have been
covered under this programme. In all these
The Water for Asian Cities Programme aims to bring clean water and better sanitation across the region cities, the Programme seeks to promote pro-
 Photo © Rajendra Prasad Ravuri poor governance, water demand management,

u r b a n
32 WORLD March 2009

increased attention to environmental sanita-
tion and income generation for the poor linked
to water supply and sanitation. To achieve this,
the programme aims to mobilize political will,
raising awareness through advocacy, informa-
tion and education; training and capacity build-
ing, by promoting new investments in the urban
water and sanitation sector; and by systematic
monitoring of progress towards MDGs.
“A loan of USD 181 million has been approved
by the ADB in the four towns of Madhya Pradesh
mainly for the improvement and expansion of
urban water supply, sewerage and sanitation,
water drainage and solid waste management,”
says Aniruddhe Mukerjee, Chief Technical Advi-
sor, UN-HABITAT.
How effective has the Water for Asian
Cities Programme been?
In the Gwalior slums of Laxmanpura, Ramaji
ka Pura, Subhash Nagar and New Mehragaon,
a range of schemes are in various stages of com-
pletion. In order to not deter the poor with high
water connection charges of Rs 750 (USD 17),
they are allowed to pay in easy instalments. User
charges are a flat Rs 80 (USD 1.80) per month.
From the smiling faces at Laxmanpura slum
in the heart of the city, it was clear that the avail-
ability of water to drink, wash and cook had
eased a number of woes. When asked whether
they were using water indiscriminately on ac-
count of the flat water charges, one woman ex-
claims: “Of course not! We know that we should
not use water wastefully. If we do that, there
will be less water for others in this settlement.
We have formed a committee to keep a vigil on
water wastage, so we regularly walk around to
inspect.”
At the hillside slum cluster of Ramaji Ka Pura,
Islampura and Subhash Nagar, some 4,000
households do not get water despite piped con-
nections, due to low pressure. In the households
where the pressure was sufficient, water was
supplied for only two hours in the middle of the
night. But hope is in sight thanks to UN-HABI-
TAT and the local municipal corporation.
With considerable community participation
including the active role of women, the con-
struction of a surface water reservoir and an
overhead tank along with a network of distribu-
tion lines are about to be completed.
“It will be a relief when water starts flow-
ing,” sighs a woman. “It is such a torture to stay
awake at night to fill buckets of water. Once the
water starts flowing at regular timings to our
houses, we women will get more time to take up
some income-generating activity like embroi-
dery, which will ease the burden of household
expenses.” Most of the men in this slum work as
labourers or vendors in the city.
Woes of open defecation
Open defecation in rural areas and urban slums
remains a major problem faced in India over
the centuries. For the rural folk, it is the norm to
walk to distant fields to defecate. While men can
do this at any time of the day, women need to go
early in the morning before sunrise. The same
unhealthy practice is being followed in most
urban slums. Incidentally, many cases of sexual
abuse are reported in the early mornings when
women go to answer the call of nature.
Earlier efforts by financing organizations and
governments to build toilets for the poor have
often failed miserably because the poor, who are
unused to sitting within the confines of a toilet,
prefer to relieve themselves in the open. Also,
they began to use toilets as storerooms to store
grains and other articles, defeating the very pur-
pose for which they were built.
It was realized by international organiza-
tions that without community participation
and training, it was pointless to execute any
scheme. Accordingly, the focus was shifted to
educating people, especially women and chil-
dren on various aspects of hygiene such as the
need to defecate in allocated spaces, washing
hands after toilet-use, etc. A number of demon-
stration toilets have been built in the slums to
illustrate the benefits of having them.
The efforts to educate people seem to have
borne fruit at the slums covered by the Wa-
ter for Asian Cities Programme. “A scheme
has been evolved whereby if a toilet costs Rs
3,000 to build, the slum dweller would need
to put up Rs 1,000 in terms of labour and ma-
terials, while the remaining Rs 2,000 could be
obtained from a revolving sanitation fund,”
says Mr. Mohan Mudgal, Technical Advisor to
UN-HABITAT.
Women are at the forefront of the movement to
build toilets for their households. “It is a boon to
have a toilet in your own house. There is no need
to get up early in the morning to walk to the fields.
We don’t have to worry about the safety of our
daughters and daughters-in-law,” says a woman
from the slums. Implements to build squat toilets
are being provided free. A change in the mindset
is evident from the enthusiasm displayed by the
slum dwellers to show off their toilets.
Water FEATURES
Schools are spreading the word
Every slum cluster has a primary school in its
vicinity. Apart from regular subjects, children
are being taught hygiene and good values, which
are so important for the betterment of a commu-
nity. Innovative ways to impart the message of
hygiene include the teaching of nursery rhymes
on the subject.
“We must wash our hands with soap before
eating, after eating, after using the toilet, before
cooking and whenever our hands get dirty,”
chant the children in unison at one of the schools
visited. On being asked why one should wash
hands, a child quickly answers, “Because germs
will get into our body and make us sick!”
“The children come back from school and
teach us so many things,” smiles a proud mother
at Laxmanpura. On being questioned whether
she believed in an education for her daughter,
she replies: “Of course. Both my daughter and
son go to school.”
Many schools have rainwater harvesting fa-
cilities on their rooftops, an initiative that needs
to be pursued more vigorously.
Empowering women
It is evident from the confidence of women at the
slums targeted by the Water for Asian Cities Pro-
gramme, that the right strategies have been ad-
opted. Being involved in all aspects of decision-
making and giving them ownership of assets has
given the women a new sense of empowerment.
The men could be seen listening deferentially to
the women or making way for them to speak at
various meetings.
“Women can do everything that men can do,”
says one beaming woman. This leads to some
jovial bantering between the men and women
seated at the gathering. At a meeting in another
settlement, a woman was spotted breast-feeding
her baby gracefully within the confines of her
saree while taking part in a debate. A sense of
sisterhood prevails among the women who co-
operate with each other to get tasks done.
“We are saving money for the hard days,” says
one woman, showing her bank pass book with a
total of Rs 500 in her account. When any one of
us needs money for some urgent expenses, we
lend to each other,” says another woman.
Mayor says social component is
important
A visit to the Mayor’s office located in an el-
egant building dating to medieval times, re-
vealed a person who is deeply involved in
u r b a n
March 2009 WORLD 33
FEATURES Water
Even in a small city like Gwalior, there are
230 slums. The WAC programme has only
covered 16 slums so far. In the other three
urban centres of Madhya Pradesh under the
purview of the Programme, the number of
uncovered slums is even greater. Besides, the
four cities of Madhya Pradesh are just a min-
iscule fraction of India – a country bursting
with over one billion people, and 22 percent
below the poverty line. Mumbai’s Dharavi
slum, the world’s largest, is home to one mil-
lion people.
Under the Community Managed Water Sup-
ply Scheme in Ramaji ka Pura a distribution
network to provide water to 1,200 households
(about 6,000 people) has been completed.
The system is being successfully operated
and managed by the Community Water and
Sanitation Committee. The residents are get-
ting water for a fixed monthly fee. A commu-
nity managed sewage scheme has also been
completed with support from UN-HABITAT
under the Water for Asian Cities Programme.
It benefits 2,500 households.
water and sanitation issues. “A lot of work has
been done to improve the situation in our city,
but a lot more needs to be done,” admits Mr.
V.N.Shejwalkar, the Mayor of Gwalior. “We
must increase the capacity of treatment plants.
We need to move with the times and have
modern tools for monitoring. We must carry
out 100 percent metering. At the moment, we
only charge flat rates for water. We also need
to reduce non-revenue water. We must achieve
zero open defecation.”
At present, Gwalior does not have any sew-
age treatment plants since sewage is directly
discharged into water bodies. “We have con-
structing two sewage treatment plants; one in
2007, and the other in 2008,” says Mr. She-
jwalkar. He adds that it was important for the
social component to be included in engineer-
ing projects. “Community participation is a
must,” he asserts.
WATSAN classroom
An excellent initiative of the Water for Asian
Cities Programme is the WATSAN (Water and
Sanitation) classroom. This is a state-of-the-
u r b a n
34 WORLD March 2009
Gwalior slums fast facts
The Slum Environmental Sanitation Ini-
tiative in 16 Gwalior slums has helped
about 5,000 households (25,000 peo-
ple), with water and sanitation facilities.
The Management System for Commu-
nity Toilets at Laxmanpura developed
under the Water for Asian Cities Pro-
gramme was shortlisted as a model for
best practices on sanitation for National The delivery of clean, running water is vital for
health of slum dwellers
Urban Water Awards 2008 instituted
 Photo © S.Singh
by the Ministry of Urban Development,
Government of India.
collect all the water which flows. Then we
Other initiatives being implemented make them measure the volume. In this
by Gwalior Municipal Corporation in manner, they learn how much water is
partnership with UN-HABITAT include wasted each time they leave a tap running,”
the renovation of 10 community toilets explains Mr. K.K. Srivastava, Manager of
serving some 5,000 people; a com- the Urban Water Supply and Environment
munity movement of more than 300 Improvement Project. Indeed, the reactions
residential and welfare assisociations
of the children noted in the visitors book
mobilized to improve water and sanita-
reveal that most of them have absorbed a
tion and awareness in Gwalior’s slums.
great deal of information.
Source: UN-HABITAT
Community participation – the key to
success
It is clear that the successes of the Gwalior
initiatives are due to a great deal of commu-
nity participation and cooperation between
art classroom equipped to train children and
a multitude of organizations, not to forget
teachers alike about important issues related
NGOs such as Sambhav and Water Aid – all
to water and sanitation. Groups of children and
working towards the same goals.
teachers from schools all over Gwalior are reg-
Many committed officials have taken per-
ularly brought to this classroom. Similar class-
sonal interest in the project. The intensive
rooms have been set up in other cities covered
training imparted to officials at various lev-
by the Programme.
els has helped to keep them focused on the
With creative posters giving a wealth of
goals. An integrated structure which takes
information in the local language Hindi,
into account everything from financing to
models illustrating the process of water
motivation of individuals is evident in the
treatment and an area for presentations,
programme. There was a heartening sense
the classroom provides an atmosphere
of optimism about the future.
highly conducive for learning. There is also
Yet slums keep growing. As Dr. Kulwant
a stress on values related to water such as
Singh, Chief Technical Advisor, UN-HAB-
the need to pay water bills regularly and not
ITAT observes: “Supposing we achieve the
to use water illegally. The importance of in-
Millenium Development Goals related to
culcating these values at an impressionable
water and sanitation in 2015, we will still
age cannot be over-emphasized.
have the same number of unserved people
On one wall of the classroom are some
as we do today.” u
original, innocent poems related to water
issues composed by children for themselves
at a recent contest. At another corner of the *This article was edited to meet space
room, an interesting experiment has been restrictions. For a full version and further
information see, www.asianwater.com.my
laid out. “We ask the children to leave a tap or www.shpmedia.com/pub_asianwater.htm
open for say five minutes and make them
xxxxxxx FEATURES

u r b a n
March 2009 WORLD 35
FEATURES Housing finance

Where will the money

come from now?
Misguided housing credit is the root cause of the global financial crisis writes Daniel Biau,
Director of UN-HABITAT’s Technical Cooperation Division.

The construction sector is rarely placed at the centre of economic

recovery policies PHOTO © DROUU

u r b a n
36
3 6 WORLD
 Housing finance
O n 7 September 2008, the two
giants of American mortgages,
Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac,
were de facto nationalized through the injec-
tion of USD 200 billion by the US Treasury.
Together they had a credit portfolio of over
USD 5 trillion but also a rapidly increasing
debt and collapsing share values.
Although the two institutions were already
Government-sponsored enterprises (GSEs),
their fall and forced nationalization was the
signal and beginning of the current world
crisis.
On 25 November 2008 the Federal Reserve
announced that it would purchase up to USD
600 billion of their debt and troubled mort-
gage-backed securities. In February 2009 the
Treasury announced a Financial Stability Plan
of more than a trillion dollars and injected
200 new billions in Fannie Mae and Freddie
Mac. These figures have been interestingly
compared with the Official Development As-
sistance (ODA) to developing countries.
According to the Organization for Economic
Co-operation and Development (OECD), ODA
amounted to USD 103.5 billion in 2007 (21.8
billion from the USA, 67 billion from Europe, 7.7
billion from Japan, four billion from Canada).
Root-causes of the crisis
Among the many comments on the 2008 fi-
nancial turmoil, the worst since 1929 and the
first of a truly global nature, too little attention
has been paid to the starting point of that cri-
sis, i.e. the complete failure of the US housing
finance system.
Let’s try and summarize what has hap-
pened in the United States between 2001 and
2008, noting that similar events took place in
other countries such as the United Kingdom
and Spain.
The root-cause is the manipulation of the
housing credit system by the banking sector.
This was done basically by playing on interest
rates, on down-payments and on loan reim-
bursement periods.
In simple terms: the banks provided low-
interest credit to middle-class borrowers, re-
sulting in excessive indebtedness and drastic
reduction of saving capacities (down to zero
or even negative). At the same time, they pro-
vided high-interest credit to low-income fam-
ilies (the infamous sub-primes in which ad-
justable rates were used to hide actual rates,
often above 10 percent). This combined with
FEATURES
insufficient down-payments and overestima-
tion of foreseen income growth, resulting in
massive default on these loans.
Both actions were intended to promote the
ownership society which has always been one
of the core ideological values of the American
nation (if you are not a home-owner you can’t
be a good citizen; you have no roots). Artifi-
cially low-interest rates are the traditional
American way to subsidize middle-class hous-
ing (and thus to limit official public subsidies)
while the new high-interest strategy without
serious guarantee of repayment appeared as
a miraculous way to improve housing afford-
ability to the poor.
Errors or fatality?
Why did the banks follow that risky track and
why did the households fall in the trap?
For households the response is relatively
straightforward. During 2001-2006 housing
prices were growing much faster (more than
60 percent in five years) than prices of other
goods. Therefore buying a house was seen as
a good investment (they could hopefully resell
their properties at a higher price, provided the
upward trend continued). The demand was
high both from the middle-class (very happy
with low interest rates) and from poorer seg-
ments of the society (betting on their improved
future and finally, through ownership, getting
a slice of the American dream). But unfortu-
nately housing prices cannot increase forever
at a faster pace than inflation, simply because
at a certain level the demand is saturated, it
vanishes and a downward trend starts.
This happened in 2007 when house prices
went down by nine percent in the country (in
2008 they went down by more than 10 per-
cent). And it happened simultaneously with
an overall credit rationing, resulting in the vi-
cious circle which brought about the financial
crash of September-October 2008.
For the banking sector the response is more
complex. Indeed bankers are supposed to be
smart and intelligent people. Why should they
lend to insolvent clients (between two and three
million families) through sub-prime mortgages
totalling roughly USD 1 trillion, out of a mort-
gage bond market of USD 6 trillion in 2007?
On this, one finds very few explanations in the
world media. Apart from rather obscure con-
siderations on the securitization of sub-prime
mortgages and on the contamination of toxic
or exotic loans, it is hard to understand why
u r b a n
March 2009 WORLD 37
FEATURES Housing finance

financial institutions developed these particu- strongly criticized by the Wall Street Journal (in In October all bourses fell sharply, from
lar instruments. “Bailout for Billionaires”, 11 September 2008). Wall Street to Tokyo, from London to Shang-
hai, from São Paulo to Johannesburg. On that
Selling loans The house of cards comes down occasion many governments declared that they
The starting point was that they had too much The sub-prime sub-sector collapsed in August needed to revise completely their economic
money and needed to lend as much as possible, 2007, announcing the general financial crisis and financial policies and instruments, that an
even by taking exaggerated risks. Second, they which started a year later and which affects di- in-depth review and reform of the internation-
found complicated and uncontrolled ways of rectly all American tax-payers and indirectly all al financial architecture was necessary, that
sharing these risks among themselves. This human beings of the planet. The securitization capitalism had to be regulated. Public opinion
was done by reselling packages of home loans, miracle did not happen. The former President of was dubitable: the crisis was the result of a
mixing these packages to dilute the risks, and the Federal Reserve, Mr. Alan Greenspan, in a mix of conjectural and structural causes but it
taking a profit at every step. The loans were in
fact sold in the form of mortgage bonds on the
expanding mortgage bond market.
Example: Brother Bank gives a loan of USD
200,000 to the Smith family, at 7 percent over
30 years. In total, the Smith will have to re-
pay USD 480,000 or USD 16,000 per year.
Then Brother sells that loan to Sister Bank (or
another investor) for USD 220,000. Brother
gets a profit of USD 20,000 and moves away.
Sister Bank may keep or resell the loan. If
they resell it they may make a profit; if they
keep it they take the risk of faulty repayment.
That risk was to be reduced not by reselling
loans one by one as in our example, but by re-
grouping many of them together (this is called
securitization, the process through which a
company like Brother Bank bundles its home
loans into securities or bonds and sells them
to investors), de facto auctioned on the finan-
cial market, more precisely on the mortgage
bond market.
At this stage bankers were probably expect-
ing both a miracle (good returns) and some
losses. This is precisely the essence of capital
investment in a market economy: taking con-
trolled risks. They were of course expecting
more returns, due to high enough interest rates,
than foreclosure losses. Many banks jumped on
the new tools developed by the gurus of Wall
Street, those who had already imagined the junk
bonds of the 1980s (culminating in the savings
and loans crisis of 1987). And these banks dis-
covered only in 2007 that the risks were much
too high, that losses were getting out of control
and outgrowing the returns. This was too late.
Seattle: thousands of people in the US are unable to repay their mortgages
More than one million American families
(precise statistics are not available) were al-
ready facing the threat of eviction because late flash of lucidity, declared: “Securitization of was difficult to draw the line between human
they could no longer repay their mortgages. home loans is the major cause of the crisis.” Dur- errors and economic fatality.
Fan and Fred were in deep trouble. They might ing the summer of 2008 trust among banks van- The co-founder of the Bretton Woods in-
have had in mind an automatic bail-out in case ished, credit became scarce (the so-called credit stitutions, John Maynard Keynes, is back
of difficulties. This is known as a moral hazard crunch) and expensive, and the entire world en- in force but the role of the housing finance
(abuse of the Treasury as lender of last resort), tered into recession. The financial bubble burst. system as the most frequent initiator of all

u r b a n
38 WORLD March 2009

recent financial crises does not seem to be
fully understood yet (The Doha Declara-
tion of 9 December 2008 on Financing for
Development does not mention housing fi-
nance anywhere in its 90 paragraphs). The
fact that a house is generally the most valu-
able purchase a household can make in its
lifetime should give policy-makers and their
economists a clue. The vicious cycle housing
bubble – financial crisis – economic reces-
sion seems to repeat itself with a 10 year
frequency (1987-1997-2007). It is time to
break it by acting on its starting point.
Construction, engine of economic growth
Housing finance and subsidies – the core of
any housing policy – should be the primary
Housing finance
responsibility of governments, as suggested
in the Habitat Agenda, and not be left to
speculators, traders and unaccountable cor-
porations. In fact housing finance should
become a kind of public good or fictitious
commodity, placed under close public scru-
tiny. The present time of economic recession
and retraction of real estate markets could
offer opportunities for radical policy reform
which may be politically popular in many
countries.
PHOTO © LARS SUNDSTRÖM
It should be founded at least on the follow-
ing pillars: (i) a leading role for government
though proper institutional strengthening at
all levels; (ii) rehabilitation and encourage-
ment of household savings; (iii) regulated in-
terest rates and down-payments; (iv) public
FEATURES
incentives to the expansion of rental hous-
ing, particularly for low-income groups; (v)
increased and well-targeted subsidies for
lower middle-classes.
Such a financial policy should go hand in
hand with proper urban development poli-
cies aiming at making land affordable, reduc-
ing the cost of services by increasing density,
combating spatial exclusion and improving
the living environment.
So far both in the United States and in Eu-
rope, governments have designed unfocused
and hybrid reforms to address the crisis. They
seem to lack any strategic vision. By injecting
funds into banks and large corporations to save
jobs, or by reducing taxes to boost consump-
tion, they mostly deal with the consequences of
the crisis. By lowering long-term interest rates
they even take new risks. In spite of some wel-
come attention to infrastructure investment in
the US stimulus plan of February 2009 (seen
as insufficient by the Nobel Economics Prize
2008, Paul Krugman), the construction sector
is rarely placed at the centre of recovery poli-
cies. Instead of sprawling public money in all
directions, it would be more effective to use in-
frastructure and housing investment as a driv-
ing force to leverage activities in other economic
branches, create millions of jobs and strengthen
intersectoral synergies (the well-known multi-
plier effect). Linking housing loans to savings,
providing targeted incentives to households
and developers, encouraging both rental hous-
ing and home ownership, investing in all types
of environmental infrastructure, these could be
the basic features of an ambitious revival strat-
egy, modelled on what was successfully done in
the 50s and 60s in Western Europe and more
recently in China.
In the United States the USD 75 billion
Homeowner Stability Initiative launched on
18 February 2009 by President Obama to
subsidize the monthly repayments of three
to four million at-risk homeowners (particu-
larly those who received sub-prime and exotic
loans) should be accompanied by a complete
overhaul of the housing finance system if a
new bubble is to be avoided in the future.
After 25 years of neo-liberalism and dereg-
ulation, a serious discussion on infrastructure
and housing finance might take place. In our
global economy, this would be in the best in-
terest of humankind for which the dream of
adequate shelter for all becomes every day
more illusive. u
u r b a n
March 2009 WORLD 39
BEST PRACTICES Construction

Canada blazes a trail in

green building
Environmentally friendly construction is not just a fad perpetrated by eco activists; it saves
money, creates jobs and improves the quality of life for residents who live in green buildings,
as well as slashing greenhouse gas emissions. Green building offers a viable solution to help
combat climate change because projects do not only focus on using renewable energy, but
they also aim to reduce the amount of energy used in the home and during construction. By
Sarah Marks.

