The Role of Cities in

Global Development Agendas

Seventh Regional Workshop on Integrated Resource

Management in Asian Cities: the Urban Nexus

Tanjungpinang, Indonesia, 19 – 21 July 2017

KK Philip Kang

Economic Affairs Officer, Sustainable Urban Development Section,

Environment & Development Division, UN ESCAP, Bangkok

Urbanization & Growth Trends

1,875

326

269

251

233

225

223

221

206

188

2,219

689

411

1,112

400

424

454

342

1,028

480

0 500 1000 1500 2000 2500

Tokyo

Moscow

Sydney

Shanghai

Seoul

Hong Kong, China

Singapore

Melbourne

Beijing

Istanbul

Absolute total population numbers, by region, 2000-2050

(thousands)

Source: ESCAP, The State of Asia and Pacific Cities 2015

Source: ESCAP, The State of Asia and Pacific Cities 2015, FP, 2012

Estimated GDP for the Largest Urban Economies in the Region (USD billions)

2010 2025

4 BILLION GLOBALLY LIVE

IN URBAN AREAS

IN 2007 MAJORITY LIVED IN

URBAN AREAS

80% GLOBAL GDP

PRODUCED IN CITIES

60% OF POPULATION

LIVE IN URBAN AREAS, BY

2030

Asia-

Pacific

Urbanization & Growth Trends

Source: ESCAP, SDG Baseline Report, Statistical Yearbook for AP 2016

Asia-Pacific population steadily rising & prospering economically

Urbanization & Growth Trends

Source: ESCAP, SDG Baseline Report, Statistical Yearbook for AP 2016

However, persistent poverty lingers socially & environmentally

Urbanization Growth & Trends

Urban

expansion

in the

Jakarta,

Indonesia,

urban

area,

2000-

2010

Urban

sprawl in

Kabul,

Afghanistan

has grown

7 fold since

2001

Urban Sprawl

Asia-Pacific cities tend to ‘radiate-out’ rather than be compact.

Land Grabbing

3.7% annual rate of urban land cover expansion, urban population increase 1.6% (Angel, 2012)

Mega-regions

Pearl River Delta

Delhi-Mumbai Corridor

Greater Tokyo Area

Jakarta (Jabodetabek)

Most cities are NOT shifting towards compact forms.

Blurring rural/urban interface: administrative boundaries & land use planning dimensions.

Pearl River Delta Region, China

“ECONOMIC HUB OF CHINA – FACTORY OF THE WORLD”

v

LARGEST URBAN AREA IN THE WORLD: 39,380 KM2 /15,200 SQ. MILES

Pollution & health: Waste-water containing chemicals with proven or suspected hazardous properties including beryllium, copper, manganese and heavy metals

v

• Population of 57 million • 9 largest prefectures of Guangdong Province • 8.7% of GDP • 35.8% of total trade • 29.3% utilized foreign capital (2001)

Resource Use in Cities & Urban Areas

• Pressures ecological capacity impacting natural environment • Increases the level of air, water and soil pollution • Leads to dire social and health consequences

• Major economic push led by Japan, ROK, China, India, RF, ASEAN, APEC • Followed intensive resource based economic models: import

substitution export orientation free trade agreements innovation & technology

• Asia-Pacific consumes more than half of world’s natural resources w/ increasing resource use per person.

• Developing countries in the region use 5 times more materials/US$ of GDP than the rest of the world.

Resource Use in Cities & Urban Areas

By 2030, we will need at least 50% MORE FOOD, 45% MORE ENERGY, 30% MORE WATER.

