 |
IMPLEMENTING THE
HABITAT AGENDA
Chengdu International Conference on Learning from Best Practices
Chengdu, China, 16-18 October 2000
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
FOREWORD
The Chengdu International Conference was the highlight of a very
intensive year of Best Practices activities. Starting with over
770 new submissions for the 2000 Dubai International Awards for
Best Practices, the year also witnessed the organisation of four
international events centred on best practices and lessons learned.
The Conference came at a most opportune time as elements of its
principal outcome - the Chengdu Declaration - have been incorporated
in the substantive documentation for the Special Session of the
United Nations General Assembly on the assessment of progress made
in the implementation of the Habitat Agenda.
Of equal importance, however, is the living testimony provided
by 14 cities and communities from around the world in their quest
for more sustainable forms of development. Despite different social,
economic and cultural contexts and entry points, these cases demonstrate
the universality of certain principles and processes. They underscore
the importance of gender equality, social justice and non-discriminatory
approaches to providing access to land, finance and shelter; the
need for participation, transparency and accountability in managing
public resources and in urban governance. They confirm the critical
contribution of the strategic objectives of the Habitat
Agenda to more sustainable human settlement development, namely:
participation in decision-making; public-private-community partnerships;
decentralisation and the empowerment of local authorities; capacity-building
and the use of information in decision-making. They provide insights
to meaningful and effective planning as an instrument for comprehensive
approaches to meeting basic needs, stimulating economic growth,
preserving our heritage and protecting the environment. Last but
not least, a key lesson that emerges is the pivotal role of participatory
democracy in making representative democracy more responsive to
needs of the poor and disadvantaged. These and other lessons learned
from the Chengdu Conference will no doubt enrich the debate on the
concepts, policies and strategies required to make the world's cities
and communities safer, healthier, more equitable and sustainable.
The next steps will be to apply lessons learned from best practices
to new and improved forms of cooperation at the national, regional
and international levels. Several of the cases presented in this
Conference included ideas, working methods, policies and strategies
adapted from other practices. These transfers have, to our knowledge,
occurred spontaneously and without external assistance. Imagine
the state of the world's cities, communities and environment if
a concerted effort was to be made by international organisations,
national and local governments, the private, professional and community
sectors in learning from each others' success stories. The challenge
will be to capture and disseminate the knowledge, expertise and
lessons learned from these and other successful transfers as a first
step in furthering such a vision. We invite you all to join us in
this endeavour.
Nicholas You
Convenor, Chengdu International Conference
Coordinator, Best Practices and Local Leadership Programme
UN-Habitat
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
SPEECHES
By Mr. Nirmal Andrews, Regional Director for Asia and the Pacific,
United Nations Environment Programme
On behalf of Dr. Klaus Toepfer, Under Secretary-General and Executive
Director of United Nations Environment Programme, I congratulate
all of the cities and communities presenting their experiences at
the Conference for the results achieved in their efforts towards
implementing the Habitat Agenda and Local Agendas 21. With the Conference
coming after the call of the Millennium Summit to reduce poverty,
I challenge all participants to take bold steps towards reducing
the poverty gap by encouraging the active participation of marginalised
people to address issues affecting their wellbeing.
The theme of the conference, "Urban Construction and the Environment",
is of vital importance to human endeavour. As centres of production
and consumption, care must be taken to ensure that the management
of cities is environmentally sound while their full potential is
realised. Cities are the so-called "melting pots" of society.
The wealth of cities lies in their people - the ethnic, cultural
and spiritual diversity they represent. The Conference provides
an opportunity for UNEP and Habitat to better inform governments,
cities and communities around the world of promising policy options
as well as viable solutions to common challenges.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
By Ye Rutang ,Vice- Minister of the Minister of Construction
,P.R.China
Dear friends, Ladies and Gentlemen,
Good morning!
The International Conference on Urban Construction and the Environment
for the 21st Century takes place in Chengdu as we are entering a
new century and a new millennium. Retrospecting the past and looking
into the future, representatives from all over the world are gathering
together to exchange ideas and opinions on problems concerning urban
construction and living conditions for the 21st century. This is
a significant great event in reconciling the processes of economic
and social development and environmental protection. On behalf of
the Ministry of Construction of People's Republic of China, I would
like to extend a warm welcome to all friends present.