The award-winning Dockside Green development in Canada PHOTO © THE TARTAN GROUP

u r b a n
40
4 0 WORLD

E vidence from a Green Building
Awareness poll conducted by Har-
rison Interactive in the US shows
that buildings are the cause of more CO2 emis-
sions than cars, yet not even building profes-
sionals know this. The World Business Coun-
cil for Sustainable Development conducted
interviews with 1,423 building professionals
in eight countries (developed and develop-
ing), from late 2006 until early 2007, as part
of their Energy Efficiency in Buildings proj-
ect. Participants were quizzed regarding the
percentage of CO2 emissions they believed
came from buildings. The average response
was 19 percent, which is actually less than
half the correct answer of 40 percent. In the
US, building professionals believed on aver-
age that buildings were responsible for just 12
percent of emissions.
Fortunately, their North American cousins
seem far more aware of the impact of build-
ings on the carbon footprint. “In Canada 35
percent of greenhouse gas emissions come
from buildings,” says Thomas Mueller, Presi-
dent of the Canada Green Building Council.
“People are so concerned with how much
gas the car uses, but they should look at how
much energy it costs to heat your home.”
The Council, formed in 2002, has played a
vital role in advising designers, builders and
developers on how to make buildings more
energy efficient, and in particular, on how to
adapt the US Leadership in Energy and Envi-
ronmental Design (LEED) rating system for
Canada.
The system is now being taken up volun-
tarily as a standard by all tiers of the Cana-
dian construction industry (see box). The
Council aims to improve 100,000 buildings
and one million homes across Canada by
2015, with a verified 50 percent reduction in
energy and water use from a 2005 baseline.
A report released in September 2008 by the
Canadian Urban Institute claims that Canada
is now leading the green building movement
worldwide.
The Council is working towards its goal in
two ways: they have three pilot projects aimed
at improving the energy performance of exist-
ing groups of buildings (the Green Building
Performance Initiative) and they use the LEED
building standards to assess and certify build-
ings that have meet the green standards.
“The only thing that we’re not targeting right
now is existing homes,” says Mr. Mueller.
Construction
New green projects and financial vi-
ability
The realisation that cars and industry are not
solely to blame for our carbon footprints has
led urban planners in Canada to undertake
impressive new green building projects. The
Dockside Green development in the city of
Victoria, capital of Vancouver Island on the
Pacific west coast, is a new eco-community,
whose first phase, Synergy, has set a world re-
cord for the most points achieved under the
new rating system.
The developers, Vancity Credit Union and
Windmill West, led by visionary director Joe
Van Belleghem (who is also a founding mem-
ber of the Green Building Council) are aiming
to achieve a LEED Platinum rating for every
building in the development, which would be
a first for North America. So confident are they
of their project’s success that they have backed
up their promise with a USD one million guar-
antee, to be paid to the city of Victoria should
they fail to meet the target.
Dockside Green, situated on 15 acres of har-
bourfront industrial land, is being developed
for residential, retail, office and commercial
buildings. Belleghem admitted that the eco-
nomic crisis has affected Dockside Green.
“From October 2007 to March 2008 the
market started to slow but our sales actually
went up 215 percent,” says Belleghem. “The
observation from that was to ask if the market
has got more selective in what they are buying?
They really started to do their research.” Bel-
leghem adds citing a shift in values. “I think
this is the time when people are going to start
to say they want to be involved in projects that
are addressing climate change.”
Government figures show that the cost of
constructing a LEED-certified building is
typically between two and four percent more
than a conventional construction.
Dockside Green homes have sold to a wide
range of people from countless social back-
grounds, affirming Belleghem’s belief that
green building is a growth industry. But the
key to knowing if green building can really
take off, is knowing who your buyers are – are
they a solitary section of society with green
interests, or is there a increasing supply of
buyers ready to snap up eco-friendly homes?
Bellegham says: “A third are buying be-
cause of the attributes and a third are buy-
ing because it makes a difference when they
compare our product to somebody else’s. And
BEST PRACTICES
there’s a third that couldn’t care less – I find
them the most intriguing – they get in there
and they become environmental braggarts!”
The fact that green building remains a
growth area despite the current economic
climate, signifies that Dockside developers
have hit upon a truly sustainable template for
future growth.
Upgrading existing buildings
Green building is not just about new con-
structions however. Canada is also undertak-
ing retrofit programmes to improve energy
usage in existing buildings. One example
of this is the Emergency Medical Services
(EMS) Headquarters and Fleet Centre, com-
pleted in 2004. It was the first building in
the province of Ontario to attain LEED Gold,
and its energy consumption is 57 percent less
than that of similar buildings designed to
building code energy standards. That trans-
lates into an annual saving of approximately
Applying LEED
standards in Canada
The Leadership in Energy and Envi-
ronmental Design (LEED) rating sys-
tem is designed as a leadership system
– it targets about 20-25 percent of the
leading construction companies in the
market with the idea that if those 20
percent adopt it, it will pull the rest
of the market with them. Gaining a
rating certification costs, on average
CAD 50,000, but there are savings to
be made once energy usage is cut. An
optimum improvement of operational
practices in existing buildings adopt-
ing the standards can bring 16 to 25
percent in performance improvement.
The first phase of the pilot project has
seen 500 buildings sign up covering
seven million square metres. In the
next phase, the Building Council will
work with hospitals and universities.
“When it comes to the private sector —
40 percent of our projects are private
sector projects — the private sector will
adopt it voluntarily if given the right
incentives,” says the Building Council’s
Mueller.
u r b a n
March 2009 WORLD 41
BEST PRACTICES Construction
View from Dockside Green
CAD 21,800 (USD 16,895) in natural gas and
electricity according to a statement by the re-
gion of Waterloo.
Despite the relative ease in obtaining fund-
ing and the consequent money saved in paral-
lel to a reduction in energy usage, some of the
problems encountered while planning and con-
structing the EMS headquarters indicate why
green building is not more prolific. Yet the local
government has formally adopted a LEED Sil-
ver standard for all new facilities it constructs.
Government backing
One of the reasons for Canada’s success is
that the private sector is receiving government
support. The Canadian government established
the Green Municipal Fund in its 2000 budget
with the aim of stimulating investment in pio-
neering municipal environmental projects that
move the progress of sustainable development
forward in Canadian society.
The Federation of Canadian Municipali-
ties (FCM) is the mouthpiece of municipal
governments and they control the Green Mu-
nicipal Fund.
Ray Sullivan, the FCM Communications
Manager, says: “FCM’s Green Municipal
Fund can provide grants and loans to munici-
pal governments and to their partners in the
private and non-profit sectors. In each case,
however, a municipal government has to be a
partner in the initiative.” And there is an add-
ed incentive: “Currently, we are able to make
loans to municipal governments at about one
percent interest,” says Sullivan.
u r b a n
42 WORLD March 2009
PHOTO © THE TARTAN GROUP
Once an application for funds is submit-
ted, it usually takes four to five months for
a decision. Taking the standards of Leader-
ship in Energy and Environmental Design
into account is a good way of increasing
the chance of finding funding. “Currently,
green building applications have to target
at least LEED Silver and achieve a greater
than 40 percent improvement in energy
consumption compared to the Canadian
Model National Energy Code for Buildings
(which defines minimum requirements for
energy efficiency). For applicants seeking
grants and loans for retrofits, their proj-
ect must reduce energy consumption by at
least 30 percent. Although the Green Mu-
nicipal Fund uses the LEED rating system
as a standard, we also accept equivalents,”
says Sullivan.
A global perspective
The necessity to build sustainably has also
been recognised by the International Orga-
nization for Standardization (ISO), which an-
nounced a new ISO standard in January this
year. This will help the building sector to con-
tribute to energy saving by providing it with
specific design guidelines.
“Today’s worldwide increase in efforts
toward rational use of natural resources is
increasing the markets for energy-efficient
buildings and building equipment,” says
Stephen Turner, leader of the ISO group.
“The building sector holds great prospects for
energy saving through the design of buildings
with improved thermal performance and in-
creased efficiency of mechanical equipment,
as well of course through the entire range of
buildings’ lifecycles.”
This raises the question why other coun-
tries are not forging ahead with green build-
ing projects at the same rate as Canada. The
answer could be ignorance. As the World
Business Council for Sustainable Develop-
ment indicated in its report, even building
professionals are unaware that buildings are
responsible for a significant proportion of
CO2 emissions.This ignorance may well be
due to unfamiliarity: only 13 percent of sur-
vey participants had ever been involved in a
green building project.
Cost plays an important role in how green
a developer chooses to make a construction.
Less energy efficient heating and air condi-
tioning for example, are generally cheaper to
install, so a developer can then sell houses at
a lower price.
Developers will always be motivated to
answer market demands, so, until consumer
demand is for energy efficient housing, the
developers will keep on building less energy
efficient, but cheaper housing. Fortunately
in Canada, both consumer demand and stan-
dards such as LEED are tipping the balance
in favour of green construction. And the
fact that the government is openly support-
ing green building initiatives is spurring on
the process through advanced education and
training, development of supportive regula-
tions, advanced research and development,
and a commitment to build communities that
are energy efficient, cost effective and eco-
logically sensitive.
To make a real impact green building has
to happen on a global level. A 2007 report
on buildings and climate change from the
United Nations Environment Programme
(UNEP) Sustainable Construction and Build-
ing Initiative (SBCI) recognizes that develop-
ing countries do not always possess the fund-
ing or tools to build greener buildings. Achim
Steiner, UN Under-Secretary General and
UNEP Executive Director, says: “By some
conservative estimates, the building sector
worldwide could deliver emission reductions
of 1.8 billion tonnes of CO2. A more aggres-
sive energy efficiency policy might deliver
over two billion tonnes or close to three times
the amount scheduled to be reduced under
the Kyoto Protocol.” u

Energy
UK companies use canals
to replace aircon units
A new green initiative will use London canal
water and heat exchange technology to provide
a more sustainable alternative to traditional air
conditioning. Pharmaceutical company Glaxo-
SmithKline, whose headquarters sit alongside
one of the many canals that wind their way
around London and England, aims to reduce its
carbon dioxide emissions by 920 tonnes a year
and also lower its energy bills.
Tony Hales from British Waterways which
controls the 3,500km canal network believes
that a further 1,000 waterside businesses across
the UK could follow GlaxoSmithKline’s lead.
“A legacy of their industrial past, waterways
pass alongside thousands of waterside orga-
nizations in cities from London to Bangkok,
Myanmar and Dhaka, seeking greener ways of
doing business,” says Hales. “More companies
Transport
Eco-sculpture can reduce
traffic pollution
A new form of sculpture, which mixes the art
world with the science, has been unveiled in
Dundee, Scotland. The life-size model of a car
draped in a sheet can turn toxic gases from cars
back into oxygen and nitrates.
The Scottish artists who created it, Dalziel and
Scullion, say that it is a UK first. “Catalyst points
the way to how cities with notoriously bad air
quality, from Delhi to Bangkok to Beijing, could,
in the short term, mitigate some of the worst ef-
fects of airborne pollutants, ” says Louise Scul-
lion.
The artwork is also a technical achievement
in how it operates. Made of catalytic titanium
dioxide, it reacts with light and triggers nitric ox-
ides, carbon monoxide and sulphur monoxide to
break apart. Materials such as nitrates drain off
after a rainfall and flow into the earth for plants
to use.
“In the wake of the current financial crisis,
consumerism has never been more examined,”
says Scullion. “At the same time ecological is-
sues have taken a much more central position
in our consciousness, environmental sustain-
ability is no longer the topic of specialists and
most people now recognize that our generation
will play a critical role in shaping and adapting
to an uncertain future.” u
Innovation and news from Europe
Canals can help energy efficiency PHOTO © GSK
can embrace and realize the benefits of utiliz-
ing their canal-side location to lower energy
bills and reduce impact on the environment.”
Transport
Ireland unveils first eco-bus
The new bus is 50 percent quieter than traditional buses
Ireland’s first ever eco-bus has hit the streets of
Dublin in a three-year trial, with the aim of dra-
matically cutting emissions and noise.
The hybrid-electric vehicle, which is powered
by an electric motor as well as a 2.4 litre diesel
engine, will cut fuel consumption and carbon
emissions by a third.
The new double-decker bus, which has wheel-
chair access, is part of a project by the Irish Gov-
ernment’s Transport 21 investment programme
BEST PRACTICES
This first initiative replaces traditional air-con-
ditioning systems and uses recyclable water from
the canal to cool the company’s computer data
centre via heat exchangers and a water-cooled
chiller. It works in a similar way to a car radiator
where cool air passes through the hot engine to
lower its temperature. Because this results in wa-
ter being returned to the canal slightly warmer,
it has required an environment analysis and con-
sent from the UK Environment Agency.
Hales believes that while this technology has
been used in northern Europe, it has never before
had the scope nor opportunity for its full potential
to be realized with Britain’s extensive network of
rivers and canals.
“The nation’s waterways have long provid-
ed a green network for boats, bikes, walkers,
and wildlife but they can do even more to help
Britain become a cleaner and more sustain-
able place,” continues Hales. “The genius of
the waterways is that, 200 years after they
were first built, they continue to adapt and
contribute to modern society. We are only at
the start of unlocking their full potential.”
PHOTO © DUBLIN BUS
that aims to invest in and develop greener busi-
ness practices.
As well as helping the environment by reducing
carbon monoxide by 97 percent, hydrocarbons
by 76 percent and nitrous oxides, it will benefit
residents, as the bus will be 50 percent less noisy.
The three-year trial period aims to check the bus’
reliability and maintenance requirements, to see
if it is affordable to roll out vehicles across more
routes throughout Ireland. u
u r b a n
March 2009 WORLD 43
BEST PRACTICES Innovation and news from Europe

Infrastructure
Maximizing the power of the sea
development will enable the plants to be based
far out at sea, especially in the energy intense
oceans such as the Atlantic and South Pacific.
To resolve the problem of distance, the
electricity generated would be converted
to hydrogen using electrolysis and then be
shipped by tank ships to land.
“The infrastructure needed would be
relatively simple,” says Ebner. “To keep
electricity prices low it is important to re-
duce investment costs and also to minimize
maintenance expenses. The device can be
used wherever there are currents, and is a
highly modular device and can be arranged
in various configurations to maximize
energy production.”

Captured energy is turned to hydrogen and shipped to the mainland PHOTO © FRI -EL Twenty buoys generate the electricity
PHOTO © FRI -EL

A new tidal power plant, to be installed in the

Messina straits between Italy and Sicily, could
be scaled up for ocean use within five years if
the trial goes well.
The Sea Power plant, being developed by the
Italian based company Fri-El Green Power, is
a 500 kilowatt (kw) model and consists of sub-
merged turbines that use the tidal currents to
generate electricity.
“These tidal power plants are an economi-
cal way of producing electricity,” says Werner
Ebner of Fri-El Green Power. “The system is
comparatively inexpensive to build and also to
maintain, not least because it is based on mod-
ules, which can also be easily transported.”
The tidal power plant consists of a floating
platform which is held in place by anchors.
Attached to this platform, which generates
the electricity, are four cables tied to 20 buoys
placed at regular intervals. Under each buoy are
the turbines which have diameters of four me-
tres. Similar to wind turbines, the tidal variety
are equipped with three rotor blades that spin
at right angles to the water. As tides are quite
predictable, the energy, particularly in the Mes-
sina straits, can be a reliable source of energy.
This link to the electricity grid is easy to do
when the tidal plants are close to land, but future Turbines under the buoys capture wave energy PHOTO © FRI -EL

u r b a n
44 WORLD March 2009
Opinion LEADERS

u r b a n
March 2009 WORLD 45
 Future Megacities: Energy- and Climate-
Efficient Structures in Urban Growth Centres
Partnership in R&D—A Funding Priority by the German
Federal Ministry of Education and Research
T he messages of the latest reports of the UN Inter-
governmental Panel on Climate Change are clear:
climate change is happening, it is accelerating
and, in its current form, it is very probably created largely
by mankind.
In view of these developments, the German Federal Govern-
ment has decided to take action on international climate pro-
Sponsored statement
tection and energy policy by promoting ambitious goals for
the reduction of greenhouse gas emissions and by adapting to
climate trends and weather extremes.
In June 2007, under German chairmanship, for the first time
the G-8 Summit achieved consensus among the industrial
states that global warming should be limited to a maximum
of two degrees. In order to achieve this, the anthropogenic
emissions of greenhouse gases will have to be halved on a
global level by 2050.
With the High-Tech Strategy for Climate Protection, the
Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF) has put in place
a cornerstone of its innovation-driven, international approach
to energy efficiency, climate protection and precautionary
measures. Embedded within this frame, BMBF launched its
funding priority on Future Megacities – energy- and climate-
efficient structures in urban growth centres. BMBF invest-
ments come to EUR 42 million for a five-year period.
Urban agglomerations and, in particular, megacities in devel-
oping and newly industrialising countries are important arenas
for energy use and production. Although cities only take up
2% of the earth’s land surface, they are responsible for three-
quarters of global energy consumption as well as approxi-
mately 85% of the global production of greenhouse gases.
The underlying trend to urbanisation (with an approximate
1.8% increase per annum in the global urban population) is
not stopping.
Cities not only drive climate change, they also receive the full
brunt of its consequences, not least because about a fifth of the
world’s population lives less than 30 kilometres from the coast
in areas with a high population density. Floods, storm tides,
strong winds, heavy rain as well as heat waves and droughts
will occur more frequently in the future, endangering human
life, residential areas, infrastructures, ecological systems,
economic life and public health and safety in cities. Politics,
economics and institutions of civil society will be faced with
new challenges.
Goals
Megacities offer strategic starting points for energy efficien-
cy and climate protection. On the one hand, concentrations
of people and material flows make it possible to reduce the
consumption of resources. On the other hand, the functional
integration of urban industries, infrastructures and networks
ensures the accelerated dissemination of innovations, not
least in the energy sector. In order to take advantage of this,
integrative urban development is required.
Megacities are thus facing critical decisions on the direction
to take. Their expansion could further fuel mankind’s energy
consumption. In addition, however, innovations in technolo-
gy and urban planning could help to set up sustainable struc-
tures and guidelines for energy demand and production (for
instance in the residential and construction, household, traf-
fic, industry and waste sectors), decouple economic growth
and energy consumption, and take emissions at least from an
exponential to a flattening growth curve.
The goal of bilateral, dynamically developing R&D
co-operation projects is to analyse, plan, develop and realise
in an exemplary way technical and non-technical innova-
tions for the establishment of energy- and climate-efficient
structures. These should enable the city, along with its de-
cision makers and inhabitants, to bring about increased
performance and efficiency gains in energy production, dis-
tribution and use. Likewise, consumption of resources and
greenhouse gas emissions can be reduced in a sustainable
way in the future.
In order to achieve the above mentioned goals the sponsored
research projects of the BMBF pursue – among others – the
following methodological approaches:
• Research concepts are developed in close coordination
with decision makers and stakeholders in the respective
 urban growth centres and elaborated in
the context of joint projects based on part-
nership and the division of work. Relevant
interest groups from politics, business and
society are integrated.
• The elaboration and realisation of innova-
tive, solution-oriented planning and man-
agement concepts can, as far as possible, be
transferred to other cities as cases of “good
practice”.
• The integrative, multi-disciplinary bun-
dling of competencies and capacities within
a manageable framework and the creation of
competence networks are required.
• The approach links up with the concept of
sustainable development. Ecological, eco-
nomic and social facets of the development
of energy-efficient structures and climate
protection are to be considered in a closed
and long-term concept.
• Co-operation with enterprises from within
the German economy as well as local compa-
nies is expected.
• Synergies with existing or developing par-
allel national and international research
tools and appraise and transfer good practice
from other cities where appropriate. Scien-
tific research and the development of adequate
technologies, therefore, are key resources
to widen the range of policy options for the
governance of mega-urban development. Ca-
pacity building and international networking
figure prominently in this programme. From
the outset, stakeholders from politics, economy
and society have been included to ensure that
the research questions are suited to pressing,
local needs. These inevitably need to be stud-
ied multi-dimensionally and, as far as possible,
in an interdisciplinary, even transdisciplinary
fashion.
Expected results
First results were presented at the World Urban
Forum 4 in Nanjing (3-6 November 2008).
Team representatives from Ethiopia and
Morocco alongside their German partners
presented their cooperative projects on
waste management and urban agriculture.
The ultimate outcome of the research will
be strategies and pilot projects that show
new ways for the introduction of energy- and
climate-efficient structures in urban growth
centres through:

Sponsored statement
programmes and other initiatives are to be
• technical innovations in urban infra-
encouraged.
structure adapted to local conditions and
• The prospects for appropriate involvement accepted by citizens;
of the partner country, as well as, where ap-
plicable, third-party funding, are promoted. • new forms of political decision making
and governance;
Focus
• new management instruments in urban
The projects strike a geographic as well as the-
decision making;
matic balance. They deal with urban agglomer-
ations in China, Ethiopia, India, Iran, Morocco, • tools to evaluate the effectiveness of urban
Peru, South Africa and Vietnam. Projects are planning measures;
aimed at specific energy- and climate-efficient
• capacity building and vocational training;
structures in areas like housing and construc-
and
tion, nutrition and urban agriculture, public
health and quality of life, urban planning • new partnerships combating climate change.
and governance, direct energy supply and
consumption, mobility and transport, water
supply, waste treatment, and environmental For further reading, please visit:
management. The emphasis of the research
www.bmbf.de and www.future-megacities.org
lies on “prevention and therapy” instead of
just “diagnosis”. Projects have to demonstrate
that they are commendable (good practice)
AUTHOR : ANDREA KOCH-KRAFT
and transferable (best practice).

