World Environment Day: 5 June 2005 - Message from the Commonwealth Secretary-General, Don McKinnon
3 June 2005
We are living in a rapidly urbanising world. By 2030, more than 60 per cent of us will live in a city.
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| The global trend towards urban living presents many challenges for Commonwealth countries. |
We are living in a rapidly urbanising world. By 2030, more than 60 per cent of us will live in a city. The trend presents a major challenge, particularly for developing countries, requiring vision and planning now, for the future.
There are two main challenges. First, there is the urgent need to tackle poverty as urbanisation continues. Many people in low- and middle-income Commonwealth countries live in overcrowded homes of poor quality that lack adequate provision for water, sanitation and waste management. The picture is particularly stark when you focus on slums and separate these out from the wider urban picture. Through an innovative partnership of Commonwealth institutions called ComHabitat, the Commonwealth is supporting action on human settlements. ComHabitat is examining indicators of progress towards the Habitat Agenda, looking at mechanisms and options for urban finance, and working on issues related to urban governance and secure tenure. In particular, it provides opportunities for those working in these fields to share knowledge, experience, expertise, methods and insights with other practitioners.
The second challenge is to make our future cities 'green'. The Kenyan Nobel Peace Prize Laureate, Wangari Maathai, has campaigned to plant tens of millions of trees across Africa to slow deforestation. She has also fought for open spaces and a clean and healthy environment in cities. It is for all of us to make our cities more environmentally-friendly, to reduce the impacts that city dwellers have on the vital environmental resources that are their life-blood - such as air quality, water resources and the climate. This requires us to play an active role. As professionals, by planning and implementing energy-efficient buildings and transport systems; as informed citizens, by supporting policies that promote effective waste management and the judicial development and use of energy resources; and as members of our family and community, by taking direct action ourselves. With their awareness and commitment, young people are often the ones who take a lead in persuading families and communities to improve their use of resources. The Commonwealth Secretariat recently took steps to manage its own day-to-day waste and use of energy more effectively. It increased its recycling rate from 24% to 63%, cut electricity use by 8% just by 'switching off' when equipment was not needed, and reduced the amount of paper used by each staff member by about 17 sheets of paper a day. If all of us can do a little bit to conserve energy and the environment, this will add up to a positive effect overall.
Cities and the environment have a close relationship with one another. The city depends on the environment to absorb its wastes and provide basic life-services. To enable our cities to flourish in the future, we also need to invest in the environment today. Without effective management of watersheds, forest resources, rivers, and climate change and desertification, there can be no sustainable provision of clean water to cities in sufficient quantities to meet the demands of 2030. We must all plan and act now to create green cities of the future.
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