History tells us that industrialisation and urbanisation in the
past century provided people with unprecedented materialistic and
cultural achievements. At the same time, great pressures on the
natural environment were also brought about, and many serious problems
have occurred, such as ecological deterioration, an increasing population,
and a decreasing supply of natural resources. The economic and social
development has led to an increasing demand for natural resources,
which intensifies the contradictions between the long-term regeneration
of natural resources and the limited ability of ecological system,
and even endangers the existence and development of mankind itself.
At this vital moment in time, mankind should consider calmly and
carefully about what should be done. It is a common task facing
mankind to achieve economic and social sustainable development on
the basis of solving the environmental problems by dealing with
the relationship between mankind and nature properly according to
the objective laws.
China is one of the four countries with an ancient civilisation.
If one has a comfortable home it is easier for him to concentrate
on work, an ideal mentioned by Lao Zi, a Chinese philosopher over
2000 years ago, is still the common objective of all people. However,
in China, modern industry has been initially slow to develop, therefore
many cities are now facing ecological and environmental problems
in the course of industrialisation and urbanisation. Consequently
the Chinese government has placed environment protection as one
of its top priorities when developing the economy. Importance has
always been attached to the improvement of urban ecological environments
whilst accelerating urbanisation. For many years we have made great
efforts to control city air pollution, garbage pollution, noise
pollution and the population explosion. We have tried to reduce
the problems of city water supplies, energy, housing, traffic, and
to increase green areas and improve the quality of the environment.
Our achievements have been amazing. Chengdu, the central city in
Southwest China is a city with a long history of over 2300 years
and has made particularly noticeable achievements regarding improvement
of the city's environment. Chengdu's Fu-Nan River Renovation Project
is a good lesson that can be studied by ancient cultural cities
as how to preserve the old and create the new. Furthermore, the
project serves as an example of how to carry out sustained growth
in a developing country. Chengdu's Fu-Nan River Project won the
‘98 Habitat Scroll of Honour Awards and Dubai International
Award for Best Practices in 2000. The project is not only the pride
of Chengdu, but also China's glory, and furthermore it encourages
the Chinese government to continue supporting ecological environmental
improvements.
Nature is generous, it provides suitable conditions for human beings
to survive and develop. Nature is also merciless, it takes revenge
on endless exploitation. Today, the problems of the world-wide ecological
environment are of great concern to everyone. All those with a sense
of responsibility should act and devote themselves to the noble
undertaking of raising environmental awareness and protecting the
environment. This is how a more civilised and rational world should
develop. Civilisation can benefit not destroy mankind that created
it. Today, the Chengdu International Conference on Urban Construction
and the Environment for the 21st Century, co-sponsored by the United
Nations Center for Human Settlements (Habitat), the Ministry of
Construction of People’s Republic of China and the Chengdu
Municipality, provides us a chance for learning from each other,
exchange ideas, and co-operate. We are ready to take this opportunity
to learn from each other's strong points. With more in common, we
will make constant efforts to improve human living environments
and to create a better future for human beings.
We wish the Conference much success.
Thank you all very much.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Speech made by the Governor of Sichuan Zhang Zhongwei
At the Opening Ceremony (16th October, 2000)
Representatives, Friends, Ladies and Gentlemen:
The International Conference on Urban Construction and the Environment
for the 21st Century, undertaken by the People's Municipal Government
of Chengdu, opens today. On behalf of the people and the Government
of Sichuan, I would like to express my warmest congratulations to
the Conference and extend a warm welcome out to all the honourable
guests present here today!
Sichuan is a large province in Western China, covering an area
of 485 thousand square kilometres, with a population of 85 million
and 500 thousand. The province is rich in natural resources, possesses
great technological abilities and offers a huge potential market
and is therefore in a vitally strategic position. Since the establishment
of the People's Republic of China, and in particular after the Opening
Up and Reforms, great changes have been taking place in Sichuan's
economy and society, as well as city construction. Chengdu, the
provincial capital of Sichuan, has a long history and rich culture
and has always been an important city in the Southwest. Today, it
has been determined by the state as centres of commerce, finance,
technology, transport and telecommunication in southwest China.