Partnership approach

The above approach will only function in close

co-operation with local partners. Decisions on
urban development in urban growth centres
need to draw on a solid foundation of scientific
knowledge. Those taking the decisions must be
able to take advantage of new and well adapted
technologies, identify effective management
LEADERS Conflict in Africa taking the Responsibility to Protect

u r b a n
48 WORLD March 2009
 Climate change INTERVIEW

A man for all seasons

Toronto is aiming for an impressive three to five percent reduction in greenhouse gas emissions
through the implementation of one programme – the Mayor’s Tower Renewal – which will
see the refit 1,000s of high-rise apartments in the city. The man behind the programme,
Toronto Mayor David Miller, has now set himself a global challenge. As chairman of the C40
Cities group — formed by city mayors to exchange ideas and best practices with the aim of
reducing greenhouse gas emissions — Miller is leading the campaign to make cities more
environmentally aware. By Kirsty Tuxford.

Why did you want to become Chairman

of the C40 Cities group?
Because I very much believe that climate
change is the challenge of our time, of all
time. And the cities have a leading role and
can make that change. I felt that when May-
or Livingston [the previous chairman of the
C40 Cities group] lost his position as Mayor
of London that it would be important to have
somebody from the board that was already
there who could share his passion to keep the
C40 moving strongly forward as it had been.

C40 and the Clinton Climate Initia-

tive have set up a scheme to make city
buildings more energy efficient with
five banks putting up USD one billion
each to finance a retrofit plan for 15
participating cities. What renovations
are taking place in Toronto as part of
the plan?
The Clinton Climate Initiative’s partner-
ship with the C40 is loosely based on a pro-
gramme that Toronto has had for about 20
years called The Better Building Partnership,

Biography
Mayor David Raymond Miller
Born 26 December 1958, San
Francisco, California
63rd Mayor of Toronto
Chairman of the C40 Cities Group
(2008 – present two-year term)

Harvard University
University of Toronto Law School
Political party: Independent
(2007 – present)

Mayor David Miller PHOTO © COURTESY OF MAYOR’S OFFICE

u r b a n
March 2009 WORLD 49
INTERVIEW Climate change

Mayor’s Tower
Renewal
More than 1,000 concrete slab apart-
ment blocks are undergoing a green
retrofit with the aim of slashing their
C02 emissions. The work involves the
buildings being covered with thermal
external cladding to cut down on es-
caping heat; the addition of more com-
munal spaces and facilities to reduce
the need for car trips; the construction
of a high-speed public transport train
system across the city; open spaces will
be used for food production, local com-
posting, youth training and seasonal
markets and the installation of green
infrastructure such as green roofs,
grey water recycling, solar water heat-
ing and storm water retention amongst
other initiatives.

Tower blocks will be refitted in the Mayor’s Tower Renewal project PHOTO © COURTESY OF MAYOR’S OFFICE

in which we’ve done energy retrofits on public
and commercial buildings. We have now con-
nected with the C40, and expanded to private
apartment buildings and to public department
buildings. The programme is called Mayor’s
Tower Renewal.
What we’re doing is energy retrofits, in-
cluding steel cladding on concrete apart-
ment buildings built in the 50s, 60s and
70s. Concrete has no insulating properties
at all and the buildings are terrible wasters
of energy. There are 2,000 such buildings
in the Toronto region and the University of
Toronto has estimated that if we clad them
we will lower our carbon footprint and our
greenhouse gas emissions by somewhere be-
tween two and five percent. With an energy
retrofit you rejuvenate the building so you
get a whole layer of wins: you get significant
environmental improvements, significant
job creation, better places for people to live
and rejuvenation of poor neighbourhoods –
it all comes together.
with the buildings we own. We’re in a good underway, starting with four buildings, but
position to do that because we’re Canada’s there are 2,000 in the Toronto region. You’re
largest landlords – we’ve got about 140,000 looking at least a decade’s worth of work and
corresponding job creation.
“With an energy One of the reasons behind the creation
retrofit you rejuvenate of C40 cities was because there was a de-
sire for faster action from governments.
the building so you get Clearly there’s a need for mass commu-
a whole layer of wins: nity movement on climate change. Do
you think the C40 message would be
you get significant stronger if it were spread through the
environmental public voice?
The way we’re [C40 is] structured is that we push
improvements, the individual mayors to engage the residents of
significant job creation, their own cities. That’s a strength; something
better places for mayors can offer – they’re very good at public
engagement. We participate in things like Earth
people to live and Hour, which is all about that.
rejuvenation of poor There are tremendous opportunities to
share knowledge, share best practices, mo-
neighbourhoods – it tivate people and show people what to do. If
all comes together.” you connect them with some brains and some

For how many years will Toronto be

working on this plan?
I can’t express it in terms of a finish date.
There are two separate streams to it – one is
rejuvenating our own public housing and the
second is private housing. We’re further ahead
Mayor David Miller
tenants. We recently sold our telecom utility
and took CAD 75 million from that sale and
put it directly into building retrofits, includ-
ing energy retrofits. The private ones are just
money to make it easier for them to know
what to do, you can have some extraordinary
results.
How much power do the C40 mayors
have when it comes to influencing deci-
sions made by world leaders? Are C40

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50 WORLD March 2009

Green spaces in Toronto
PHOTO © COURTESY OF MAYOR’S OFFICE
recommendations taken seriously and
acted upon?
We do have significant changes [happening]
because people in Canada and other C40
countries see the cities and the mayors as
the ones who are acting and making change.
When we act, it encourages others to act. I’ll
give you a couple of examples.
Just last week we announced that we were
going to require all retailers to charge for
plastic bags because they’re made out of oil
and they’re not a renewable resource and we
need to reduce. The moment we passed the
law, one of the leading national retailers an-
nounced they were doing it nationwide. No-
body was compelling them to do it.
They catch up to us, and sometimes the
governments don’t even need to act. I’ll
give you another example. One of the lead-
ing builders in Canada is a company called
Tridel, which builds high-rise condominium
apartments. We created a programme so that
they as the builder could afford to build green
buildings because the cost savings accrue to
the purchaser not the builder. It costs more
for the builder to build a green building, but
less, once people buy the apartments, for them
to run it. We created a programme where we
gave them [Tridel] a loan to do the green work
and the loan was repayable by the eventual pur-
chaser. So they built green buildings and the
purchasers got lower operating costs, and the
chance to live in a green building, which is a win
for everybody. The private sector has now taken
that over and found a way to do it themselves –
they don’t need our loans any more. These are
examples of public policy initiatives that other
governments took up, and actions that private
businesses took over. Because the city did it, it
became the national standard.
Climate change
We learn from each other and sometimes
we learn from cities that aren’t C40 cities in
the summits, for a whole range of reasons
– but this exchange of best practices is ex-
tremely significant. Although it’s not a C40
city, we took the ideas behind our energy
retrofit, the Mayor’s Tower Renewal, from
Chongquing, when I visited Chongquing in
the spring. There were different issues – cool-
ing the buildings, not heating them, but con-
crete buildings are terrible wasters of energy.
So these ideas spread virally, very powerfully,
and the C40 is an instrument to do that on a
world scale. There are probably 700 million
people living in the city regions that are rep-
resented.
One of the aims of C40 is to create
a purchasing alliance to drive down
the cost of energy saving technology.
Companies such as Siemens, Johnson
Controls, Honeywell and Trane have
committed to increase operations and
lower prices to help move the retrofit
along. Do you think it would it be ben-
eficial to include the CEOs of private
sector companies as members of C40
to ensure their continued support?
I’m very supportive of mayor-led organiza-
tions because the nature of the position of
mayor is that you’re required to act. That’s
the job of a mayor: to make change and do
it quickly. I see the chairs, CEOs or presi-
dents of these companies as being strong
partners, so I think it’s very appropriate to
welcome them as partners but I think the
organization should be an organization of
mayors because that’s how we get things
done. These kinds of companies, like
Johnson Controls, really stepped up not
just with C40 cities, but with other cities
that have an interest. It is certainly very
significant when you see a business leader
take these kinds of projects to heart. That
is what mayors are about. We’re about
bringing together the public, the pri-
vate sector and labour with the academic
sector.
How often do the C40 mayors get to-
gether to discuss plans?
The board has conference calls regularly and
there’s a lot of work mayor to mayor. We also
have various meetings about particular is-
sues – we recently had a conference in Tokyo
INTERVIEW
about adaptation. There is regular contact
between the mayors as a whole and groups of
mayors within the organization.
Does C40 work with any other agencies
aside from the Clinton Climate Initia-
tive?
Yes, I’ve appeared at OECD forums and we
are in discussions with the World Bank. We
partner where we can. Our interlinked part-
ner though, is the Clinton Climate Initiative
and what they have brought to the table is the
ability to bring on board significant interna-
tional corporations, the ability to take a great
idea from one city and scale it on a massive
world scale to make real change and to start
work on lowering the costs on some of these
opportunities – that’s the mass buying power
that’s possible.
The parallel for me in the developing world
is cell phones. Some countries went right
from nothing to cell phones; they didn’t have
to go through wire. And if we can do that on
environmental issues – leap to the next stan-
dard – there are huge opportunities. They
don’t start parallel – the way some countries
industrialized 150 years ago was not the same
way England did. And to get that great leap
forward we need some of the costs for some
of these – particularly renewable generating
– to come down quickly. If you do that you
can leap over the steps that the west took,
and that’s why buying power really matters –
for solar pholtovoltaic or hot water – there’s
a tremendous potential if you get the costs
down.
The energy retrofit programme is the best
example of where we’ve got the buying costs
down. And it’s only been two years since the
C40 summit in New York, which was our
launch really – fairly extraordinary achieve-
ments so far, but we’re working closely with
the Clinton Climate Initiative to see what else
can be done and we should have some an-
nouncements to make at the Seoul summit in
May 2009.
The C40 Seoul Summit in May will ad-
dress challenges in the fight against
climate change. For cities, what would
you say is the single-biggest obstacle
preventing the implementation of en-
ergy-saving initiatives?
The fact that many of the tools we need are
beyond our legal control. To fight climate
change there are so many things you can
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March 2009 WORLD 51
INTERVIEW Climate change
Toronto has sold off its telecom utility to fund the retrofit of buildings
actually do: it’s about the use of energy, it’s
about transportation, it’s about how we
distribute energy and it’s about literally how
you build cities. So we can control where new
buildings go but the building codes for exam-
ple are often under the control of national or
sub-national governments.
Cities have different abilities to control en-
ergy. Some cities have their own public utility
that generates and distributes energy, some
distribute, and some have no role on it. So
our biggest challenge is having the national
and sub-national governments be as activ-
ist as the cities are, and coordinate national,
state or provincial level policies in line with
our initiatives.
We’re making big impacts – you think about
Mayor’s Tower Renewal and a three to five per-
cent reduction in greenhouse gases through one
programme. Extraordinary. If the national and
provincial governments would harmonize their
policies with ours, for example their granting
programmes for energy retrofits, and make
them larger, and if they would have the building
codes in Ontario reflect Toronto’s green build-
ing standards, we could make lots more change
quickly – and improve the economy, create jobs
and lower operating costs. So that’s our biggest
challenge: getting the governments to act with
the same sense of urgency.
Is there always financial support for
poorer cities that may not have the
funds to implement plans?
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52 WORLD Marzo 2009
“We are working on a very major project
to ensure that those who lead cities in the
developed world can reach out directly to the
developing cities.” Mayor David Miller
There is. I’m not in a position to announce
plans yet, but we are working on a very major
project to ensure that those who lead cit-
ies in the developed world can reach out
directly to the developing cities. And we’re
working with some prominent internation-
al institutions on that because we want to
give the opportunity to cities to make sure
people start off on the right foot. But they
need the funding, they need the assistance
technically sometimes, and we’re working
directly with some major international in-
stitutions to do that. I think that’s a unique
opportunity that the C40 has, because we
are cities from developed and developing
worlds. We can come together, and even
though the challenges the cities face may
be of different magnitudes, they are similar
in principle.
What are your hopes for the next five
years for C40? Where do you foresee
the biggest achievements?
I’d like to see projects like the building
retrofit on a very significant scale in every
PHOTO © COURTESY OF MAYOR’S OFFICE
C40 city and commercialized in a way that
building retrofits are just naturally hap-
pening through the private market in cities
around the world.
I’d like to see the right kind of technological
link between the cities so that we are speaking
the same language about how we’re reducing
greenhouse gas emissions and have the same
technology available to us to measure and to
reinforce our actions. And I’d like to see at the
end of five years, the national governments
being as active and activist as the C40 cities.
So I think if we stick together through the Co-
penhagen UN climate change conference this
year then we will force the national govern-
ments to act the same way cities are – that’s
when we will have really started to fight cli-
mate change.
We’re very much focused on Copenhagen
this year, and I think there’s a tremendous
opportunity in Seoul. We’re going to show the
world what we’re doing. We’re going to go to
Copenhagen and say to our national leaders:
‘It’s time for you to act! It’s not an issue to
debate any more, it’s about action’. u

Colombia recruits
female entrepreneurs to
transform housing
Over the past two years, investment from multilaterals and the private sector in Colombia
has not only improved living conditions but has helped develop a new class of entrepreneurs
within such communities. By Richard Forster.
Tiling dirt floors raises health and education levels
W hen a North American company
decides on its next move — which
market to target, which brand to
launch or which competitor to buy — directors
face some tough choices. As they pass round the
sparkling mineral water, opinions will vary. “The
Nomis acquisition looks a better option. We can
streamline production and reduce overhead.”
“What about the spend on R&D? The new casing
we are using for impermeables has raised margins
7.2 percent.”
The majority of the population of South
America and the Caribbean, some 360 million
citizens, have an even tougher option: a com-
plete lack of choice. They don’t get to choose
which bank to go to because they aren’t part
of the formal financial system. They may not
even have identification papers so they can’t
get an account or credit anyway. In fact, they
can’t even choose where to live, as they have
Latin America and the Caribbean
no access to mortgage finance or even a right
to a legal title to sell their existing so-called
home. Mineral water? A pipedream.
Such people seem so removed from those man-
aging large corporations that to consider that their
interests might converge seems absurd. But there
is now one option which could help them both — to
work together.
This thinking stems from the theories of Uni-
versity of Michigan professor C.K. Prahalad who
believes poverty can be alleviated by encouraging
companies to offer goods and services to the poor-
est members of society while assisting such people
to become entrepreneurs in their own right. It
may not be right for all businesses, but as part of a
strategic company review, a company may wish to
consider the underserved majority population of a
country or region — known as the “bottom of the
investment pyramid” — as part of its future client
base. This term coined by Prahalad refers to the
IN-FOCUS
PHOTO © ALVARO REYES
lowest socio-economic group in society. In the Lat-
in America region alone this is a potential market
of 360 million people estimated to be worth USD
5 trillion by Washington D.C.’s World Resources
Institute. To reach such people, it means directors
not only looking at the customer with new eyes,
but also reviewing their whole business model.
In Prahalad-speak you have to rethink your cost
structures, your distribution chain and your core
competences.
One agency at the forefront of promoting such a
rethink is the Inter-American Development Bank
through its Opportunities for the Majority initia-
tive. “When you think of one industry that has
cracked the code of how to approach low-income
markets and which has established a real busi-
ness opportunity for growth and profit, I think
you have to look at the cell phone industry,” says
Francisco Mejia, an IDB investment officer who
is working closely to promote the Initiative. “If
u r b a n
March 2009 WORLD 53
IN-FOCUS Latin America and the Caribbean
you see what the cell phone industry did, they
changed their business model going from post-
paid to prepaid, from very complicated contracts
which they still have in the upper income market
to no contracts. They introduced a whole new set
of business processes so people could afford it.”
The results were not only an increase in incomes
of those making use of the new services but also
access to other benefits. Financial services by cell
phone have brought the poorest people into the
financial system for the first time in India, the
Philippines and South Africa. The question then
is, if the cell phone industry has been able to crack
that code what does it take for other industries
such as housing, health and construction to do
the same?
Innovation alone is not sufficient. While inno-
vation can reduce costs and lower prices, it is not
just about providing a tailored product stripped of
some quality at a lower price. Importantly it means
building a business within the community so its
members become entrepreneurs in their own right
and the supply chain and consumption grow.
Private companies which are looking at mar-
keting products to these communities know it is
not enough to have the lower-cost product with-
out a distribution chain which can reach the local
community. Most often this means that the local
community is the distribution chain. Nestlé has
rolled out its products in Brazil for low-income
communities which rely on local people providing
a door-to-door sales force. Without the local sales-
women, perception of the products as high-priced
or even counterfeit would have meant the project
falling by the wayside in communities where trust
is not a commodity which can be developed in a
sales training school.
In the housing sector, Colombia’s Colcerámica
provides a good example where the company’s
normal distribution channel did not necessarily
reach the low-income population they wanted to
reach. Up to 2006, the company had been a tile
and bathroom products company which served
the middle and high-income markets enjoying a
dominant position in tile manufacture and supply
for over 10 years. But after a cost reduction pro-
gramme leading to the manufacture of a special
tile for the low-income market, the company saw
an opportunity to assist the estimated 1.5 million
homes that had untiled, dirt floors.
To open up the new market, the company had
to establish a new distribution chain leveraging
the capacity of community NGOs in particular
and engaging local women heads of households
(madres comunitarias or day care mothers) as
the sales force. These sales teams were managed
by Colcerámica staff housed in a small service
centre. The sales women not only had a monetary
incentive to sell and plan the floors in their neigh-
bours’ houses but also had been made aware of
u r b a n
54 WORLD March 2009
the health benefits from tiling dirt floors which
was necessary for madres comunitarias to carry
out their work as day care mothers.
The women were hired to work with Colcerámi-
ca on a commission basis: part of the commission
went to the community organization itself which
managed the saleswomen and exhibited the tiling
products. As well as allowing local commerce to
flourish by encouraging women to sell the prod-
uct, it also allowed day care mothers to increase
their income from the continuing day care homes
they could provide to the hygienic standards re-
quired. The attendant health benefits also mean
longer-term successes: according to the IDB,
studies have demonstrated that having perma-
nent floors is associated with lower incidences
of disease and higher achievement in cognitive
tests. In addition, house values are estimated to
increase on average 15-20 percent with a tile floor.
“Everybody wins under this distribution model,”
comments Mejia.
Grassroots companies
What is important though in reviewing these suc-
cesses is that while the top-bottom approach of
these big companies has succeeded with the right
product and the right distribution, it is equally
important, if not more important, to look at the
approach of local small and medium-sized enter-
prises (SMEs) growing from a grassroots level.
The challenge for such companies is different to
those faced by the bigger national players. Small
local businesses already have a product co-cre-
ated, understood and distributed within the lo-
cal community but a lack of financing caps their
growth and opportunity to scale up the business.
In such cases, multilaterals can step in to pro-
vide the finance to develop successful operations
on a wider basis. The World Bank has set up a
USD 370,000 programme in Colombia’s capital
Bogotá partnering with UN-HABITAT and local
banks to provide wider access to microfinance for
low-income housing. The aim is to provide the
40 percent of the population who lack access to
formal housing credit with sustainable housing
microfinance by developing the financial and
regulatory infrastructure necessary for the wider
dissemination of housing credits.
The Inter-American Development Bank has
also been active in the Colombian housing sec-
tor to assist nongovernmental organizations
(NGOs) moving from a local community model
to a countrywide or regional model. The Bank
is working with Minuto de Dios in Colombia to
give displaced and homeless people longer term
micro-mortgages. “The difference in a micro-
mortgage for three years compared to a 15 year
tenor could be the equivalent of a minimum
salary so it is significant and that could actu-
ally unlock having a house for someone,” says
Colombia
Urbanization
Total population: 43 million
Urban population: 76 percent
Slum to urban population: 22
percent
Annual population growth rates:
Urban: 3 percent
Slum: 1 percent
Slum Indicators
Percentage of urban population
with access to:
Safe water source: 98 percent
Improved sanitation: 94 percent
Sufficient living area: 86 percent
Durable housing: 97 percent
Source: UN-HABITAT
the IDB’s Mejia. The IDB is funding around USD
17 million of the USD 80 million costs for this
and a similar programme for NGO Mario Santo
Domingo in Colombia where people are involved
in self-construct homes. “Part of the technical
assistance [the IDB is funding] is to give people
training in constructing bricks, making up mortar
and cement and the activities to make them self-
sufficient in construction,” says Mejia. So it is not
just about providing access to a home: it is also
about sustaining development by encouraging
people to become microentrepreneurs.
Mobilizing private capital to invest in the ma-
jority population is vital to achieve such goals.
Mexico’s most profitable bank Compartamos
has launched Latin America’s first social ven-
ture fund IGNIA, which will invest in companies
whose strategic goal is to improve the lot of the
poor. The fund had attracted USD 34 million in
equity commitments by the end of 2008 and will
act as a regional conduit for investment. “The
whole concept behind IGNIA is to serve as an
investment vehicle for social entrepreneurship,”
says Carlos Labarthe, joint CEO of Comparta-
mos. “It’s not about donations, it’s the concept of
social investment in social companies that need
economic support but that also need advice.”
The key to such social entrepreneurship will
depend very much on a grassroots approach
and targeting businesses that have grown from
the community. Those directors sitting in a US
boardroom who can appreciate that may find a
new source of organic growth perhaps where they
least expected. u
Latin America: News IN-FOCUS

