UN calls for global action to turn cities into engines of sustainable development
News.un.org
Marking World Cities Day on Tuesday, the UN Secretary-General emphasised the vital role cities play in sustainable development as catalysts for economic growth and innovation.
“World Cities Day is a time to consider the pivotal role cities play in sustainable development,” said António Guterres, setting the stage for a global call to action.
Cities, he noted, are not only engines of economic growth but are also at the forefront of the world’s most pressing challenges. From the climate crisis to widening social inequalities and political polarization, cities find themselves grappling with a multitude of complex issues.
1.1 billion in slums
Cities, towns and their surrounding areas act as powerful magnets for innovation, culture and opportunities, alluring both talent and investment.
Today, urban living has already been embraced by more than half of the world’s population, and UN Habitat projections indicate that nearly 70 per cent of people will live in cities by 2050.
While cities generate more than 80 percent of the global GDP, create powerful networks of entrepreneurship and business growth and give ample opportunities for talents development, they can turn into an inequality trap, with overcrowding, pollution, poor infrastructure and social injustice.
Approximately 1.1 billion people live in slums and informal settlements in urban areas, which entrenches poverty and limits opportunities.
More support to local authorities
The Secretary-General expressed his concerns about the challenges faced by local authorities. “Local authorities are struggling with limited support and resources,” he stated. “The demand for critical infrastructure, affordable housing, efficient transport, and essential social services continues to grow exponentially.”
This year’s theme for World Cities Day, “Financing Sustainable Urban Development,” serves as a clarion call for collective action. It urges governments, international organizations, the private sector, and civil society to collaborate and mobilize financial resources to build resilient, sustainable cities.
“I am a strong advocate for equitable financing solutions at the global level,” the UN chief emphasized. Such solutions, together with innovative and diverse funding sources, are essential to strengthen local financing strategies that are climate-friendly, inclusive, and equitable, he added.
To enhance coordination and amplify the voices of cities and regions, the Secretary-General has recently established of the Advisory Group on Local and Regional Governments. This group will focus on implementing the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and ensuring that urban areas are heard as the world prepares for the Summit of the Future next year.
Sustainable urban future for all
The Municipality of Üsküdar in Istanbul, Türkiye, hosted today World Cities Day 2023 under the theme “Financing sustainable urban future for all”.
Over 1,000 participants representing 221 countries had registered for the event in-person and online, according to the UN Human Settlements Progaramme (UN-Habitat).
In her remarks on the Day, UN-Habitat Executive Director Maimunah Mohd Sharif said that progress towards achieving sustainable and just development and the 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) had stalled.
“Half of the world is now urban. There is no stopping this mega-trend. By adapting our cities and finding in them the resources and talent we need, we can upscale the solutions we need to ensure no one, and no place is left behind,” she said.
‘Stop the madness’ of climate change, UN chief declares
News.un.org
UN Secretary-General António Guterres on Monday called on the world to “stop the madness” of climate change as he visited the Everest region in Nepal where melting glaciers are putting entire communities at risk of extinction.
Nepal has lost almost a third of its ice volume in 30 years, with glaciers melting 65 per cent faster in the last decade than in the previous one.
The rooftops of the world are caving in,” the UN chief said, warning that the “disappearance of glaciers altogether” looms even larger.
“Glaciers are icy reservoirs – the ones here in the Himalayas supply fresh water to well over a billion people. When they shrink, so do river flows,” he added.
Communities erased forever
Glaciers high in the Himalayas feed large river systems, sustain crops, livestock and local economies, in a region that is home to over 1.8 billion people.
However, with rising global temperatures on the back of climate change, glacial snow ice compressed over centuries is melting faster than ever – not only in the Himalayas, but also in crucial areas such as Antarctica and Greenland.
Mr. Guterres warned that in the future, major Himalayan rivers like the Indus, the Ganges and Brahmaputra, could have massively reduced flows and in combination with saltwater, decimate delta regions.
