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 The Cities Alliance welcomes and applauds the launch
on 27 June of the United Nations Population Fund's
2007 The State of World Population Report.
This very significant report is entitled
Unleashing the Potential
of Urban Growth and, while having a
global focus, pays particular attention to the
situation in Africa and Asia. Both the Statement of
the UNFPA Executive Director, Thoraya Ahmed Obaid,
and the accompanying press release contain some very
powerful and direct messages drawing attention to
the global implications of urbanisation, and the
need for an urgent global response. What is
particularly noteworthy is the emphasis that is
placed on the need to capture the positive impacts
of urbanisation. This approach resonates very
strongly with the key messages that the Cities
Alliance has been promoting over the past few years,
and is underscored by the three key challenges
identified by UNFPA.
The report highlights
the need to:
-
Accept the right
of poor people to the city, abandoning attempts
to discourage migration and prevent urban
growth;
-
Adopt a broad and
long-term vision of the use of urban space
(providing minimally serviced land for housing,
planning in advance to promote sustainable land
use, and looking beyond the cities' borders to
minimize their `ecological footprint'); and
-
Begin a concerted
international effort to support strategies for
the urban future.
The last challenge, in particular, reinforces the
policy discussion held at the 2006 meeting of the
Cities Alliance, held in Washington DC, during which
Cities Alliance members deliberated on the need for
ongoing advocacy to raise the profile of the urban
challenge, stressing the need for urgent action
while viewing urbanisation as a potentially enormous
and historic social and economic opportunity, rather
than as a threat. The first priority remains
improving the policy framework adopted by developing
countries and cities, and also changing the mindset
of many international development agencies. As the
report states, 'No country in the industrialized age
has ever achieved significant economic growth
without urbanization'.
With this latest report, UNFPA has reinforced and
greatly advanced this debate, and has also done so
in clear and unambiguous language.
The full media kit for The State of World
Population 2007 report is available at:
www.unfpa.org/swp
The press kit for The State of World Population
2007 report is available at:
http://www.unfpa.org/swp/2007/presskit/index.htm
For
more information, please contact:
Omar Gharzeddine
gharzeddine@unfpa.org
Tel: +1-212 297-5028
Mobile: +1-917-815-7823
Katja Iversen
iversen@unfpa.org
Tel: +1- 212 297-5016
Mobile:+1-917-403-3063
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