u r b a n
March 2009 WORLD 55
IN-FOCUS Latin America and the Caribbean: News
DISASTER MANAGEMENT
USD 600 million fund launched for
disaster management
The Inter-American Development Bank
has made a USD 600 million credit facility
available to assist Latin American countries
with their urgent financing needs follow-
ing natural disasters. In order to qualify for
funding, countries must prove that their cur-
rent disaster risk management programme
is adequate, and then they will be eligible for
facility loans of up to USD 100 million, or
one percent of their GDP, whichever is less.
Funding is also dependent on the scale of the
disaster.
INFRASTRUCTURE
Brazil receives World Bank support for
urban development
The World Bank approved a USD 46 mil-
lion loan in February, which will go towards
boosting economic activity, improving ur-
ban infrastructure, and enhancing regional
management capacity in the state of Creará
in north-eastern Brazil. The region has
600,000 inhabitants, 67 percent of whom
are classed as poor. However, the World
Bank believes the area to possess significant
economic development potential, particu-
larly in tourism and manufacturing.
CONSTRUCTION
Ministers promise to make green building
a reality
A forum organized by the Dominican Repub-
lic government in January saw Caribbean
and Latin American environment ministers
resolve to promote sustainable building
across the continent. Representatives from
28 countries attended the event and discus-
sions emphasized the need for long-term
regional strategies, awareness programmes,
incentive implementations and risk assess-
ments for areas prone to disaster. The move
to promote sustainable building was initially
proposed by the Mexican government after
the United Nations Environment Pro-
gramme and the Sustainable Buildings and
Construction Initiative (UNEP-SBCI) had
undertaken projects in the region.
INFRASTRUCTURE
CEMEX backs improvements to Mexican
pavements
A public-private sector initiative called Me-
jora tu Calle (Improve your Street) is being
supported by Mexico’s cement company
CEMEX. The company is providing 35,000
microloans for low-income families to help
pay for upgrades to street paving. Research
shows that residential areas with good pav-
ing have lower crime rates, a higher level of
sanitation and better access to services such
as electricity, sewage disposal, transporta-
tion and rubbish collection.
u r b a n
56 WORLD March 2009
Energy
Mexico unveils biggest regional wind farm
Mexico recently began generating electricity
from a new wind farm in La Ventosa region
which coincidentally translates to ‘windy
city’. It will be the largest in Latin America
and once fully complete will consist of 167
wind turbines and generate 250 megawatts
(MW) of electricity.
After almost relying exclusively on its vast
petroleum stocks for decades, Mexico is now
realising the potential of its wind and solar
resources. Oil production fell by 9.2 percent
in 2008, and to assist tap its natural renew-
able resources it has turned to foreign com-
panies to develop the technology. The new
wind farm will help reduce CO2 emissions by
six million tons within 10 years.
Based in Oaxaca state, the farm is run by
Spanish energy companies Iberdrola and Ac-
ciona Energia and Mexican giant CEMEX.
It is the first in Mexico to be constructed,
owned and operated by a private firm.
The importance of the event was not
overlooked as Mexico’s president Felipe
Calderón inaugurated the wind farm him-
self. “If we don’t do something about this
problem of climate change it probably could
become — I’m sure it already is — one of the
biggest threats to humanity,” he said at the
inaugural ceremony.
The region was chosen especially for its
near perfect breezes of 25km/h to 35km/h,
of which similar areas have been identi-
Infrastructure
Floating cities could help combat climate change
A floating city based on a giant lilypad’s struc-
ture, is one idea to beat rising sea levels that has
come to the fore from French-Belgian architect,
Vincent Callebaut and could be built off the coast
of Trinidad and Tobago.
Estimates by the United Nations’ Intergovern-
mental Panel on Climate Change, predict that sea
levels could rise by as much as 20 – 90 cms this
century. This would lead to dire consequences for
countries such as the Netherlands, Bangladesh,
India and the Pacific Islands.
“Not less than 250 million ‘climate refugees’
and nine percent of global GDP are threatened
La Ventosa Valley PHOTO © LAURA ULLOA
fied for further wind farms to be built.
“The intensity of wind in various parts of
the country can make our plants among the
most efficient in the world,” energy secre-
tary Georgina Kessel told reporters at the
opening of the new facility.
The final output of the farm will generate
enough electricity to meet 13 percent of the
state’s demand, or enough energy to power
a city of half a million people.
Last year, Mexico became the first major
emerging economy to commit an emissions
reduction target, announcing it would halve
greenhouse gas emissions by 2050 based
on 2002 levels. It is aiming by 2012 to build
a series of wind farms that will generate
2,500 MW of electricity. u
if we do not build protections related to such a
threat,” says Callebaut. Trinidad and Tobago is
about to begin plans to build a man-made island
off the coast of Otaheite Bay, in which the lilypad
option could be used.
The lilypad eco-city is directly inspired by the
great ribbed leaves of the Amazonia Victoria Re-
gia lilypad. The half aquatic, half terrestrial city
is able to accommodate 50,000 inhabitants and
would be completely self sufficient, in energy,
food and water. This enables it to be compliant
with environmental goals of balancing climate,
biodiversity and water.

Transport
Mayor reveals green ambitions for Mexico City
Mexico City, infamous for being one of the most
polluted in the world, aims to be clean and green,
as its new green plan was announced by Mayor
Marcelo Ebrard.
Called the Green Plan, its USD 5.5 billion bud-
get plans to attack problems in water, air, trans-
port, green space and waste management over the
next 15 years.
“We’ve taken the first step on a long path to
build the sustainable city that we want,” says Eb-
rard. “We need to recover streets and roads for
efficient, non-polluting, mass transportation with
properly trained drivers, and to promote non-mo-
torized transportation. I want Mexico City to be
the greenest city in the Americas.”
The plan includes building 10 corridors to be
used only for zero emission metrobuses, replac-
ing the 35,000 outdated mini buses that currently
ply the streets. A new metro line will be built
and completed by 2012, and more bike lanes to
be added that would make Amsterdam’s network
small in comparison.
“Sustainable development actions in trans-
portation, especially mass transportation, will
lay the foundations upon which the future of a
sustainable city will be built, preventing the un-
favourable tendency for environmental degrada-
tion,” says Ebrard.
Ebrard joins thousands of other city officials in
riding their bikes to work on the first Monday of
every month. The government’s own vehicle fleet
has already been updated as more than two hun-
dred gas-fuelled vehicles have been replaced by
electric cars, and other action will be undertaken
to convert or acquire new low-emission units.
The proposed floating city
PHOTO © VINCENT CALLEBAUT ARCHITECTURES
It reaches a positive energy balance with zero
carbon emissions through the integration of
renewable energy (solar, thermal, photovoltaic
energies, wind energy, hydraulic, tidal power
station and osmotic energies). Everything would
Latin America and the Caribbean: News
A new metro line is part of the green plan
PHOTO © BENJAMIN EARWICKER
Further measures include mandatory bus trans-
portation for private schools, creating pedestrian
only zones in downtown areas, installing intelli-
gent traffic lights and restricting car use in central
areas on Saturdays and Sundays. u
be recyclable and the island would produce as
much oxygen and electricity as it needs.
The floating city would be constructed out of
polyester fibres covered with titanium dioxide
that minimizes atmospheric contamination. The
city is mobile and can float with the currents and
the wind. Three ports provide access to the city,
with each covered by gardens for fresh produce
cultivation.
“The eco-city lilypad meets the political and
social challenge of integrating human sustain-
able development with the natural world,” says
Callebaut. “It will be a major challenge of the 21st
century to create new means to accommodate
environmental migrants. The lilypad eco-city is
one idea that can achieve this.” u
IN-FOCUS
ENERGY
Bahamas seeks renewable energy solutions
The Bahamas Electricity Company is to re-
ceive a grant to fund exploration of renew-
able energy alternatives. The company will
investigate solar power usage along with
waste to energy innovations and Ocean
Thermal Energy Conversion (OTEC),
which is a revolutionary new technique
where tropical islands can produce both
power and desalinated water. The grant is
being provided by the Inter-American De-
velopment Bank.
ENERGY
GDF Suez to construct largest-ever
energy project in Brazil
French energy company, GDF Suez, has
received a 20-year loan from the Brazilian
Development Bank BNDES towards the con-
struction of a 3,300 MW greenfield hydro-
electric power station in Jirau in Brazil. The
loan totals BRL 7.2 billion (approximately
EUR 2.44 billion). The bank loan is the larg-
est ever granted by a development bank in
Brazil and will cover 68.5 percent of the total
investment of EUR 3.3 billion.
TRANSPORT
Brazilian municipality to benefit from
plan to upgrade public transport system
Maringá, a municipality in the State of
Panraná in Brazil is receiving funding to
upgrade its urban transport systems. USD 13
million will be used to consolidate a new in-
tegrated public transport system, modernize
traffic lights, upgrade the traffic network and
revamp central areas.
ENERGY
Chile begins construction of USD 120
million wind farm
The Monte Redondo wind farm has begun
construction in Chile, 320 kilometres north
of Santiago at a projected cost of USD 120
million. The wind farm will be fully opera-
tional by October 2009 and will register un-
der the Kyoto Protocol’s Clean Development
Mechanism for carbon credits.
ENERGY
Barbados to reduce dependence on fossil
fuels
In a drive to promote sustainable energy
sources, the Inter American Development
Bank has agreed to grant Barbados USD
one million to set up a Sustainable Energy
Framework. The initiative aims to make
renewable energy more affordable and regu-
latory and financial incentives will be devel-
oped to make renewable energy use more
attractive.
u r b a n
March 2009 WORLD 57
IN-FOCUS Asia-Pacific

Singapore: a model for

sustainable development?
As a pioneer in sustainable development, Singapore has been approached by the World Bank
to provide technical assistance on urban planning in neighbouring countries. Vicente Carbona
analyses Singapore’s successful development and reveals the latest initiatives in the city-state.

Artist’s impression of the Conservatory Complex PHOTO © NATIONAL PARKS BOARD.

u r b a n
58 WORLD March 2009

S ingapore has long understood that
as a buoyant, industrialized urban
centre with extremely limited re-
sources in water, energy and, especially, land,
its sustainability depends on bold urban plan-
ning and ambitious environmental controls. In
a recent development that recognizes Singa-
pore’s outstanding reputation in development,
World Bank President Robert Zoellick and
George Yeo, Foreign Minister of Singapore,
signed an agreement last December to create
a joint World Bank-Singapore Urban Hub.
This will be tasked with providing expertise
and technical assistance on the major urban
challenges facing developing countries.
“Through its own unique development
experience, Singapore has built a vast
knowledge base on meeting these sorts of
challenge,” says the World Bank’s Zoellick.
“Bringing this knowledge together with the
World Bank Group’s development opera-
tions in East Asia and around the world cre-
ates a vital source of relevant and tested ex-
pertise that we believe many countries can
benefit from.”
The Hub will bring together Singapore’s
recognized expertise in urban development,
education, and public administration, with
the Bank’s global development knowledge and
operational experience. The aim is to provide
advice and technical services to South-East
Asian countries with plans to expand to other
Asian countries including China, and eventu-
ally to go truly global into Africa.
New Inter-Ministerial Committee
Singapore has been a key player in urban de-
velopment since it became an independent
republic in 1965. One of the most recent ini-
tiatives was the establishment last year of an
Inter-Ministerial Committee on Sustainable
Development (IMCSD) to articulate a na-
tional strategy and to ensure that Singapore
grows as a lively and more livable city, with
a Master Plan for the next 10-15 years, and
a wider-ranging Concept Plan that has a 40-
50 year horizon. The main challenge is to see
that continued growth does not come at the
expense of quality of life for its citizens.
“We want to position Singapore as a lead-
ing, distinctive Eco-City State that is not just
economically vibrant but also environmen-
tally sustainable,” says Minister for National
Development Mah Bow Tan who co-chairs
the IMCSD. “This means growing as fast as
Asia-Pacific
we can, whilst ensuring that our good living
environment and economic growth potential
for future generations are not affected.”
After a series of forums and meetings, which
has resulted in over 1,300 suggestions obtained
through an online consultation initiative, the
Inter-Ministerial Committee and other public
officials are pleased with the positive public
response. Suggestions and views covered a
wide range of topics, from recycling, energy
efficiency, cycling and clean energy, to marine
“In Singapore, high density presents not only
the most viable housing solution but also cre-
ates an opportunity to generate some of the
most innovative sustainability ideas, one of the
best practices that has emerged is the incor-
poration of high-rise greenery into high-density
housing.” Tai Lee Siang
nature area conservation, solar energy usage as
a renewable energy, and the use of more sus-
tainable building construction materials. The
Committee has now brought the public consul-
tation process to a close, and will take the next
few months to study the feasibility of the sug-
gestions raised and respond to key ideas. The
government has recently announced it will set
aside USD one billion over the next five years
to implement the Committee’s recommenda-
tions.
A tradition of innovation
Sustainability in Singapore is centred around
three priority areas: resource management,
pollution controls and improving the qual-
ity of the physical environment. In a dense-
ly-packed, high-rise urban centre, this is
achieved by making new and existing build-
ings more resource and energy efficient, and
actively promoting these goals among indus-
tries, businesses and transport services.
“In Singapore, high density presents not
only the most viable housing solution but
also creates an opportunity to generate some
of the most innovative sustainability ideas,”
says Tai Lee Siang, President of the Singa-
pore Institute of Architects. “One of the best
practices that has emerged is the incorpora-
tion of high-rise greenery into high-density
URBAN WATCH
housing. Such incorporation not only creates
additional social interaction spaces to replace
the lost ground, but also brings a unique bal-
ance of built and natural environments. The
incorporation of greenery also serves to re-
duce heat gain on the roofs and allows natu-
ral rain harvesting.”
Part of this new focus includes a return to
the fundamentals of good design and archi-
tecture, such as north-south orientation of
new buildings to minimize solar exposure,
and the use of natural ventilation to reduce
reliance on air conditioning. “Such a mindset
shift has seen many buildings to be environ-
mental friendly without heavy investment in
technology,” says Tai.
Promoting an ambitious renewable re-
sources programme requires involving the
global business community in innovative
ways, and Singapore has undertaken a pio-
neering strategy of investments in this sec-
tor. Renewable Energy Corporation (REC) of
Norway, one of the largest solar companies in
the world, recently committed to establishing
what is envisaged to be the world’s largest ful-
ly integrated solar manufacturing complex in
Singapore, a SGD 6.3 billion (USD 4.1 billion)
investment to produce up to 1.5 gigawatts of
solar products at steady state. In early 2008,
Oerlikon Solar, a leading supplier of equip-
ment for making solar cells, chose Singapore
as its Asian manufacturing and R&D hub.
And most recently, NorSun AS, a Norwegian
firm, announced the construction of a SGD
300 million cutting-edge solar wafer manu-
facturing facility in the city-state.
In March last year, clean energy was sig-
naled out as a key growth area for Singapore,
with a goal to generate up to 7,000 jobs, by
2015, through an infusion of SGD 350 million
in public funds. Besides solar energy, which is
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March 2009 WORLD 59
IN-FOCUS Asia and Pacific
Waste Management - Semakau Landfill
the main focus area, Singapore’s industry de-
velopment efforts in clean energy also cover
fuel cells, wind power, tidal power, energy ef-
ficiency and carbon services. In a related de-
velopment, Ms. Grace Fu, Senior Minister of
State for National Development, recently an-
nounced an ambitious plan to provide train-
ing opportunities for 8,000 new, high-skill
green collar jobs over the next five years.
To oversee the growth of this industry, the
inter-agency Clean Energy Program Office
(CEPO) has put forward a set of initiatives in-
cluding investing SGD 50 million (USD 32.7
million) toward a Clean Energy Research Pro-
gram (CERP) to support R&D efforts, a SGD
25 million graduate scholarships programme
to groom top-notch talent for the industry, and
various incentive programmes for clean energy
solutions and to assist private sector partici-
pants offset part of the capital costs of installing
solar technologies in new building projects.
Singapore has long been exemplary in its
efforts to institute highly successful water
demand and wastewater management prac-
tices, taking into consideration quantity and
quality, public and private sector participa-
tion, equity and efficiency, and strategic and
economic considerations. Singapore has man-
aged to attain self-sufficiency by reducing
domestic water consumption and unaccounted-
for-water. In a 2006 report, Cecilia Tortajada of
the Third World Centre for Water Management
(Mexico), stated:
“By ensuring efficient use of its limited wa-
ter resources through economic instruments,
u r b a n
60 WORLD March 2009
PHOTO © NEA
adopting the latest technological developments
to produce new sources of water, enhancing
storage capacities by proper catchment man-
agement, practicing water conservation mea-
sures, and ensuring concurrent consideration
of social, economic and environmental factors,
Singapore has reached a level of holistic water
management that other urban centers will do
well to emulate.”
The effort to increase the city’s green spaces
has also seen excellent results. Over the
past decade, despite the physical develop-
ment required to accommodate a 70 per-
cent increase in population, the city-state’s
green cover (percentage of land area with
vegetation, as seen from satellite images)
has increased by 10 percent, so that almost
half of Singapore’s main island is now cov-
ered with vegetation. Between 1986 and
2007, despite the fact that the population
in Singapore grew by 68 percent from 2.7
million to 4.6 million, the green cover in
Singapore grew from 35.7 percent to 46.5
percent.
Singapore recycles what can be recycled,
and incinerates the rest in state-of-the-art
plants. Aside from reducing the need for
landfills, the city-state also began to con-
vert waste-to-energy from the incineration
process, which currently provides up to
three percent of total electricity demand,
while at the same time stabilizing carbon
emissions into the atmosphere. What they
do with all that incinerated rubbish is an-
other of Singapore’s success stories.
The rise of eco-tourism
In 1997, at a cost of SGD 610 million, the
government built a seven kilometre rock pe-
rimeter enclosing the sea between two south-
ern islands, thus creating the Semakau Land-
fill, which covers an area with a capacity of 63
million cubic tons. Once this offshore landfill
became operational in 1999, the last landfill on
the main island was closed. Divided into cells,
the seawater is then pumped out, the seafloor
lined with thick plastic, and the incinerated ash
is then dumped into the cell. Lastly, it is covered
with dirt and seeded with grass. Water quality
is sampled monthly to check for any seepage.
This has resulted in a new, thriving eco-
system that has been developed into a nature
sanctuary and a site for ecotourism. Since
mid-2005, Palau Semakau has been open for
guided tours of its mangroves, intertidal zones,
and coral reefs. It has come to represent a clear
example of Singapore’s unique, creative way of
working toward urban sustainability.
In adopting the next round of priorities and
initiatives, the Inter-Ministerial Committee
recognizes that the effective implementation
of some of the new measures could mean ad-
ditional costs in the short term, costs that will
be offset via longer-term benefits for individu-
als and businesses. The government has stated
that while studying the new recommendations,
it will take into consideration the rising costs.
“The IMCSD will be pragmatic and results-
oriented,” says Minister for Finance Tharman
Shanmugaratnam. “It will assess the effective-
ness and benefits of the various options against
their costs to businesses and consumers. We
will set meaningful goals but pace the changes
so that everyone can adjust smoothly.”
Singapore is on the move in all these fronts,
and officials are optimistic. They are actively
encouraging people and industries to adopt
long-term sustainable practices, and devel-
oping new capabilities to optimize resources
and improve environmental performance
further still. And there is widespread under-
standing that new technologies will also have
to be harnessed to improve performance and
mitigate current limits to growth, perhaps
the city-state’s main constraint, given the
difficulty of balancing and accommodating
its entire national infrastructure, includ-
ing housing, recreation, commerce, defence,
waste and water treatment, transportation,
and airports, within an area of just 700
square-kilometres. u
Asia and Pacific IN-FOCUS