“That spells catastrophe: Low-lying countries and communities erased forever,” he said.
End fossil fuel age
The Secretary-General said his mission to the Everest region, was to “cry out from the rooftop of the world.”
“Stop the madness,” he emphasized, underscoring the need to end the age of fossil fuel to protect people on the frontlines of climate change induced destruction.
“We must act now to…limit global temperature rise to 1.5°C, to avert the worst of climate chaos. The world can’t wait,” he concluded.
Official visit to Nepal
The UN chief is on an official visit to Nepal at the invitation of the Government.
On Sunday, speaking to the media alongside Prime Minister Pushpa Kamal Dahal, Mr. Guterres extended deep condolences to the families of the 10 Nepalese students killed in the terror attacks by Hamas in Israel on 7 October.
He reiterated his call for the protection of all civilians in Gaza, and renewed his appeal for an immediate humanitarian ceasefire, the unconditional release of all hostages and the delivery of a sustained humanitarian relief at a scale that meets the needs of the people of Gaza.
Deforestation has big impact on regional temperatures, study of Brazilian Amazon shows
Theguardian.com
Research highlights benefits forests bring surrounding regions in terms of cooler air and more rainfall
Deforestation has a far greater impact on regional temperatures than previously believed, according to a new study of the Brazilian Amazon that shows agricultural businesses would be among the biggest beneficiaries of forest conservation.
The research has important political implications because farmers in Amazonian states have, until now, led the way in forest destruction on the assumption that they will make money by clearing more land.
The new research highlights the other side of the picture. It shows the agricultural heartland of Mato Grosso, where crops are already suffering from drought and extreme heat, would be just over half a degree celsius hotter by 2050 if deforestation continued at the rapid rate of recent years.
The paper, published on Monday in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, demonstrated Amazon deforestation causes warming at distances up to 60 miles (100km) away. The greater the forest clearance, the higher the temperature. This is in addition to the wider climate impact of global heating.
Dominick Spracklen of the University of Leeds said the average tree had a cooling effect equivalent to two to three 2.5kW air conditioners working at full power every hour of every day. This works through evapotranspiration, which he said was very similar to the sweat humans produce to lower body temperature. He said the effect spread wider than anyone had realised.
“We always thought this might be happening, but the extent is bigger than I would have thought,” he said. “More and more, we are demonstrating the big benefits the forests bring to surrounding regions. For farmers, they bring cooler air and more rainfall. Hopefully putting numbers on these benefits will help to persuade a broader set of people to protect forest areas.”
An increasing number of peer-reviewed studies are proving the importance of the Amazon in maintaining a stable regional climate. Earlier this year, a paper showed that forest clearance reduced rainfall up to 125 miles away. More recently, research at a greater scale demonstrated that the Amazon was coupled with the South American monsoon and that continued deforestation could reduce regional precipitation by 30% with dire consequences for food production.
Until now, studies on the impact of forest clearance on heat have concentrated on local effects with a clear correlation between loss of tree cover and higher temperatures in the area where the trees were cut down. The new research went further by looking at whether there is also a warming effect over a wider area. Using satellite data and artificial intelligence, the authors found a 0.7C increase in temperature for each 10-percentage point loss of forest within a radius of 60 miles.
In areas that have been extensively cleared, the impact is considerable. As the paper concludes: “We show that regional forest loss increases warming by more than a factor of four with serious consequences for the remaining Amazon forest and the people living there.”
However, the lead author, Ed Butt, said this should be seen not as an alarm, but as a useful tool to incentivise the sustainable management of the forest. ”If we could reduce deforestation, then we could avert a good amount of regional warming. I see that as a big opportunity. It demonstrates the big benefit of reducing deforestation for local farmers … The most important thing is that states like Mato Grosso can follow different futures. This hands back control to regions and states. They could really reduce the amount of warming they will be exposed to.”
Jonathan Watts