UN SECRETARY-GENERAL’s STATEMENT AT THE UN GENERAL ASSEMBLYY

“

”

OCCUPY

3% OF

LAND SURFACE

PRODUCE

50% OF

GLOBAL WASTE

ACCOUNT FOR

60-80% GLOBAL GHG EMISSIONS

CONSUME

75% OF

NATURAL RESOURCES

GENERATE

80% OF

GLOBAL GDP

CITIES ARE

RESOURCE INTENSE

Source: UNEP, Global Initiative for Resource Efficient Cities

Resource Use in Cities & Urban Areas

60% of future urban areas to be built by 2030

New urban middle classes a major social, economic & political force

High density of cities can bring efficiency gains & technological innovation while reducing resource and energy consumption

Bridge resource gaps: energy, water – waste to resource/circular economy principles must underpin future strategies

It is no longer possible or affordable to address these crises in isolation: integrated/nexus solutions are essential for eco-efficiency

QUANTITY QUALITY

URBAN TRANSFORMATION

EXPLOITATION INVESTMENT

How do we think urban transformation?

10

Think about producing more with less

Think resource savings & efficient methodology

Think about consuming wisely

Think about environmental consequences

Think about robust infrastructure designs

There is a global movement & commitment to make the transformative change!

Key Global Agendas Concerning Cities

• Sendai Framework for Disaster Risk

Reduction 2015-2030

• Addis Ababa Action Agenda

• 2030 Agenda for Sustainable

Development

• Paris Agreement under the UNFCCC

• Habitat III: New Urban Agenda

11

Asia-Pacific Regional Agendas

• Asia-Pacific Forum on Sustainable Development

• ESCAP Resolution 70/12 - Strengthening efforts on human settlements and sustainable urban development for the Asia-Pacific region

• 6th Asia-Pacific Urban Forum – Jakarta Call for Action

• AP SDG Knowledge Platform

Paris Agreement

• 197 Parties adopted the Paris Agreement: legally-binding framework

• Global goal of well below 2°C on pre-industrial averages.

• Emphasis on processes rather than on defined mitigation goals

• A requirement for mitigation measures – INDCs

• Explicitly acknowledges the role of non-party stakeholders, including cities and other subnational authorities and encouraged them to scale-up their efforts and support actions to reduce emissions and/or to build resilience and decrease vulnerability to the adverse effects of climate change.

• “Acknowledges that adaptation action should follow…. local knowledge systems, with a view to integrating adaptation into policies and actions.”

New Urban Agenda

Third United Nations Conference on

Housing and Sustainable Urban

Development (Habitat III), Quito,

Ecuador, 17-20 October 2016

Mandate: ‘New Urban Agenda adopted’

Relevance of Urban Nexus to NUA

Direct linkages of Urban Nexus to the NUA Commitments, including:

Paragraph 51 – to promote the development of urban spatial frameworks, including urban planning and design instruments that support sustainable management and use of natural resources and land, strengthen food system planning, enhance resource efficiency, urban resilience, and environmental sustainability

Paragraph 70 - to support local provision of goods and basic services, leveraging the proximity of resources, recognizing that a heavy reliance on distant sources of energy, water, food, and materials can pose sustainability challenges

Paragraph 95 – Support implementing integrated, polycentric and balanced territorial development policies and plans, encouraging cooperation and mutual support among different scales of cities

Regional Voices Shared: APUF-6, Jakarta

- The sixth Asia-Pacific Urban Forum, Jakarta,19-21 October 2015

- Organized in partnership with Government of Indonesia/30 regional partners/900 participants

- Conveyed our message on integrated resource management to Habitat III

- Adopted the ‘APUF-6 Jakarta Call for Action’

- Urban Nexus was explicitly captured in the outcomes of APUF:

“Meeting current and future natural resource demands in cities, in particular for energy, water and food, as well as housing and basic services, requires the adoption of a nexus approach and a shift from sectoral to integrated and ecosystem-based planning. It also requires a shift from competitive to collaborative governance among neighbouring municipalities and across departments, including financing mechanisms.”