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IN-FOCUS Asia-Pacific: News
URBAN STRATEGY
New report highlights urban poverty in
India
A new report on the nature and dynamics
of urban poverty in India has been issued
by the Indian government’s Ministry of
Housing and Urban Poverty Alleviation and
the United Nations Development Programme
(UNDP). The report was released in New
Delhi in February. The UNDP hopes this
new information will assist the government
to build a national strategy to help the urban
poor. The report says that urbanization in
India will be at a rate of 50 percent by 2030
yet the urban poor lack basic services.
WATER
Bold plan for sanitation in Korea
Asia’s rapidly growing population is placing
a tangible strain on drinking water resources
and basic sanitation facilities. A new project in
Korea - Partnership for good governance and
knowledge on urban water management - will
endeavour to assist water utility companies
to manage and provide improved services.
Funding of USD 500,000 is being provided
in the form of a grant from the Republic of
Korea’s e-Asia and Knowledge Partnership
Fund, which is administered by the Asian
Development Bank (ADB). An additional
USD 100,000 to pay for training, venues and
equipment is being provided by the Korea
Water Resources Corporation (K-Water).
DISASTER MANAGEMENT
Burma’s cyclone is worst ever natural
disaster
The latest annual report from Munich Re, the
world’s second-largest insurer, has revealed
that last May’s cyclone Nargis took the most
human lives of any one disaster when it hit
Burma. Estimates say that 135,000 people
were killed: 85,000 deaths have been officially
confirmed in Burma, while 54,000 people are
still missing. Despite the number of natural
disasters falling from 2007 to 2008, more
damage was caused and more people lost lives
in 2008.
WATER
Singapore backs revolutionary new
project by Siemens
Siemens Water Technologies’ new project
aims to reduce energy consumption by
50 percent by utilizing new desalination
technology. The venture has been
awarded a SGD four million research
grant from Singapore’s Environment and
Water Industry Development Council
(EWI). The announcement was made
at the Singapore International Water
Week summit in January. Chuck Gordon,
CEO of Siemens Water Technologies
said: “We truly consider this developing
technology a breakthrough in the
desalination market, with significant
global implications on water resource
management and the wider use of
desalination in the future.”
u r b a n
64 WORLD March 2009
Energy
On-demand solar energy raises the bar for
renewables
On-demand solar power could soon be assisting
the remotest towns in Australia and provide a
global solution to urban development. Not only
will the use of the sun’s energy reduce dependen-
cy on coal-generated electricity or costly diesel
powered generators but large amounts of coal-
fired energy are lost during transmission to re-
mote towns. meaning towns at the end of the grid
system suffer the most from power shortages.
Steve Hollis, from Lloyd Energy Storage, says
that his new on-demand solar system, which will
be built in three Australian towns this year, can
alleviate this problem for remote urban develop-
ments.
“We’re putting environmentally friendly gen-
eration out at the end of the branches of the tree if
you like, so it can pump energy back in when the
branches are in trouble,” says Hollis.
The system uses a series of mirrors that redi-
rect the sun’s heat onto a 10 tonne graphite block
on top of a 15-metre tower. The block gets heated
up, and stores the heat at a minimal loss. As it is
an on-demand system water is then passed over it
when it is needed; creating steam that then turns
a conventional three MW steam turbine. An on-
demand system means that the problem of where
to store the energy once generated doesn’t arise.
Hollis says that it can assist towns in three ways:
“Firstly it is a renewable energy replacement for
coal. Secondly, it avoids the energy authorities
having to upgrade their transmission lines so they
can get more power out in the peak. Thirdly, it
Water
Environmentalists launch clean up of Mumbai river
The Mithi River, which runs through the middle
of the bustling and sprawling Indian city of
Mumbai, is set to receive a lifeline from a group
of environmentalists and local citizens.
The group, with the support of award-winning
conservationist, Rajendra Singh, wants to replicate
the work that Singh did in the 1980s with his work
on various rivers in Rajasthan. To that end they have
created the Mithi sansad, or river parliament. The
hope is that the sansad will enable them to learn the
extent of abuse the Mithi has suffered and also to
learn how the water and rivers are managed.
On-demand solar power
PHOTO © LLOYD ENERGY SYSTEMS
will provide an energy source at the end of the
line that can return power back into the grid.”
The system’s mobility and flexibility are other
advantages that can make the technology easily
transportable on the back of trucks.
“We have made it modular so it can be rede-
ployed in remote towns in rural Australia and
overseas, without involving monstrous towers,
such as what you see with wind turbines,” says
Hollis.
The company has already begun building a
three MW project that powers two towns and a
second, larger, project will commence later this
year, which will provide 10 MW to another grow-
ing region. “So far there has been strong interest
from many countries as they see the long-term
advantages and savings that on demand solar en-
ergy offers,” adds Lloyd. u
The sansad’s tasks are to gather alternative
experts who can suggest measures on how to
control flooding in the city that is economical and
using only environmentally friendly methods to
save the river.
“The people of Mumbai were not aware of
floods and its dire consequences until July 2005,
when the city was lashed by the largest monsoon
in recent memory,” says Singh. “Today the situa-
tion has completely changed. Everyone is scared
to the core and wants a permanent solution to the
problem.”

Transport
New Chinese railway will be energy efficient
The Western region of China will see the construction
of the first ever railway line connecting the northern
city of Lanzhouin, in Gansu province, with the south-
ern city of Chongqing, a major manufacturing hub
and a major exporter to the greater Mekong.
The 820 km line will boost economic growth in
one of the poorer regions of China and will become
the shortest land route between these two economic
centres. The total cost of the project is estimated to be
USD 8.6 billion. Financing will come from a group
of Chinese banks, the ministry of railways, local gov-
ernments and the Asia Development Bank (ADB).
“The project is expected to stimulate the develop-
ment of industrial and natural resources and tour-
ism, generate employment, raise living standards
and help reduce poverty,” says Manmohan Parkash,
transport specialist for the ADB.
Nearly 17 million people live in the region, many
of them poor. They will take a hands-on role in the
construction through hiring preferences, to build
and operate the railway line. The project is part of
the Chinese government’s strategy to expand in-
frastructure and to stimulate growth in underdevel-
oped interior regions of the country.
The railway track will be capable of handling
double-stack containers, raising its carrying capac-
ity over regular lines, reducing land use, and im-
proving energy efficiency. Over 30 railway stations
will be built and state-of-the-art safety equipment
will be installed.
To help create a ‘green corridor’ along the
rail route, financing from the ADB will include
Development has brought about many envi-
ronmental problems to Mumbai. “Thousands of
mangroves have been destroyed and these were
the main deterrents to air and water pollution,
flooding and climate change which the city is
facing now,” says Singh.
The environmentalists stress that any action
taken will need to coincide with the environ-
ment. “We encourage development of all kinds
but we want to conform with nature. This is the
guiding objective of Mithi sansad,” says envi-
ronmentalist Janak Daftari.
The sansad will have between 50-200 mem-
bers at the beginning, with more people to be
invited in the future. “We encourage all local
people who live around the Mithi to come and
Asia-Pacific: News
New railway line for China
PHOTO © SANTIAGO LLOBET LLIGÉ
environmental protection equipment worth USD 12
million. A switch in traffic from roads to the new
rail link will result in significant cuts in fuel con-
sumption and emissions of harmful carbon dioxide.
The network is part of a grander scheme to
boost connectivity and trade between China the
greater Mekong, Central Asia and Europe.
To travel by rail from Europe to China is rela-
tively trouble free, but the connections and infra-
structure into south east Asia are still either non
existent or found wanting.
Funding from Japan, France and the ADB are
making this realm of dreams turn into reality,
which within eight years will see connections
from Singapore via Phnom Penh in Cambodia, up
to Ho Chi Minh City and then onto China. u
join the sansad, as they know best the bio-di-
versity of the area,” says Singh. u
The Mithi river PHOTO © AYRA VIDYA
IN-FOCUS
DISASTER MANAGEMENT
UN-HABITAT assists victims of Pakistan
earthquake
An earthquake of 6.4 on the Richter scale
destroyed the homes of 800 families in
Baluchistan, south western Pakistan last
October. The Provincial Disaster Management
Authority says that 68,200 people were
affected and were left facing a freezing winter
without roofs over their heads. The UN
Central Emergency Response Fund (CERF)
granted USD 900,000 to assist with providing
shelter for the homeless, and UN-HABITAT
worked with the Pakistani government, the
military, the National Disaster Management
Authority (NDMA) and the Emergency
Shelter Cluster to organize the construction
of 947 transitional shelters in 19 villages
throughout the Baluchistan province.
CONSTRUCTION
Report urges China to move to green
building
An Asia Business Council report published
at the end of 2008 claims that Asia’s share of
global energy consumption has doubled in
30 years and the energy consumed by Asian
buildings is increasing at a similar rate. China
is building almost half of the world’s new floor
space, which breaks down to nearly two billion
square metres annually, and the report says
that these buildings consume two to three
times more energy per unit of floor space
than those in developed countries. That is the
equivalent of the weekly energy needs of two
500-megawatt coal plants.
ENERGY
New lightbulbs will save USD 100 million
a year in Philippines
The Asian Development Bank (ADB) is
financing a project to distribute 13 million
energy-saving lightbulbs in the Philippines.
The government wants to slash energy bills
and homeowners and businesses will be given
the bulbs for free. A loan of USD 31.1 million
will finance the project. The new compact
fluorescent lamps (CFL) will be distributed for
free in exchange for old incandescent bulbs,
and estimates say that each new bulb will save
customers 400 pesos, or USD 8.50 every year
for seven to 10 years. Incandescent bulbs only
use 20 percent of the energy they consume to
produce light, whereas CFLs don’t waste any
electricity.
URBAN DEVELOPMENT
Environmental protection plan
unveiled for Shanghai
China wants to make Shanghai more
environmentally friendly and has revealed
a plan to create green housing and public
buildings, along with cutting exhaust
emissions. The Environment Protection
Bureau chief, Zhang Quan is in charge of
the plan, which will also see 800 city petrol
stations fitted with gas recycling facilities. The
Bureau wants the plan to be implemented in
time for the 2010 World Expo.
u r b a n
March 2009 WORLD 65
IN-FOCUS Middle East and Africa

Abu Dhabi to build the

world’s first zero carbon
city
The United Arab Emirates is no stranger to grabbing the headlines when it comes to
construction. From the world’s tallest building to the biggest man-made island, its reputation
for extravagance and excess is now being put to an eco-friendly use as it builds from scratch
the world’s first sustainable city. Jonathan Andrews reveals the ambitious plans for Masdar and
asks whether such a zero carbon city can change the habits of one of the most oil rich nations
on Earth.

Islamic-inspired garden spaces and piazzas are featured in the new city PHOTO © MASDAR INITIATIVE

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Mar
M arrch
ch 2009
200
2
20009
 Middle East and Africa
S itting on the edge of Abu Dhabi’s air-
port lies a fenced off six square kilo-
metre area of scrubland. To the casual
observer, there is little to indicate that this site
could soon be the home to 50,000 people, 1,500
businesses and a high-tech university that will
specialize in renewable energy technology.
Buildings go up fast in the ever-changing sky-
line of Abu Dhabi, and by 2016 the government
hopes that this USD 22 billion project will be the
world’s first zero carbon, zero waste, and car-
free city that will be run entirely on renewable
energy.
“Masdar city represents more than a real es-
tate development: it aims to be a Silicon Val-
ley for the clean technology age,” says Khaled
Awad, director of property development at the
Masdar Initiative. “It will be a living, breathing
community that will seek to develop sustainable
solutions to the global energy and environmental
challenges we face.”
Masdar, literally meaning the source, has
attracted high profile organizations that want
to be associated with the phenomenal task of
designing, building and running the eco-city.
UK architecture firm, Foster and Partners, has
designed Masdar and has employed tradition-
al planning techniques used to build ancient
Arab cities.
Gerard Evendon, senior partner at Foster and
Partners, believes its one of the most important
projects in the world at the moment. “It’s ad-
dressing all the issues that we have to address
in future design as architects and engineers can
no longer carry on designing in a backward way.
We have to seize the challenge and design build-
ings which are much lower in energy consump-
tion and are sustainable.”
Encased in a wall, the city will feature
dense, low-rise buildings to create a compact
community with narrow streets to help keep
out the fierce desert sun, yet allow gentle
breezes to flow through. All streets will be
pedestrianized, and residents and workers
will walk around a string of Islamic-inspired
garden spaces and piazzas more commonly
found in southern Italy. The entire city will be
suspended on stilts rising six metres from the
ground, so as to increase air circulation and
to keep the city off the hot desert floor. It will
further be split into three levels. Located on
the middle level will be the functioning life
of the city with shops, businesses and homes,
much like any other city, except it will be com-
pletely car free.
IN-FOCUS
One level above, residents can hop on any
number of driverless personal rapid transport
pods, which are metro cars that seat four people.
Based on studies from European urban develop-
ment agencies, a maximum walking distance
has been set at 200 metres. Essential services
will always be located within this distance from
any point, including shops that will sell locally
grown produce. Goods will also be transported
this way.
Evendon, from Foster and Partners, says that
it will be a fully integrated city complex. “We’re
not having a situation whereby we have ‘oh that’s
the medical quarter over there and the entertain-
ment over there’. What we are trying to do is say,
‘Okay, we’ve got this community here and that
one relates to another so what do they share?’”
The residential space within the city will be
provided for those people who work there. As
tenants are signed up, companies are allocated
residential space for their employees. Photo-
voltaic panels will generate power for the city,
while cooling will be provided via concentrated
solar power. A large patch of land adjacent to the
city has been given over to solar panels, where
70 percent of the 10 MW grid connected solar
plant is complete – the largest in the Middle East
and North Africa region. It is so far developing
enough energy that developers believe it could
power most of the construction work in the first
building phase.
Roofs and shading over the streets will incor-
porate thinner film photovoltaic canopies. Al-
though most of the panels and technology come
from Chinese, German and US suppliers, the
main goal for Abu Dhabi will be to move up the
solar value chain, by becoming a solar industry
hub in its own right.
Water will be provided through a dew and
solar-powered desalination plant. Landscaping
within the walls and crops grown outside the
city, will be irrigated with grey water and treated
waste water produced by the city’s water treat-
ment plant. As the city grows so too will the trees
and natural environment, as wastewater will
feed the gardens. An intelligent metering system
will also allow any citizen to view how much en-
ergy, water and carbon he or she is consuming
compared to the average citizen.
Overall the city will need about a quarter of
the energy of a normal city of comparable size.
The World Wildlife Fund (WWF) is another big
name that is throwing its support behind the
project. “This will quite literally kick-start a
global revolution in renewables,” says Eduardo
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March 2009 WORLD 67
IN-FOCUS Middle East and Africa
Personal rapid transport pods will ferry people around
Gonçalvez, from WWF’s programme One Planet
Living, that is taking a hands-on role in the Mas-
dar project. “The UAE is the only country in the
world that has agreed to work with WWF to set
targets for reducing its national carbon footprint.”
Zero carbon: fact or fallacy?
Criticisms still abound though about Masdar’s
claim to be completely emission and carbon free.
Businesses that do not meet the city’s strict eco-
friendly requirements will not be able to set up
shop but will have to go somewhere outside the
perimeter. Some foods will still need to be im-
ported and although a light rail system will con-
nect the city to the airport and the rest of Abu
Dhabi, many will still have to drive to the city.
Outside the city walls there will be giant car
parks, leading many to dub it an eco-city theme
park for day-trippers.
Gonçalvez from the WWF rebuts these criti-
cisms and says the project needs to be looked at
in the context of a range of initiatives being un-
dertaken by Abu Dhabi and the UAE.
“Abu Dhabi, and the Masdar city project are
working to lead the way in both the developed
and developing world and put many governments,
especially the G8 countries to shame,”says Gon-
çalvez . “The G8 countries alone account for one
u r b a n
68 WORLD March 2009
PHOTO © MASDAR INITIATIVE Dense, low-rise buildings help keep the desert sun at bay
third of total human ecological footprint.” Mas-
dar will of course have an impact on the UAE’s
carbon footprint, as it will help Abu Dhabi fulfil
its pledge to source seven percent of its domestic
energy needs from renewables by the year 2020
– a major step for a country that is the world’s
fourth largest oil exporter.
While Masdar has the luxury of being financed
by big petrodollars, many question whether a
city such as this can be financed and built again
in another part of the world.
“We realize that not everyone or every coun-
try in the world has the resources to build a city
such as this,” says Khaled Awad. “We must re-
member that the goal of the new city is to set new
standards and develop new clean and sustainable
technologies that can be transferred to other cit-
ies around the world.”
Masdar officials refer to the technological de-
velopment of computers, and that whilst less de-
veloped countries in the world cannot purchase
the latest computer technology, industry devel-
opment is making them ever cheaper, efficient
and affordable for all.
Gerard Evendon from Foster and Partners con-
curs and sees the project as a Petri dish, that will in
future years provide sustainable energy technolo-
gies that will be easily adaptable for all cities.
PHOTO © MASDAR INITIATIVE
“For the first time all ideas and technologies
can be brought together into a city context. That
means we can test things that have never been
really tested before,” he says.
The city not only aims to be the world’s green-
est city, but will also be home to the Masdar
Institute for Science and Technology (MIST), a
partnership with the Massachusetts Institute of
Technology (MIT), that aims to bring together
some of the world’s leading post-graduates to re-
search and develop ideas for renewable energy.
MIT faculty and staff will provide advice, schol-
arly assessment and assistance in connection
with the establishment of MIST. It aims to open
its doors to the first batch of postgraduate stu-
dents by July this year. “MIST will feed the city
with talent and innovative technologies that will
enhance the economic development and promote
new industries using renewable energy and re-
sources in the emirate and the region,” says Sul-
tan Al Jaber, head of the Masdar Initiative.
Foreign partners
Reaping the economic windfall of this emerging
market, Masdar’s long-term aim is to leverage its
early entry to become the authority of the sus-
tainable movement. Whilst most of the construc-
tion will be financed by the Abu Dhabi Future

