MAYORS OF ASIA-PACIFIC CITIES DISCUSS NEW URBAN AGENDA DURING APUF-6 by Fardah

     Jakarta, Oct 20, 2015 (Antara)- A number of mayors from cities across the Asian and Pacific nations are gathering in Jakarta for the Sixth Asia-Pacific Urban Forum (APUF-6) taking place from October 19 to 21, 2015, organized jointly by the Indonesian government and the United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (ESCAP).

         The APUF 6 carrying the theme, "Sustainable Urban Development in Asia-Pacific: Towards a New Urban Agenda", is held back-to-back with the Asia-Pacific Urban Youth Assembly (APUFY 2015) from October 17 to 18 October, and the High-Level Preparatory Meeting for Habitat III from October 21 to 22, 2015.

         The third High-Level Preparatory Meeting for Habitat III will be organized in Surabaya, East Java Province, in July 2016.

         Indonesian Public Works and Public Housing Minister Basuki Hadimulyono officially opened both the APUF-6 and the APUFY 2015 participated in by some 300 youngsters from 34 Asia-Pacific countries to discuss the future of urban areas.

         In his speech, Hadimulyono explained that the youth have a strategic role in building the future of the city and in realizing the development of sustainable and inclusive cities.

         Youngsters in the Asia-Pacific region represent more than half of the global youth population and increasingly dwell in cities. Around 717 million young women and men live in the Asia-Pacific region. 
    Urbanization will continue to be Asia-Pacific's engine for economic growth and social transformation for decades to come, affecting several youngsters.

         The region is already home to the world's largest urban population. Yet with all the rapid urbanization, Asia is still the second least urbanized region after Africa. 
    "Explosion in urbanization can have a bad impact if it is not managed well. Every year, 50 percent of village population migrates to urban areas," the minister said.

         In the Assembly, they discussed six main agenda on urban issues, namely on social cohesion and justice, city spatial planning,  ecology and the environment, and urban settlements and basic services.

         Indonesian speakers in the APUF-6 and the APUFY 2015 included Governor of Jakarta Basuki Tjahaja Purnama, Deputy Minister of Youth and Sports Gatot S Dewabroto,  Mayor of Bogor Bima Arya Sugiarto and Mayor of Tangerang Arief R. Wismansyah.

         The Asia-Pacific Urban Forum is a multi-stakeholder meeting organized every 4-5 years by the United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (ESCAP) in order to provide a platform for urban policy actors in the region to discuss emerging and critical urban development issues. The forum thereby facilitates the sharing of experiences, good practices and approaches which encourage the formation of new stakeholder partnerships.

         The outcomes of APUF-6, in the form of an APUF Call for Action, will be circulated and presented at the Habitat III Regional Meeting to inform member State discussions.

         The outcomes of both APUF-6 and the Habitat III Regional Meeting for Asia-Pacific will feed into the Habitat III preparatory process and inform the drafting of its outcome document.

         On the sidelines of the APUF-6, a UN Report entitled "State of Asian and Pacific Cities 2015: Urban Transformations - shifting from quantity to quality" was launched on October 20, 2016.

         The report warned unprecedented shifts in population in urban areas of the Asia and Pacific region, which is already home to 17 of the world's megacities, with populations exceeding 10 million.

         The new report highlights the region's urban transformation progress and underscores the ur9gent need to make it more sustainable.

         Being compiled by ESCAP and the UN Human Settlements Programme (UN HABITAT), the report highlights growing gaps between current urbanization patterns and what is needed to shift to a more inclusive and sustainable urban future, in which the role of the region's cities is unquestionably tied to national, regional and global development prospects.

         "Urban demographics will magnify our challenges, as they accompany steeper growth in national outputs, which already outpace population growth. Growing demand will increase policy and resource pressures, as our cities will be home to a middle class of 2 billion people by 2050," said Shamshad Akhtar, the Executive Secretary of the UN Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (ESCAP).

         In 2018 the region will have more than half of its population is expected to then be living in urban agglomerations. Additionally, a further one billion people will be added to the region's cities by 2040 and by 2050 the urban population in Asia and the Pacific will reach 3.2 billion.

         Currently, the region is home to 17 megacities, each of which exceeds 10 million inhabitants. According to the report, the region will have 22 megacities by 2030.

         The report states that the current economic dynamism in the region¿s urban areas that has spurred a rise in the size of middle classes still witnesses widening gaps and growing inequalities.

         Youth employments, rising number of urban poor, lack of rights, rising urban living costs, lack of access to adequate services and housing are some of the challenges facing the urban population.

         Widening disparities threaten to undermine social cohesion, and affordability is at a crisis point in many of the region's larger cities.

         The report also highlights the environmental challenges facing the urban cities of Asia-Pacific where an increasing number of cities face liveability crises, evidenced by deteriorating air standards and water pollution.

         They are also highly vulnerable to natural disasters and climate change activities with poor and disadvantaged communities being more at risk.

         The report also stressed that the recently adopted 2030 Agenda and the 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) by the world leaders at the UN General Assembly provides a broad architecture to tackle these challenges as it includes a dedicated Sustainable Development Goal and several other Goals that supports sustainable urban transformation.

         "The need for strong leadership and political commitment, both at the national and subnational levels, to gear up responses, learn and adapt from the region's successful stories of urban transformations, and deploy innovation and newer technologies, strengthening local governance institutions and working more closely with private sector to manage urbanization," Akhtar said. ***4***
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21-10-2015 00:15:23