Urban Nexus & Implementing Global Agendas

What are SDGs? 193 Member States adopted SDGs on 25 September 2016 at GA in NY Over 15 years, the 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) will

mobilize efforts to end forms of poverty, fight inequalities and tackle climate change, while ensuring no one is left behind

There are 169 targets & 229 indicators – for monitoring & tracking Dedicated goal on cities: Goal 11: Make cities inclusive, safe, resilient and

sustainable - but cross cutting goals/targets/indicators The SDGs are fundamentally about integrated agendas

Relevance of Urban Nexus to SDGs

Direct linkages of Nexus to the 2030 Agenda targets, including:

8.4 – to improve global resource efficiency in consumption and production 12.2 – call for the sustainable management and efficient use of natural resources 11.a – addresses integrated planning across urban and rural boundaries in terms of resource planning and use 11.b – in adopting and implementing integrated policies and plans towards resource efficiency

Relevance of Urban Nexus to SDGs

Goal 2: End huger, achieve food security

and improved nutrition and promote

sustainable

One of the main approaches is to promote

food security

Goal 3: Ensure healthy lives and promote

well-being at all ages

By promoting sustainable waste

management, clean energy and water and

improved sanitation

Goal 6: Ensure availability and sustainable

management of water and sanitation for all

By promoting water security, the nexus

approach directly supports the achievement

of basically all targets

Goal 7: Ensure access to affordable,

reliable, sustainable and modern energy for

all

By promoting energy security, the nexus

approach directly supports the achievement

of all targets

Goal 8: Promote sustained, inclusive and

sustainable economic growth, full and

productive employment and decent work for

all

By improving global resource efficiency in

consumption and production and endeavor

to decouple economic growth and

environmental degradation

Goal 9: Promote inclusive and sustainable

industrialization

9.4 - Upgrade infrastructure and retrofit

industries to make them sustainable, with

increased resource-use efficiency

Relevance of Urban Nexus to SDGs

Goal 11: Make cities and human settlements

inclusive, safe, resilient and sustainable

11.3 – enhance integrated planning

11.6 – reduce the adverse environmental

impacts of cities

Goal 12: Ensure sustainable consumption

and production patterns

12.2 – sustainable management and efficient

use of natural resources

12.5 – reduction of waste generation

Goal 13: Take urgent action to combat

climate change and its impacts

13.1 & 13.2 - Nexus initiatives contribute to

climate change mitigation and adaptation

Goal 15: Protect, restore and promote

sustainable use of terrestrial ecosystems

15.1 – Urban land use plan accommodate

and leverage natural ecosystems, such as

wetlands

Goal 17: Strengthen the means of

implementation and revitalize the Global

Partnership for Sustainable Development

17.1 – strengthen domestic resource

mobilization

17.6 – enhance regional and international

cooperation

17.14 – develop coherent policies

High Level Political Forum (HLPF)

2017 HLPF

“Eradicating

poverty and

promoting

prosperity in a

changing world”

2018 HLPF

“Transformation

towards

sustainable and

resilient societies”

2019 HLPF

“Empowering

people and

ensuring

inclusiveness and

equality

National Voluntary Reviews (VNRs)

22

- Member states are to report on progress on implementing and achieving the SDGs “Conduct regular and inclusive reviews of progress at the national and sub-national levels, which are country-led and country-driven" (paragraph 79). These national reviews are expected to serve as a basis for the regular reviews by the high-level political forum (HLPF), meeting under the auspices of ECOSOC. As stipulated in paragraph 84 of the 2030 Agenda, regular reviews by the HLPF are to be voluntary, state-led, undertaken by both developed and developing countries, and involve multiple stakeholders.”

- Countries need inputs from subnational level & local authorities to report

- Facilitate the sharing of experiences, including successes, challenges and lessons learned

To see the VNRs go to https://sustainabledevelopment.un.org/inputs/

Thank you

For more about ESCAP’s work on sustainable urban development,

please visit:

http://www.unescap.org/our-work/environment-

development/urban-development

For more about ESCAP-GIZ-ICLEI project, please visit:

http://www.unescap.org/urban-nexus