Located on the middle level of the three will be the
functioning life of the city PHOTO © MASDAR INITIATIVE
Energy Company, Credit Suisse, has invested
USD 100 million in the initiative’s clean tech
fund. Other sources of funds to cover running
costs will be raised through the UN’s carbon
trading scheme. Since Masdar will perform bet-
ter than any pollution regulations require, they
will sell one million carbon credits to companies
that do not meet local standards, raising approxi-
mately USD 15 million.
Masdar is also working with other partners
such as Anglo-Australian mining company Rio
Tinto and UK oil company BP which will work
together on carbon-capture and storage schemes.
Such partners not only allow Masdar to take ad-
vantage of foreign expertise but also to have its
ideas independently scrutinized. GE has signed
on as a partner, where it will build its Ecomagi-
nation Centre, by 2010. Here it will showcase its
innovations and will house up to 100 technolo-
gists developing new sustainable water, energy
and environmental systems.
GE’s Middle East and Africa CEO and Presi-
dent, Nabil Habayeb, believes that the fact this
is taking place in a country better known for oil
consumption and exploitation speaks volumes.
“This is a part of the world where a few years
ago if you were to talk about renewable energy
in a meeting, it would end in a nanosecond,”
Middle East and Africa
“We realize that not everyone or every country in
the world has the resources to build a city such as
this. We must remember that the goal of the new
city is to set new standards and develop new clean
and sustainable technologies that can be trans-
ferred to other cities around the world.” Khaled
Awad
Construction will be complete by 2016
comments Habayeb. “ How could you talk about
renewable energy to a hydrocarbon-based econ-
omy? To see the transformation of Abu Dhabi,
into that of leading the investment and devel-
opment of a zero carbon emission city, and the
technology that impacts the whole world, is phe-
nomenal.”
Other questions are being asked about wheth-
er or not this project can be built and attract ten-
ants to undertake intensive research into renew-
able energies. The stampede into the renewable
energy sector when oil hit USD 150 a barrel has
become an amble now that the price has dropped
considerably. Already, construction work on
China’s proposed zero-carbon city, Dongtan, has
been postponed for two years.
Awad dismisses such concerns. “We are look-
ing beyond the downturn. Nothing has been de-
IN-FOCUS
PHOTO © MASDAR INITIATIVE
layed and nothing has been postponed. We are
in this for the long-term. We want to be in the
energy business, not just the oil business and re-
newable energy must remain high on the agenda
and continues to make absolute sense, even in
difficult times such as these.”
Likewise, Habayeb from GE is adamant: “Our
plan is to go forward with what we have com-
mitted for Ecomagination and Masdar city. We
haven’t slowed down or revised our figures.”
Last year homo sapiens turned into homo ur-
banis for the first time in human history, with the
majority now living in cities. Between 2009 and
2050 the world’s urban population will double from
3.2 billion to 6.5 billion. Gonçalvez of the WWF
says: “Masdar city is one way that is aiming to keep
city living an option but one that doesn’t drive us
into deeper and more dangerous ecological debt.”
u r b a n
March 2009 WORLD 69
IN-FOCUS Middle East and Africa
Aerial view of Masdar city once completed
But will people be willing to check their lib-
erties at the city gates of Masdar? Or will they
prefer to live in the relative freedom outside
the walls, with all the creature comforts that
a country rich in oil can provide? Foster and
Partners argue that their plans for Masdar pro-
vide people with more choice than ever before.
“I think we just need to give people choice and
freedom to make the decisions themselves as
to how they want their bodies to react to the
climate, rather than being sealed into an air-
u r b a n
70 WORLD March 2009
Khaled Awad PHOTO © MASDAR INITIATIVE
“There will not be in-
dividual restrictions
in place. If you want
to have a 20-minute
shower, you still can.
Our approach is about
making people aware
of their carbon impact,
and it’s then up to
them to change their
PHOTO © MASDAR INITIATIVE behaviour.”
Khaled Awad
conditioned building and dictated to about the
environment they have to live in,” says Even-
don. “Once we give the options back, people
will realize the things that they’ve lost.”
Likewise, the Masdar Initiative argues that it
will not be an ecological prison. “There will not be Gonçalvez from WWF says that whatever
individual restrictions in place,” explains Awad. “ the economic situation, time is running out.
For example – if you want to have a 20-minute “The bottom line is we need a global para-
shower, you still can. Our approach is about mak- digm shift. We need to fundamentally change
ing people aware of their carbon impact, and it’s the way we – the human race – live, work and
then up to them to change their behaviour.” play. And we need to do it very quickly.” u
Opinion LEADERS

u r b a n
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IN-FOCUS Middle East and Africa: News
SANITATION
New UN-HABITAT project for Kenya
The Water for African Cities project
was launched in December 2008 in
partnership with three NGOs: Sustainable
Aid in Africa International (SANA)
in Kenya, the Uganda Environmental
Protection Forum (UEPF), and
KATEDFU in Tanzania. The aim is to
improve hygiene by installing latrines,
giving the poor access to secure places
with sufficient water for personal use
and educating women and members
of vulnerable households about the
effective use of these sanitation facilities.
Women are being targeted by the project
as typically in Africa, they hold the
responsibility for water, sanitation and
hygiene in the home. The project is aimed
at 45,000 people in the Lake Victoria
region, plus an additional 49,000 should
benefit under the Water for African Cities
II programme.
SECURITY
Displaced citizens in Chad to get new
housing
UN-HABITAT has announced that it will
help the government in Chad to improve
housing conditions for the country’s
internally displaced people. Long-running
ethnic conf licts in the Central African
Republic and the Sudan Darfur region
have meant that thousands of people have
been uprooted. The UN team Resident
Coordinator in Chad, Mr. Kingsley
Amaning has proposed collaborative
efforts between several UN organizations
and the Chadian government to push
forward housing development. Thanks to
the UN’s MINURCAT mission, the eastern
area of Chad has now been sufficiently
stabilized to allow planning and
implementation of housing to begin.
CLIMATE CHANGE
African mayors angry over effect of
greenhouse gases
Mayors from capital cities all over
African have expressed their worries
over the effects of climate change felt by
their respective cities. Rising sea levels,
f looding and extreme weather conditions
are affecting Africa disproportionately
considering the amount of emissions
generated there. The mayors met for
a two day conference hosted by UN-
HABITAT in Nairobi in February.
Samba Faal, mayor of Gambia’s capital
Banjul voiced concerns that a one metre
rise in sea level would result in 50
percent of landmass being lost. The 116
Seychelles islands are also under threat,
according to mayor Marie-Antoinette
Alexis of Victoria: a sea level rise would
wash away beaches. The conference
highlighted African cities’ need for
assistance to deal with the consequences
of climate change.
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72 WORLD March 2009
Tourism
Spanish government boosts Namibian tourism
Namibian landscape PHOTO © UTE VON LUDWIGER
Namibia is set to receive a USD 6 million
grant to help boost its fledgling cultural
tourism sector via the Spanish Government
and the Millennium Development Goal
(MDG) Funds.
The UN says the grant will aim to use
cultural tourism development as a vehicle
for poverty reduction in the country, par-
ticularly among women, disadvantaged and
vulnerable groups, and for HIV-AIDS suf-
ferers. “To achieve this, the programme will
Water
UN-HABITAT backs scheme to help reduce disease
Participants from 10 countries surrounding the
Lake Victoria region in south-eastern Africa re-
cently received training on water quality monitor-
ing and how to develop action plans for their own
towns and cities.
The three-day course organized by the Lake
Victoria Water and Sanitation Initiative and UN-
HABITAT, explored ways of how to help battle
waterborne diseases and to raise awareness be-
tween water quality and disease.
The CEO of the Lake Victoria South Water
Services Board, Michael Ochieng, reminded par-
ticipants that the provision of safe drinking water
poses a serious challenge to water providers as a
result of the rapidly growing populations in Afri-
can towns and cities, with many residents, partic-
ularly the poor, resorting to the use of water from
alternative, and often unclean sources.
“As service providers, it is our obligation to
undertake periodic water quality monitoring in
order to ensure that the water we supply to our
consumers is properly treated,” says Ochieng.
A portable bacterial test kit (the Portable Mi-
crobiology Laboratory or PML) was presented
and explained to the group. It offers a simple and
promote the sustainable use of cultural and
natural resources, sustainable employment
creation and income-generating opportuni-
ties through the implementation of five pilot
models,” says a UN spokesperson.
These models include cultural villages,
cultural trails, cultural and interpretive cen-
tres, cultural industries and a geopark. The
geopark will be the first of its kind in Africa
and encompasses sites of scientific impor-
tance, not only for geologists but also by
virtue of its archaeological, ecological and
cultural value.
“It will also aim to redirect tourists, who
prefer to visit natural tourism areas to cul-
tural tourism, by bringing them to the people
to experience their ways of living,” says the
UN representative. The pilot locations for the
cultural villages include Kavango, Kunene
and Tsumkwe and the trails in Oshikuku,
Elim, Tsandi and the Hardap region. u
cost-effective approach to monitoring the bacterio-
logical quality of water. The tests can be performed
within two to 18 hours, with the results providing a
disease risk assessment of water sources.
“Piped water, dug wells and springs are not reg-
ularly or properly tested and treated in many Afri-
can cities,” says Ochieng. “The tests are an effective
means of demystifying water quality testing and
raising awareness on the direct linkage between
water quality and disease.
“The development objective of the project is
to support the Lake Victoria Region to enable
the locals to achieve water and sanitation related
Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) and to
contribute to an equitable and sustainable devel-
opment,” says Ochieng. u
Potable water in Malawi PHOTO © UN-HABITAT

Renewable energy
Largest African wind farm to be built in Kenya
Kenya will soon see construction begin on a
new wind farm in the north of the country
that will produce 300 MW of electricity by
2012. The Turkana Wind Power consortium
(LTWP), made up of Kenyan and Dutch
partners, will build 353 wind turbines in
northwest Kenya near Lake Turkana, and
will be the largest in sub-Saharan Africa.
“Using the latest wind turbine technology
LTWP can provide reliable and continuous
clean power to satisfy up to 30 percent of
Kenya’s current total installed power,” says
project development manager Carlo Van
Wageningen.
The valley has historically been known as
a giant wind corridor, where winds, known
locally as the upepo sweep through the Tur-
kana valley between the Kenyan and Ethio-
pian highlands.
“One consortium partner, and long-term
resident of Kenya, Willem Dolleman, used
to go to this particular site to fish and was
always flabbergasted that he could never
set up a tent because it would always blow
away,” explains Van Wageningen.
The German Wind Energy Institute con-
firmed Dolleman’s idea when it conducted
on-site wind measurements for three years,
and concluded that the average monthly
Lake Turkana: a giant wind corridor
Middle East and Africa: News
wind speed of 11 metres per second was the
best that they had ever encountered.
“Once we had government support and
control of a feasibility study over the 60,000
hectares, our next problem was logistical,”
explains Van Wageningen. “The closest sea
port is Mombasa, which is 1,200km away.
So we had to bring in a Dutch company that
was experienced in heavy lifting and that
could do a load and port facility survey, so
as to get the materials from the port to the
valley.”
Financing will come from development fi-
nance institutions, in which the consortium
plans 30 percent equity and 70 percent debt
for the project. Already the African Develop-
ment Bank has pledged to provide 30 per-
cent of the USD 760 million total needed.
The initial phase of the wind farm will
begin generating electricity in June 2010
and will reach full production of 300MW by
June 2011.
“Eighty percent of Kenya’s energy pro-
duction already comes from renewable en-
ergy via hydroelectric dams and geothermal
technology,” explains Van Wageningen.
“When this project is completed, Kenya will
become one of the top countries in the world
that uses renewable sources of energy.” u
PHOTO © LTWP
IN-FOCUS
WATER
UNEP atlas shows shrinking resources in
Kenya
Kenya’s Lake Olbollosat might soon
disappear forever, according to analysis of
a new atlas published by the United Nations
Environment Progamme (UNEP). Kenya:
Atlas of our changing environment was
requested by the Kenyan government and
has been assembled using detailed satellite
images from the past three decades. The
atlas does highlight some positives in terms
of environmental management in Kenya,
but it also clearly shows that natural water
resources such as lakes are shrinking. The
Olbollosat lake has previously dried up,
but returned. However, there are fears that
Kenya’s rapidly growing population could
put increasing pressure on the lake and it
might disappear for good. In 1960, Kenya’s
population was eight million; today it has
reached an astounding 38 million and is
expected to continue growing.
CLIMATE CHANGE
Africa under pressure to join Climate
Neutral Network
Even though Africa has one of the world’s
lowest carbon footprints, other nations are
saying it should join the year-old Climate
Neutral Network (CN Net). At a United
Nations Environment Programme (UNEP)
news conference in Nairobi in February,
Costa Rica’s Minister for Environment
and Energy, Roberto Dobles Mora, said:
“Successful economies of the future will
have to be carbon neutral and Africa and
other developing countries must not be left
behind.”
Mora went on to emphasise that Africa
could benefit by twinning with developed
nations and learning how to follow their
best practices.
UNEP spokesman Nick Nuttall said:
“The entire world must go green, become
less dependent on fossil fuels; this is not
targeted at developed economies only.”
HEALTH
Soap solves problems caused by urban
growth in Mali’s capital
The non-profit organization, JIGI, is helping
female slum dwellers combat poor hygiene
and earn money by making and selling
soap. Local NGOs in Bamako in Mali say
that rapid urban population expansion
has lead to an increase in the size of slums
such as Nafadji on the city’s outskirts.
Inhabitants suffer social and economic
problems; hardly any children attend
school, and unemployment is high. Hygiene
standards are also low due to beliefs that
hand washing augments poverty, and also
because many inhabitants of the slums
cannot afford soap. The new initiative has
drastically reduced the price of soap, so now
more residents can afford to keep clean.
JIGI are also educating people about the
necessity of good hygiene.
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IN-FOCUS Middle East and Africa: News

TRANSPORT
Population explosion in Saudi cities
causes traffic chaos
The population density in major Saudi
cities grew by more than 120 percent
between 2002 and 2008 according to
a new study by the Land Transport
Committee at the Jeddah Chamber of
Commerce and Industry. The study
concluded that Jeddah has the highest
population density and that it was still
increasing each year by 20-28 percent.
The high number of people in cities
is resulting in traffic congestion and
transportation problems. Officials
behind the study say that there is a
need for an awareness campaign
encouraging residents to only own
one vehicle. The study also emphasized
the need to expand public transport.
CONSTRUCTION
WHO building in Jordan aims for LEED
certification
The Middle Eastern environmental
services company, Energy Management
Services, has signed an agreement with
the World Health Organization to
advise on the construction and
management of the WHO’s new
premises in Jordan, with the aim
of achieving a gold certification
in Leadership in Energy and
Environmental Design (LEED) from
the US Green Building Council
(USGBC). This is the first time a
Middle Eastern WHO office will
attempt to meet LEED standards.
LEED certified buildings make savings
on reduced use of water, energy and
operational costs, and provide a high
quality indoor environment.
ENERGY
Sudan turns to wind power
A new 500 MW wind power farm is
being constructed along the Red Sea
coast by a consortium including the
National Electricity Corporation
(NEC) of the Republic of Sudan, the
Aeolus Association, and the Dubai-
based OMENE Holdings LLC and its
Sudan affiliate. The farm is a small
component of an ambitious expansion
plan by the NEC, which will reach
17,000 MW by 2030. Currently 80
percent of Sudanese homes are
without any electricity.
Environment
Winners of Dubai Awards revealed
An independent international jury, chaired by Ms. Banashree Banerjee of India, announced
the winners of the 2008 Dubai International Awards for Best Practices to improve the
Living Environment. Each winner is awarded prize money of USD 30,000, a trophy and a
commemorative certificate.
The 10 winners for the Best Practice category are:
APROCOBU (Association for the Promotion
of Cooperative Stores for Production, Selling
and Supplying in Burundi) - A multi-ethnic
project promoting reconciliation and alterna-
tive livelihoods to ease pressure on land due to
over-reliance on agriculture. This is in a region
where land shortage is one source of conflict.
Involving Indigenous People in Forest
Management Decision Making, Demo-
cratic Republic of the Congo - A partnership
that transfers global positioning satellite map-
ping techniques for participatory resource man-
agement in indigenous forest communities.
Micro-Gardens in Dakar, Senegal - Shows
how to make small inner-city spaces agricultur-
ally productive to reduce poverty, improve food
security, increase aesthetic value and provide
an input into solutions to global warming.
Marianhill Landfill Conservancy, South
Africa - A state-of-the-art landfill addressing
environmental issues including pollution and
waste management and protection of nature
while enhancing community benefits. Encour-
ages sustainable land use by turning landfill
areas into energy producing areas.
The New Qingpu Practice - Sustainable
Construction of Ecology and Humanity,
China - Showcasing the conservation of a
historic Shanghai neighbourhood taking into
account cultural, environmental and social
values.
Integrated People-Driven Reconstruc-
tion in Post-Tsunami Aceh, Indonesia - A
successful and participatory programme for the
physical, social and economic reconstruction
for tsunami survivors.
For the Best Practice Transfer category, the two winners are:
The Palestinian Housing Council,
Palestine - Has created a participatory and
collaborative structure with significant results
in housing, benefiting more than 5,000 families
and influencing national housing policy.
Spanish Network of Cities for the Cli-
mate, Spain - Joining more than 60 Spanish
cities, a shared local climate change strategy
has been developed, promoting more efficient
use of energy resources in public lighting and
transportation.
“Heartfelt Houses” The pilot
Project: Housing Consolidation and
Environmental Recovery of the Juan
Bobo Stream Basin Area,
Colombia - An initiative that relocates
families from the Juan Bobo river bank, in
a consultative and participatory process,
resulting in better living conditions as
well as environmental recovery of the
river bank.
From Discontent to Collective Action:
A Social Movement that Protected
Balandra Bay, (a social and natural
icon) northwest Mexico - Through
a citizens’ movement - involving over
18,000 citizens, plus federal, state and
municipal governments’ efforts, social
and policy results were achieved for the
long-term protection of Balandra Bay, La
Paz, preventing it from being developed
into tourist and exclusive residential
accommodation that would have affected
250,000 inhabitants.
Partnership in Opportunities for
Empowerment through Technology in
the Americas –POETA, The Americas
- This practice demonstrates social use
of technology by providing IT training
to help overcome unemployment and
social exclusion of people with physical
disabilities in marginalized areas in 18
Latin American countries.
Water and Sanitation Extension
Programme (WASEP), Pakistan - A
large scale participatory programme for
improvement of safe water supply and
sanitation services.

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Transport
Bamboo bicycle launched in Ghana
A new bicycle built from bamboo is set to re-
launch the bicycle as a form of transport in
areas where historically it hasn’t been well
suited – Africa. Most bicycles in Africa are
imported from China or India. The major-
ity are wholly inappropriate as they are not
suited to the local potholed dirt roads that
turn into mud baths immediately after a
heavy downfall of rain. Nor can they be used
to transport products or materials. For these
reasons anything with an engine, whether
it be a motorbike or a car, is the means of
transport most Africans aspire to.
Yet, being cheap to buy and with low run-
ning costs, the bicycle should be the main ve-
hicle for transport for the rural poor and could
help unblock congestion in African cities.
One of the world’s elite bike designers and
builders, Craig Calfee, first latched onto the
idea of building bicycles from bamboo when
he noticed his dog struggling to sink teeth
marks into a stick of bamboo. “The first bike
I built was a little rough,” says Calfee. “I
then built a few more for friends, and people
started asking about them, so I decided to
start offering them to the public.”
Calfee then started thinking about his un-
usual form of transport on a grander scale.
“Bamboo is plentiful in Africa and Asia and
can be easily grown in dry areas with mini-
mal irrigation,” explains Calfee. “It isn’t la-
bour intensive, and doesn’t require electric-
ity or a large investment in equipment.”
Indeed bamboo, often seen as the poor
man’s timber, is probably the strongest natural
material on the planet. It is also environmen-
tally friendly and highly renewable – some-
times growing at more than a metre a day.
After Calfee placed his idea on his web-
site, hoping some investors would support
it, he received an email from David Ho who
was more interested in buying one of Cal-
fee’s carbon-fibre bikes.
“I’m an avid cyclist and came across
Craig’s website,”explains Ho. “I decided that
there was great socio-economic potential to
be had in bringing the concept of the bam-
boo bicycle to the developing world, and was
able to seek seed funding from the Earth
Institute at Columbia University to further
this aim.” Further discussions followed
Middle East and Africa: News
where an agreement was met for a project
to be developed with two main objectives: to
build a better bike for poor Africans and to
stimulate a bicycle building industry in Af-
rica to satisfy local needs.
Trials began in Ghana, which surveyed
the needs of locals in order to guide the de-
sign of the bamboo bike. “Everyone we met
was very excited by the sight of bicycle: it
was like nothing they had ever seen before!”
says Ho. “The locals helped us better under-
stand the need for a bike to withstand rough
off-road terrain; we also got very positive
feedback about the cargo rack we designed,
and have added small design details like
bells and lights due to the constructive input
provided by local residents.”
Production is set to begin next year in
Ghana’s second city, Kumasi, in the hope of
selling the bikes for USD 55, half the cost
of an imported Chinese bike, on a business
plan backed by KPMG.
“Requests for prototypes are coming in
from investors in countries ranging from
Kenya to Argentina and more,” says Ho.
The aim is to set up a network of bamboo
bike-producing factories around sub-Saha-
ran Africa, and other parts of the world, that
will each produce upwards of 20,000 bam-
boo bicycles annually for use in their respec-
tive local markets.
Ho says: “We hope to eventually produce
and sell approximately five million bikes
per year. In order to make that happen, we
will continue to dialogue with interested
parties worldwide, and conduct further
tests on the bikes we are constructing here
in New York.” u
The bamboo bike PHOTO © EARTH INSTITUTE
IN-FOCUS
HEALTH
Arab countries suffer major damage
from air pollution
The Arab Environment and Development
Forum recently published a report say-
ing that Arab countries suffer immensely
from the impacts of primary and second-
ary air pollutants. The Arab population
are displaying an increase in respiratory
and skin diseases, and eye infections,
which are believed to be a consequence
of exposure to and inhalation of pollu-
tion. The Arab Environment Agency say
that governments are currently obliged
to spend more than DH 18 billion to fight
health problems arising from vehicle
emissions. The authorities have reacted
by implementing new legislation to limit
CO 2 emissions.
WATER
Cleaner water for Yemen
A new project to improve water and sani-
tation facilities in Al Howta city in Ye-
men means that 36,000 people will ben-
efit. The work is being financed by the
Islamic Development Bank (IDB) and the
UK Department for International Devel-
opment (DFID). The two organizations
signed a groundbreaking Memorandum
of Understanding in Riyadh in Saudi
Arabia earlier this year.
SECURITY
UN sends help to desperate Gaza resi-
dents
UN-HABITAT sent a field mission to
Gaza as part of the larger UN assessment
team dispatched by the Secretary-Gener-
al of the UN, Ban Ki-moon, after his visit
to the region in January. UN-HABITAT
Executive Director Anna Tibaijuka said:
“In line with UN-HABITAT’s techni-
cal mandate, the focus of this advanced
mission will be on shelter and settle-
ment recovery, and basic infrastructure
rehabilitation. We will also support local
authorities in managing post-conflict re-
construction.”
ENERGY
Chevron to open USD 20 million cen-
tre in Qatar
US energy company Chevron is planning
to set up a Centre for Sustainable Energy
Efficiency in partnership with the Qatar
Science and Technology Park (QSTP).
The Centre’s focus will be to investigate
lighting and cooling technologies that are
required in the extreme climate of the
Middle East.
u r b a n
March 2009 WORLD 75
IN-FOCUS Central and Eastern Europe: News
URBAN STRATEGY
UN-HABITAT official bestowed with
honorary citizenship
Ms. Ligia Ramirez, the head of the UN-
HABITAT’s Belgrade office, has been
granted the honorary citizenship award by
the city of Nis in Serbia, in recognition of
her contribution to the city’s development
strategy and work promoting Nis, both in
Serbia and further afield. The ceremony
took place on 11 January, the same day that
the city celebrates its liberation from the
Ottoman occupation. The city mayor, Milos
Simonovic presented the award together
with the chairman of the city assembly,
Mile Ilic. Ramirez is also the chief technical
advisor for Settlement and Integration of
Refugees Programme (SIRP).
TRANSPORT
Budapest wins award for promoting
clean transport alternatives
The city of Budapest in Hungary has won the
European Mobility Week Award for 2009.
A panel of independent experts deemed the
city to have done the most to raise public
awareness regarding traffic air pollution and
to promote cleaner alternatives. Budapest’s
efforts in promoting sustainable public
transport included two car-free days, a race
for VIPs to demonstrate the efficiency of
public transport, an exhibition of clean and
energy-efficient vehicles, a conference on
air quality and noise mapping and a day
promoting the pleasures of walking in the
historical city centre along the banks of
the Danube. Permanent measures such as
expanding the downtown pedestrian area,
increasing parking fees in the city centre,
improving metro and tram infrastructure
and services, and introducing new bicycle
lanes and park-and-ride facilities have also
been executed. Budapest also closed its ring
road during EMW, reducing transit traffic in
the city by around 25 percent.
TRANSPORT
Central and Eastern European cities
to benefit from new fund for green
transport
The European Investment Bank (EIB) is
providing funding to help cities invest in
more environmentally friendly buses. Special
assistance is being given to Eastern European
countries that need to establish public
transport authorities and an initial fund of
EUR 15 million will be available for cities
needing technical assistance with developing
emission-cutting projects. Mario Aymerich of
the EIB spoke in at a conference in Brussels
in February about the intention behind the
fund, saying that it was to encourage hydrogen
or hybrid buses to be implemented in cities.
Cities that are given financial assistance will
have to first prove that they are working to the
EU’s 20-20-20 policy: reducing greenhouse
gases by 20 percent by 2020, and covering
20 percent of the cities’ energy needs with
renewables by the same date.
u r b a n
76 WORLD March 2009
Climate change
THE 14TH UNITED NATIONS CLIMATE CHANGE CONFERENCE OF THE PARTIES IN POZNAN,
POLAND (COP 14)
Secretary-General warns world leaders: don’t
backslide
The United Nations Secretary-General, Ban Ki-
moon said the world had to avoid backsliding
in the fight against global warming and devise
a “Green New Deal” to fix the twin climate and
economic crises.
He made the remarks in an address to more
than 100 environment ministers from around
the world. He said the crises were an oppor-
tunity to address both challenges simulta-
neously: “Managing the global financial crisis
requires massive global stimulus. A big part of
that spending should be an investment - an in-
vestment in a green future, an investment that
fights climate change, creates millions of green
jobs and spurs green growth.
“We need a Green New Deal”, he told the mi-
nisters gathered in Poznan, Poland for UN cli-
mate talks overshadowed by the concerns about
a global recession. “Yes, the economic crisis is
serious,” he said. “Yet when it comes to climate
change, the stakes are far higher. The climate cri-
sis affects our potential prosperity and peoples’
lives, both now and far into the future.” He
described the need for a deal that works for all
nations, rich as well as poor, saying it had been
embraced with enthusiasm at the recent develo-
pment conference in Doha, Qatar, and at a mee-
ting of finance ministers in Warsaw. “We also
urgently need a deal on climate change to provi-
de the political, legal, and economic framework
to unleash a sustained wave of investment. In
short, our response to the economic crisis must
advance climate goals, and our response to the
climate crisis will advance economic and social
goals,” Ban Ki-moon said. “What we need, to-
day, is leadership – leadership by you.”
Prior to the address he held a private meeting
with heads of UN agencies, including Mrs. Anna
Tibaijuka, Executive Director of UN-HABITAT,
to discuss these issues. She also later attended
an open meeting of the Chief Executive Board of
the United Nations presided by Ban Ki-moon.
The progress so far
The Poznan talks reviewed progress at the halfway
mark of a two-year push to work out a new global
pact to succeed the Kyoto Protocol, the UN pact
binding 37 nations to curb emissions by about five
percent below 1990 levels by 2008-2012.
Mr. Yvo de Boer, Executive Secretary of the
United Nations Framework Convention on Cli-
mate Change, said in a keynote address: “We
need to hear, feel and see your resolve to com-
plete the task that you set us all in Bali a year
ago. You launched the Bali Road Map to fulfill
this task – not to procrastinate on it. The Bali
Road Map is about issues of today, not about
delay.” He cited examples of what he called
clear signs of urgency – Mauritania in the grip
of a triple stranglehold with a spreading desert,
encroaching ocean and worsening floods. The
Maldives island nation saving up for exodus
because of rising seas. “Distrust and suspicion
have haunted these talks for much too long,”
Mr. de Boer said. “This is your opportunity to
move on, to tell the world how you will deliver
together, to tell the world how you will reach out
to each other on finance and technology, to tell
the world how you will create governance struc-
tures for finance in which no one is more equal
than the next.”
Speaking out
Developing nations, such as China and India,
say recession is no excuse for the rich to delay
fighting climate change. “If Europe sends a sig-
nal that it can make deep cuts only in the pros-
perous times, what are the developing countries
supposed to say?” asked Guyana’s President
Bharrat Jagdeo.
In Poznan, a new Adaptation Fund to help
poor countries cope with the impacts of rising
seas, droughts, floods and heat-waves were
among the most contentious issues.
Tuvalu’s Prime Minister Apisai Ielemia, who-
se Pacific island nation is threatened by rising
seas, accused some industrialized nations of
“burying us in red tape” to deny access to cash
in the Adaptation Fund. The fund could reach
about USD 300 million a year by 2012 to help
build coastal defences or develop drought-resis-
tant crops.
“We will not sink,” he said to applause. “We’re
not contemplating migration, we will survive.”
Addressing the plenary on behalf of the world’s
least developed countries, Mr. Mohamed Sha-
reef, Deputy Minister of Housing, Transport and
the Environment of Maldives, said there was no
time to lose. “We understand the need for dis-
cussion and to bring ideas to address climate
change – but we don’t have the luxury to waste
time any more,” he said. “We have to consolidate

Rising sea levels and extreme weather conditions threaten coastlines
our ideas and concrete steps should be agreed
to take the decision on time. Copenhagen is not
even a year from now.” He said the world’s poo-
rest countries appreciated steps being taken by
the European Union. Speaking for the Union,
French Environment Minister Jean-Louis Bar-
loo said the world’s most powerful economic
bloc would be ready to cut its emissions by up to
30 percent if an agreement is reached in Copen-
hagen next year.
Mayors, local authorities say the urban
dimension crucial to climate change talks
Mayors and local authorities representing
cities around the world in December urged
delegates attending a milestone session of
climate change talks to ensure that cities are
kept high on the agenda given that they are
home to half the world’s population and res-
ponsible for most of the emissions that cause
climate change.
“The voice of cities has to be heard at
the COP in Poznan,” said the city’s mayor,
Ryszard Grobelny, referring to the 14th Confe-
rence of the Parties held under the auspices of
the United Nations Climate Change Conference
(UNFCCC). He was speaking at a Local Gover-
nment Climate Session co-organized by Local
Governments for Sustainability (ICLEI) and
the Association of Polish cities.
Think cities, mayors warn
In a joint message to the conference, the ma-
yors said: “We, cities and local governments,
represent half of the world’s population. Cities
consume up to 80 percent of all energy, and
must implement strong local climate actions.
Cities must commit to ambitious reduction
targets, mobilize citizens around the globe;
and offer national-local partnership to limit
global warming.”
“It is the local authorities which have a much
closer relationship with their citizens than natio-
Central and Eastern Europe: News
PHOTO © PATRIZIO MARTORANA
nal governments. It is our duty to ensure that the
opinions and voices of our citizens are heard when
it comes to climate change,” Grobelny said.
Echoing his views, the Mayor of Entebbe Ugan-
da, Stephen Kabuye who serves as Vice-President
of ICLEI, said that local authorities were in a spe-
cial position.
“We need to go to the leaders and we need to
go down to the schools, the places of worship to
spread the gospel of climate change,” he said. The
issues were so important that if not well handled
– all the other problems (of urban poverty) could
get worse, he said.
World leaders meeting in Poznan worked hard
to create a successor treaty to the 1997 Kyoto
Protocol, in which dozens of nations, but not the
United States, agreed to reduce greenhouse gas
emissions. Several mayors said they hoped this
position would now change.
In Bali last year, nations set a goal of negotia-
ting a successor to Kyoto, which expires in 2012,
in Copenhagen in 2009. Delegates in Poznan laid
the foundations for Copenhagen.
But the economic crisis and the timing of the
talks dampened expectations in Poznan. There
was concern that sour economy may discourage
wealthier nations from agreeing to help fund clea-
ner energy in developing countries.
In a message to Poznan, President Barack Oba-
ma, who promised to take strong action on clima-
te change, said: “The time for denial is over. We
all believe what the scientists have been telling us
for years now, that this is a matter of urgency and
national security, and it has to be dealt with in a
serious way. That is what I intend my administra-
tion to do.”
David Cadman, a Vancouver City Councillor
and President of ICLEI added that the problems
were urgent and that the world could no longer
delay on a sound climate change agreement.
“Climate change is happening all around us.
The world’s cities have got it; now national go-
vernments need to hear us.” u
IN-FOCUS
CLIMATE CHANGE
DOW Chemical Company and Alstom
Technology sign MOU to reduce CO2 in
Poland
Europe’s largest coal-fuelled thermal
power station is about to become greener.
The plant, built by Alstom Power Inc. is
in Belchatow in Poland and a new pilot
project is underway to construct a carbon
capture plant at the site. The DOW Chemical
Company’s advanced amine-based scrubbing
technology is expected to be used to help
the new plant capture an estimated 65,000
metric tons of CO2 annually.
TRANSPORT
Asia Minor and Europe to be linked
in pioneering project
An historic rail project that will connect
Europe and Asia will finally become a
reality. The rail link will travel under the
Bosphorus strait in Istanbul and will be
partially constructed under the Sea of
Marmara. Work was due to be completed in
2006, but had to be stopped after important
archaeological finds were unearthed. The
Schindler manufacturing company is
supplying 59 escalators and nine elevators
for stations along the line. The project is one
of the biggest construction developments
currently taking place.
ENERGY
Slovak housing associations win awards
for energy efficiency
Three Slovak housing associations from
Žilina, Prešov and Dolný Kubín were
chosen as winners in 2008’s Energy
Efficiency Excellence Awards. The awards
were organized by the European Bank for
Reconstruction and Development (EBRD)
together with the Ministry of Economy of the
Slovak Republic. There were three categories
of judgement: highest energy-saving
achievement, most effective investment
in energy and highest project return. The
winners all received project financing
through EBRD partner banks. Slovak energy
use is 75 percent higher that the EU average.
CONSTRUCTION
Building better in Serbia
The first phase of a EUR 15 million
programme to provide housing for refugees
in Serbia concluded at a colourful ceremony
the capital Belgrade. The Settlement and
Integration of Refugees Programme (SIRP)
ran from 2004-2008 and was financed by the
Italian government and implemented by UN-
HABITAT. It provided some 670 new homes
for 3,000 refugees and vulnerable people.
The programme has also built institutional
capacities for social housing development,
assisted the social and economic integration
of refugees and displaced people, and helped
boost the development capacity of local
governments. The programme was also
used to assist Serbia’s integration into the
European Union.
u r b a n
March 2009 WORLD 77
LEADERS Conflict in Africa taking the Responsibility to Protect

u r b a n
78 WORLD March 2009

Obituary
Peter Oberlander
P
eter Oberlander, a founding father
of UN-HABITAT, passed away
peacefully on 27 December 2008,
his family announced. An architect and
teacher who became Canada’s first Professor
of Urban and Regional Planning, he was 86.
Just weeks before his death, Professor
Oberlander wrote the main cover story for the
inaugural issue of Urban World on the role of
cities in the future.
He played a crucial political role in con-
vening the UN Conference on Human Settle-
ments (Habitat 1) in Vancouver in 1976 and
the third session of UN-HABITAT’s World
Urban Forum 30 years later.
In 1970, he was called to initiate Canada’s
first Ministry of State for Urban Affairs, and
become its inaugural Secretary (Deputy Min-
ister). He served in that post for three years.
After the Habitat 1 conference he founded the
Centre for Human Settlements at the Univer-
sity of British Colombia in Vancouver.
Between 1980 and 1990 he served on the
Canadian Delegations to the annual meetings
Obituary
Peter Swan
P eter Swan, an Australian nation-
al who served many years with
UN-HABITAT, suffered a heart
attack at his adoptive home in Bangkok,
Thailand on 23 November, 2008. He was
64. Mr. Swan joined the agency in 1989 as
officer in charge of its information division.
From 1995 to 1998 he served in Bangkok,
as Coordinator of the Community Develop-
ment Programme for Asia, before assuming
responsibility for UN-HABITAT’s Cam-
bodia programme in Phnom Penh. Mrs.
Tibaijuka, cited his popularity among col-
leagues, and the role he played in making
the 1996 Istanbul City Summit a success.
He is survived by his wife. u
Peter Oberlander PHOTO © CENTRE FOR HUMAN
SETTLEMENTS , UNIVERSITY OF BRITISH COLOMBIA
of the UN Commission on Human Settle-
ments, Nairobi, Kenya.
“He was a father to us all. Peter was one of
the greatest and most prominent supporters
of the creation of UN-HABITAT,” said the
agency’s Executive Director, Mrs. Anna Tiba-
ijuka in a message of condolences.
From rags to riches on the
streets of Mumbai
S lumdog Millionaire starts at the
end, with 18 year-old orphan Jamal
Malik, from the slums of Mumbai,
just one question anyway from winning the top
prize of 20 million rupees on the Indian version
of Who Wants to be a Millionaire? However,
when the show breaks for the night, before the
all important final question, Jamal is bundled
out of the television studio and taken to the
police station where he is tortured and beaten
by corrupt police, who demand to know how he
cheated. Determined to prove his innocence,
Jamal recalls the story of his life in the Mum-
bai slums, where he and his brother grew up,
of their adventures on the treacherous streets,
of witnessing the murder of their mother in
anti-Muslim riots, the violent and terrifying en-
counters with local gangs, and of Latika, the girl
People URBAN WATCH
“When Mr. Pierre Trudeau was Prime
Minister, he started the Federal Ministry of
Urban Affairs that brought cities to the cabi-
net table in Canada. His personal efforts then
helped bring the United Nations Habitat Fo-
rum to Vancouver in 1976. Thirty years later,
he played the pivotal role in bringing UN-
HABITAT back to its birthplace in Vancouver
for the third session of the World Urban Fo-
rum,” she said.
Professor Oberlander, OC, PhD FRAIC LLD
(HON), was born in Vienna on 29 November
1922. He moved to Canada in 1940 as the Na-
zis rose to power. The first Canadian to obtain
the Master of City Planning and subsequently
the PhD in Urban and Regional Planning from
Harvard University, he served as the UBC Pro-
fessor Emeritus in Community and Regional
Planning, pursuing an active research pro-
gramme at the UBC Centre for Human Settle-
ments until his death.
Concurrently, since 1995, he served as Ad-
junct Professor in Political Science at Simon
Fraser University. Between 1998 and 2008,
he also served as a Federal Citizenship Court
Judge.
Among the many honours conferred upon
him, he and his wife were both named Officers of
the Order of Canada. He is survived by his wife,
three children, and four grandchildren. u
he loved and lost. Through a sequence of dra-
matic flashbacks, Jamal reveals how each of his
own life experiences provided him with the key
to answer each of the game show’s questions.
The brilliant cinematography enables the film
to travel with swiftness and stealth through the
slums and palaces of Mumbai, as the viewer be-
comes engrossed in how and why Jamal came
to be sitting in the Millionaire hot seat. Slum-
dog Millionaire was nominated for 10 Academy
Awards at the 2009 ceremony and went on to
win eight Oscars, the most for any film that
year, including Best Picture and Best Director
for Danny Boyle. It also won five Critics’ Choice
Awards, four Golden Globes, and seven BAFTA
Awards, including Best Film. For an interesting
glimpse into UN-HABITAT’s work in India’s
slums, see the Gwalior story page 32. u
u r b a n
March 2009 WORLD 79
URBAN WATCH People

Hong Kong Dean wins UN- New drive to

HABITAT award bring sport to
slum dwellers
P rofessor Anthony Gar-On Yeh won
the 2008 UN-HABITAT Lecture
Award. The Award is presented by
UN-HABITAT through the Global Research
Network on Human Settlements (HS-Net), an
U N-HABITAT and the Interna-
tional Olympic Committee have
signed a landmark memoran-
international board that advises the agency on its
dum of understanding aimed at empowering
Global Report on Human Settlements. The award
underprivileged communities across the globe
seeks to recognize outstanding and sustained
by encouraging them to take part in sport. The
contribution to research, thinking and practice
UN-HABITAT executive director, Mrs. Anna
in the human settlements field. A key compo-
Tibaijuka stated that “over 50 percent of slum
nent of the award is the delivery, by the winner,
populations are made up of young people and
of a lecture before a live audience. Professor Yeh
there is no better way to give direction and
presented his lecture, entitled GIS as a Planning
motivation than by encouraging them to par-
Support System for the Planning of Harmonious
ticipate in sports.”
Cities at the fourth session of the World Urban
There are also plans for the formation of
Forum, Nanjing, China, in November, 2008. One
a follow-up committee to help maintain in-
of Asia’s foremost urban planners, he is Dean of
ternational cooperation and the exchange of
the Department of Urban Planning and Design at
Professor Anthony Gar-On Yeh information. u
the University of Hong Kong. u
PHOTO © UN-HABITAT

UN-HABITAT Executive Director meets Bill

Clinton
D eveloping countries should
be practising sustainable
development. This was the
upshot of talks between UN-HABITAT’s
Executive Director, Mrs. Anna Tibaijuka
and former US President Bill Clinton at a
meeting of the Clinton Global Initiative
on 14 February in Texas. The pair also
discussed the United Nations Global
Campaign for Sustainable Urbanization and
how the potential of today’s youth should be
harnessed to help in the fight against climate
change and the alleviation of poverty. Other
themes discussed were education, global
health, peace and human rights.
Mr. Clinton convened over 3,000
participants, including university presidents,
students, activists and policy makers to
mobilize their commitments to solve some
the world’s most pressing challenges. The
university prioritized five themes: education,
energy and climate change, global health,
Former US President Bill Clinton chats with Mrs. Tibaijuka in February at a meeting organized by the
Clinton Global Initiative University in Austin, Texas PHOTO © THE CLINTON GLOBAL INITIATIVE peace and human rights, and poverty
alleviation. u

u r b a n
80 WORLD March 2009
 New UN-HABITAT publications

Asset-based Approaches to
Community Development

Best Practices
on Social Sustainability
in Historic Districts

Housing Finance
Mechanisms in Thailand

Land, Property, and

Housing in Somalia

UN-HABITAT
P.O.Box 30030, GPO
Nairobi 00100, Kenya
Tel. (254-20) 762 3120
Fax. (254-20) 762 3477

www.un-habitat.org FOR A BETTER URBAN FUTURE

URBAN WATCH Book review
Reshaping Economic
Geography
By Daniel Biau
T he World Bank 2009 World
Development Report is a
masterpiece. By propos-
ing to reshape economic geography,
it is not always politically correct but
it provides a lot of food for thought,
particularly on the role of urbaniza-
tion in development.
The report starts by analyzing geo-
economic transformations along three
dimensions: density, distance and
division (development in 3-D) and
three geographic scales: local, na-
tional and international. It states that
density is the most important dimen-
sion locally, distance to density the
most important dimension nation-
ally, and division the most important
dimension (or indeed obstacle) inter-
nationally.
Therefore it advocates that urban-
ization, mobility and regional ex-
changes should be encouraged with
the overall objective to facilitate market
access. This is based on the fact that “over
the last two centuries growing cities, mo-
bile people, and vigorous trade have been
the catalysts for progress in the developed
world”. Noting that “a striking attribute of
economic development is its unevenness
across space,” the report also deplores that
“politicians generally view this economic
imbalance disapprovingly.” The authors
criticize “the prescription that economic
growth must be more spatially balanced,”
and affirm: “Governments generally cannot
simultaneously foster economic production
and spread it out smoothly.” Slowing down
urbanization constitutes an ineffective pol-
icy response: this view may not be politi-
cally correct but it is well documented, with
examples taken from all over the world.
u r b a n
82 WORLD March 2009
In its third part the report elaborates
policy recommendations which claim to
be universal on how to combine economic
growth with social development. It discuss-
es the spatial transformations that must
happen for countries to develop.
The report acknowledges that in many
countries such as India and Nigeria the re-
sponse has to be a blend of spatially blind,
connective, and targeted policies. Indeed
many countries face a three-dimensional
challenge and it is over-simplistic to con-
sider that targeted interventions (such as
slum upgrading) should only take place in
highly urbanized countries.
The cornerstone of integration is certainly
public investments in institutions and connec-
tive infrastructure, independently of the level of
urbanization. The WDR prescription to follow
three successive stages sounds rather theoreti-
cal and exaggeratingly normative: If one
accepts that higher densities and shorter
distances make the difference, targeted
interventions can be a useful tool to in-
fluence these two spatial factors.
The division dimension (the third
D) is more problematic as it refers
to the impermeability of borders and
national differences in regulations.
Here the report recommends – in
its last chapter – systematic regional
integration, as divisions hamper the
movements of labour and capital. But
it falls short of criticizing the barriers
to international migration. Regional
integration is certainly desirable,
particularly in Africa, but global in-
tegration and cooperation remain an
economic challenge, specifically for
developing regions located near large
world markets.
Finally some comforting state-
ments deserve, because they come
from the World Bank, to be highlighted
such as “the best predictor of income in the
world today is not what or whom you know,
but where you work” or “more rapid pov-
erty reduction will probably require a faster
pace of urbanization, not a slower one”, or
“climate change calls for a different urban
form, not slower urbanization” and even:
“cities without slums is not a realistic vi-
sion for developing countries”!
Drafted by dozens of researchers Re-
shaping Economic Geography is a much
welcome and provoking must-read for all
human settlements experts. u
World Bank, World Development Report
2009: Reshaping Economic Geography,
Washington, DC: World Bank, 2009. Re-
viewed by Daniel Biau.
 Conference and events calendar URBAN WATCH

C40 Climate Leadership Group Seoul Summit C40 mayors – including C40 Cities group chairman, David Miller –
18-21 May 2009 and mayors from affiliate cities, together with policy makers, experts
The Shilla, Seoul, Korea and scholars in climate, transportation and energy fields will meet to
www.c40seoulsummit.com discuss opinions with regards to tackling climate change in large cities.
There will also be a simultaneous Climate Change Expo offering the
latest climate change related technologies. Bill Clinton will be among
those attending the event on behalf of the Clinton Climate Initiative.

GC22 (UN-HABITAT event): The 22nd Session of the The Governing Council meets every two years to examine UN-HAB-
Governing Council ITAT’s work and relationships with its partners. The Council is com-
30 March-3 April 2009 posed of 58 member states. It is a high-level forum of governments at
Nairobi, Kenya the ministerial level during which policy guidelines and the organiza-
http://www.unhabitat.org/list.asp?typeid=11&catid=26 tion’s budget are established for the next two-year period.

Global City A forum for the public and private sector to exchange best practic-
7-8 April 2009 es and exchange ideas on sustainable urban strategies. Attendees
Emirates Palace, Abu Dhabi will include mayors, urban planners, decision-makers, leaders and
www.globalcityforum.com renowned speakers such as government advisors, CEOs of major
corporations, architects and municipality officials.

eeGlobal: Energy Efficiency Global Forum and The eeGlobal Forum is organized by the Alliance to Save Energy and
Exposition aims to discuss and define why energy efficiency is paramount in the
27-29 April 2009 battle to keep up with the world’s energy demands in the cleanest way.
Palais des Congres, Paris, France Speakers include world-class energy efficiency leaders from industry,
http://eeglobalforum.org/ government, and non-profit organizations. Discussions will share
information and strategies on the latest technical, commercial, and
policy information.

Euro-Syrian Cities Congress The Regional Centre for Sustainable Local Development organize
9-10 May 2009 the two-day Euro-Syrian Cities congress, which is the initiative of
Damascus, Syria the EC funded Municipal Administration Modernization (MAM)
http://websites.mam-sy.org/home.php programme. The aim is to bring together European and Syrian
representatives from local authorities and decision-makers in local
development. The congress and its workshops will set the frame-
work for knowledge-sharing, and will instigate networking to lay
down the foundations of future Euro-Syrian local partnerships.

Canadian Sustainability Indicators Network: Fourth
international conference on sustainable development
and planning
13-15 May 2009
Limassol, Cyprus
http://www.csin-rcid.ca/event.aspx?id=5612
Following three previous, successful conferences in Skiathos, Bo-
logna and the Algarve, this event will focus on issues pertaining to
regional sustainable development and planning. The mission of the
conference is to encourage planners, environmentalists, architects,
engineers, policy makers and economists to work together in order
to ensure that planning and development can continue sustainably.
The conference will be of interest to planners, environmentalists, en-
gineers, architects, ecologists, economists, policy makers and other
governmental officials, researchers and academics involved in the
field of sustainability.

Low Carbon Cities: 45th ISOCARP International The Low Carbon Cities Congress is the annual meeting of the global
Congress group of experienced, professional planners who make up ISOCARP.
18-22 October 2009 Attendees to the event will discuss ways to find an international strategy
Porto, Portugal to reverse the current trend of increasing C02 emissions. The congress
www.isocarp.org will explore the role of planning and development in reducing green-
house gas in the atmosphere through creating low-carbon cities.

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URBAN WATCH Conference briefing

The World Urban Forum – the world’s

premier conference on cities
Swelling cities pose fresh global
challenges, leaders warn By Paul Okunlola

A t the epoch making Fourth Ses-

sion of the UN-HABITAT World
Urban Forum hosted by the Chi-
nese city of Nanjing, the strongest message
coming out was that the swelling cities of the
world are posing fresh challenges every day.
The 3-6 November 2008 Forum drew
nearly 8,000 participants from some 155
countries with its exhibition alone attracting
more than 20,000 visitors in just four days.
Barely a speaker at the UN-HABITAT bi-
ennial gathering missed a chance to give their
views of what a harmonious city is all about.
Setting the tone in the first opening state-
ment, Mr. Jiang Hongkun, the Mayor of Nan-
jing, said: “Building harmonious cities is our
vision. This session of the Forum convened
to discuss the theme, harmonious urbaniza-
tion, will promote new ways of building cities
at home and abroad.”
The city was adorned with flyers and post- The poorest people in cities face appalling living
ers welcoming Forum visitors and laser light conditions PHOTO © ALEX BALINT
shows lit up the night skies from high build-
ings in the newly modernized city.

More and more people are swarming into cities,

causing overcrowding PHOTO © CÉCILE GENG

These staggering figures are testimony that

the UN-HABITAT World Urban Forum, held
every two years, is now firmly established as
the world’s premier conference on cities.
As delegates from around the world ex-
changed views in the newly built giant Nan-
jing convention and exhibition centre, the
buzzwords on everyone’s lips at the fourth
session of the World Urban Forum were “har-
monious urbanization”. Slum dwellers worldwide are being forced into deeper poverty PHOTO © VIVEK CHUG

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84 WORLD March 2009
 Conference briefing URBAN WATCH

“Since the end of last year, we have wit- The Vice Premier of the People’s Republic
nessed a succession of crises, the scale and of China, Dejiang Zhang, told the gathering
pace of which took us all by surprise. The year that in the light of the population challenges
started with a fuel and food crisis, after cli- facing his country, China itself was opting to
mate change had been confirmed as a fact of adopt a coordinated development approach
life to which we must adapt or perish. Before between its cities and regions, with spe-
we could come to grips with these serious cial emphasis on energy saving and climate
matters, a sub-prime mortgage meltdown in change mitigation.
the United States was to unleash a financial
crisis whose contagion has been so fast and The urbanization story in numbers
so vast that the entire world is now grappling A UN-HABITAT status report, The State of
UN predictions state that by 2030 more than five with the effects. the World’s Cities launched at the forum has
billion people will reside in cities PHOTO © CARARR “The financial crisis, the threat of global reces- revealed that the growing level of inequali-
sion and the huge swings in commodity prices ties in income and access to adequate shel-
and stock markets further threaten the founda- ter have become socially and economically
World leaders caution on rapid
tions of globalization that have underpinned unsustainable, posing such threats as social
urbanization
global growth for the past decade. We are wit- unrest, reduced economic efficiency, reduced
Against the milieu of the global financial cri-
nessing a resurgence of protectionism combined level of investments and, diversion of security
sis, world leaders at the meeting warned that
dangerous new threats had emerged on the
international development agenda, as devel-
oping countries grapple with the effects of the
growing tide of people swarming into cities in
search of better livelihoods.
For his part, Kenya’s Prime Minister Raila
Odinga said the urbanization challenge now
facing countries in the developing world had al-
ready snowballed into a “crisis of global dimen-
sions,” while United Nations officials alerted
that some 1.2 billion slum dwellers worldwide
may be on the verge of being forced deeper into
poverty by prevailing economic conditions.
New studies published by UN-HABITAT at
the Forum show that no fewer than three million
people are being added to the population of the
world’s cities every week – or some five million
people each month – as demographic changes
ensure that the world’s population becomes
predominantly urban for the first time ever, this
year.
Human migration to urban centres continues PHOTO © SOFIA HENRIQUES
Said Mr. Odinga: “The UN predicts that by
2030, the number of city inhabitants will be
over five billion, or 60 percent of the world’s with credit contraction that can further exacer- funds to security issues. No fewer that 25 mil-
population. We have been warned that unless bate and worsen a global recession.” lion people in Africa are at risk of sea level
policy makers undertake a radical rethink, we UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon also rise from climate change, with the most vul-
face disaster. When we look at the progress of warned delegates that the attainment of the nerable cities being Alexandria (Egypt) Da-
human migration to urban centres over the Millennium Development Goals could be kar (Senegal), Lagos (Nigeria), Abidjan (Cote
years, we will know that time is not on our threatened if the urbanization crisis was not D I’voire), Cotonou (Cameroon), Tunis (Tu-
side, and we will treat 2030 or 2050 as if they effectively addressed. nisia), Mombasa (Kenya), Freetown (Sierra
were next year, if not next week.” “There are many billions of people suffering Leone) and Maputo (Mozambique).
In her address, UN-HABITAT Executive from a lack of affordable housing and all the fa- For the poor represented by some civil
Director Mrs. Anna Tibaijuka, noted that cilities that make life decent,” the Secretary-Gen- society groups, for young people represent-
the times are testy for development planners eral said. “We must work together and generate ed by youth groups, or women’s organiza-
around the world, who now have to tackle the the political will to have a smooth implementa- tions, the concept carried a message of hope
growing consequences from the world’s pre- tion of the Millennium Development Goals and easy to understand in a world urbanizing so
vailing economic crises. work more closely and harder than before.” quickly that, according to UN-HABITAT

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March 2009 WORLD 85
URBAN WATCH Conference briefing

the Vice Premier of the People’s Republic
of China, H.H. Dejiang Zhang; China’s
Minister of Housing and Urban-Rural De-
velopment, Hon. Jiang Weixin; the Gover-
nor of Jiangsu Province Lou ZhiJun, the
Mayor of Nanjing Jiang Hongkun; and
for their warm welcome to us and our del-
egations. And not least Mr. Qi Ji, Deputy
Minister of Housing and Urban-Rural De-
velopment, and the Forum, Chair, Deputy
Mayor Lu Bing of the City of Nanjing,” said
Anna Tibaijuka.
“This word of thanks goes out also to their
assistants, their staff and the ever attentive
multilingual young people who were at every
venue to give a helping hand – and always with
a smile.
“If we think back on the Forum, it is the
smiles and kindness shown us all that remain
uppermost in our minds,” she said.
She also thanked the Governments of
Norway for providing financial support
towards civil society participation at the
Forum and the Kingdom of Bahrain for
sponsoring the Khalifa bin Salman Al Khal-
ifa Award, which will from now onwards
become a standing feature of the biennial
event. u

Space in city centres is hard to come by

PHOTO © C2 RINGO Other highlights of the Forum
figures, two-thirds of humanity will be living
The World Urban Youth Forum
in towns and cities in another generation.
More than 500 youth activists from over 50 countries worldwide, gathered in Nan-
Mr. Antonio Maria Costa, Executive Di-
jing, China, for the opening of the UN-HABITAT World Urban Youth Forum.
rector United Nations Office on Drugs and
The two-day conference, hosted by the Nanjing Municipal Committee of the Chinese
Crime, warned that in a new urban age with
Communist Party Youth League, is third biennial session of its kind, and takes place
most people living in cities, urban crime was
traditionally on the eve of the World Urban Forum. This year, youth delegates dis-
likely to increase.
cussed the theme: “Harmonious Urbanization: The Challenge of Balanced Territorial
“The rise in crime is bound to continue and
Development.”
accelerate as urbanization – especially in Af-
rica and the Caribbean – continues to grow at
African Mayors
a rapid pace. This carries important implica-
African Mayors from the Lake Victoria region signed an agreement with the Yangpu
tions for global – and not simply local – secu-
District of the Municipal Government of Shanghai for enhanced cooperation and
rity,” he said.
exchange programmes. The agreement was signed during the fourth session of the
He cited reports on regions where crime
World Urban Forum in Nanjing.
had had an impact on development – for
Ms. Zong Ming, Magistrate of Yangpu joined the mayors of 21 towns from Tanzania,
example in Africa, the Balkans, the Carib-
Kenya and Uganda which all border Africa’s greatest lake at a colourful signing cer-
bean and Central America. His office had
emony witnessed by UN-HABITAT Executive Director Anna Tibaijuka.
demonstrated the link: under-development
increases vulnerability to crime, and crime
Business leaders
hurts development.
Private sector leaders brainstormed on how to build greener cities even as they push
their bottom lines. Business leaders committed to corporate responsibility discussed
The success
ways of improving living conditions and achieving harmonious cities. They sought
The success of the Forum in 2008 was due to
ways to ensure responsible business practices for sustainable urbanization and the
the intense interest and concern about mod-
core principles that could underpin it. They also discussed affordable technologies
ern life in a rapidly urbanising planet shown
and business models that could work for the urban poor at the bottom of the eco-
by participating partners from nearly every
nomic pyramid, so that cities and towns are safer, more equitable, harmonious – and
walk of life. And it was also thanks t0 the tre-
better for business.
mendous efforts of the People’s Republic of
China to ensure that everything in Nanjing
New youth fund
worked smoothly, even though the meet-
UN-HABITAT in November unveiled a groundbreaking fund to finance youth-led
ing was held in the aftermath of the Sichuan
development projects around the world. The Opportunities Fund for Urban Youth-
earthquake – one of the most devastating
Led Development, announced at the Forum was created to engage young people in
in living memory. Not least, it also followed
achieving sustainable urbanization. The Fund is initially being financed through a
closely on the heels of the 2008 Olympic
USD 2,000,000 grant over two years from the Government of Norway. Other gov-
Games in China.
ernments and donors are being invited to contribute.
“In expressing our heartfelt apprecia-
tion, it is important especially to cite here

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86 WORLD March 2009
World Urban Forum 5
The Right to the City: bridging the urban gap

In 1996, during the Habitat II Conference in Istanbul, the right to housing was enshrined, and
the Right to the City was launched successfully on a world level. The Urban Forums that took
place after Istanbul narrowed their focus to cities at the same time as the world’s population
was migrating to cities on an increasing basis. But at that time, cities were still not ready
to accommodate such people, who were seeking shelter, services and to participate in the
economy.

Today we need to rethink and renegotiate the fundamental bases of the city we want. We live
in different countries but consume global products, we move around in the same way and
use the same natural resources. The World Urban Forum aims to address problems that are
repeated in each of our cities, where we want to enjoy, collectively, the benefits offered by
modernity and human development.

We understand that the city is a collective space, culturally rich and diversified, that belongs to
all its inhabitants and where their social functions must assure the universal, just, democratic
and sustainable distribution of wealth, services, goods and opportunities.The Right to the City
should be understood as a right to fair use, within the principles of sustainability, democracy,
equity and social justice. The city of people linked through emotional and cultural ties with
diversity and plurality expressed through ways of life and identity, is the main stage of social
experiences enlivened by disputes over territory and power.

Adoption of the Right to the City, as a frame of reference to lead to the construction of a more hu-
mane, democratic and sustainable city, has been chosen by Brazil as the strategic and conceptual
theme of the 5th World Urban Forum and will be submitted for approval to the Secretariat of the
World Urban Forum in Nairobi during the 22nd Session of the Governing Council.

The World Urban Forum to be held in March 2010 in the city of Rio de Janeiro will seek to
encourage discussions to establish the Right to the City in other countries and to ensure its
implementation and effectiveness by means of appropriate regulations, programs, activi-
ties, projects and policies. Interested parties from various countries will present their own
experiences including a list of rights which have not yet been addressed by policies and
public action.

One of the goals of the Forum must be to admit that these rights should be established
and that governments, the private sector and the general public can and must act to
make them concrete and not theoretical. When defending the Right to the City, one
is also defending the right to a democratic
space that challenges the exclusion and
fragmentation existing in our cities today.

These concepts will be brought to life in WUF5

through six strategic themes which will drive
discussion and the media debate. The panels
and networking events will contribute to the
content of session summaries to be presented
at the end of each day.

The six strategic themes are:

l Right to the City

l Funding of Cities
l Participatory Democracy
l Inclusive Cities
l Cultural Diversity in Cities
l Sustainable Urban Development

An agenda of events and discussions will also be

drawn up from the “concept documents” provided
by international specialists in each of the six stra-
tegic areas. The idea is to improve the debate not
only for the benefit of attendees at sessions but
also for those attending the networking events.

We hope that from these events, the Forum will

promote a dialogue and build common commit-
ments that result in new solutions for our cities.
To rethink our urban utopia is the main task. Our
challenge now is to learn with the rest of the world,
taking into account the needs of our partners so
that best practices and actions are multiplied in
every city, creating a better world where every-
one can live with dignity, respect and citizenship.