Over recent years, much work has been done to improve city construction
and environmental protection. In particular, the implementation
of the Funan River Comprehensive Revitalization Project that has
greatly improved the human living environment in Chengdu, with noticeable
results recognised around the world. Currently, by taking up on
the chances offered by the state Western Development policies, we
are focusing on the promotion of industrialisation and urbanisation
of Sichuan. The general goal for Sichuan's accelerated development
over the first 10 years of the 21st Century is to establish an economically
strong province and build an ecological protection barrier in the
upper reaches of the Yangtze River. The aim of this is to achieve
a coordinated economic and social development and make the next
big step forward. Every year, urbanisation increases by more than
1%, and will reach 30% by the year 2018. In order to form a city
system, Chengdu serves as the central city with Mianyang and another
7 big cities, 16 medium-sized cities, 33 smaller cities, and 1000
small towns working and developing together.
The International Conference on Urban Construction and the Environment
for the 21st Century, held in Chengdu, Sichuan, China, shows that
people respect and have much affection for the city. I would like
to take this chance to express my sincere thanks to the officials
of the United Nations Centre for Human Settlements, to the leaders
of the Ministry of Construction, and to all the leaders and friends
who have shown their interest in Sichuan and Chengdu! Sichuan is
a land with a promising future and great business potential as well
as natural, ecological landscapes, and a rich, historic and cultural
background of endless charm. We warmly welcome friends from all
over the world to come to visit and travel in Sichuan, and we welcome
entrepreneurs from home and abroad, to come and invest in Sichuan.
I hope the Conference is very successful!
Thank you very much everybody.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Speech made by the Mayor of Chengdu at the Opening Ceremony
Honourable guests and friends, Ladies and Gentlemen,
The beautiful city of Chengdu is very lucky to be able to host
the International Conference on Urban Construction and the Environment
for the 21st Century during this golden month of October. On behalf
of the 10 million and 30 thousand people of Chengdu, I would firstly
like to extend my warmest congratulations to the Conference. At
the same time, I would also like to express my sincere thanks to
the United Nations Centre for Human Settlements and the Ministry
of Construction of the People's Republic of China for choosing Chengdu,
China's Western city, to host the Conference. We also thank the
many honourable guests and friends who have traveled so far to come
to this conference.
As we know, cities are a product of the progress of human civilisation,
and political, economic and cultural centres. In modern society,
cities play a very important role as cohesive, pioneering centres.
Most people want to live in the city, while on the other hand we
can say that the city is also the root of many social problems.
For example, environmental pollution and the appalling living conditions
of low quality housing areas are particularly noticeable which puts
added pressure on us. We will not be daunted when faced with this
pressure, rather we should actively try to solve this problem. From
1993 to 1997 Chengdu was involved in the carrying out of the Funan
River Comprehensive Revitalization Project. 30 thousand families,
of more than 100 thousand people were moved from their low quality
slums to new apartment blocks. This project has been the preliminary
step in solving the environmental pollution problems of Chengdu.
Undoubtedly, this is in response to the advocacy from the United
Nations calling for improvements in living environmental standards.
This has been a successful practice in cutting down on the ever-increasing
pressures put on the city environment and caring for the weak and
poor families. All of this will be discussed in this conference.
The city of Chengdu has more than 2300 years of construction experience.
As early as 5th century BC the Emperor Kaiming was able to manipulate
the flow of water and in the 3rd Century Li Bing built the Dujiangyan
Irrigation System to achieve effective control of the water. Since
then all Governments and people have tried to improve the work of
their ancestors, right up to the present day, when Chengdu has undertaken
the comprehensive project to renovate the Funan River. All of this
is a continuation of the human race's efforts to improve human living
environments. We are without doubt that this international conference
for human settlements will provide us with more experience and examples
to learn from. As hosts of the Conference, we feel proud and honoured,
and we will do our utmost to provide a good service.
I believe that the Chengdu Declaration, which is to be drawn out
at this conference, will be the next big milestone after the Habitat
Agenda from the Istanbul International Conference. It will further
help to promote the progress of human civilisation, enhance the
co-operation and exchange between human beings, and improve the
quality of human living conditions.
I wish the conference a great success and I hope that you all have
a pleasant stay here in Chengdu.
Thank you!
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
INTRODUCTION
The Chengdu International Conference on Learning from Best Practices
was part of the preparatory process for Istanbul+5. The objective
of the Conference was to promote the exchange of lessons learned
from outstanding experiences in improving the living environment
and the implementation of the Habitat Agenda. The Conference resulted
in, inter alia, the Chengdu Declaration focusing on how the international
community, cities and their associations can further the implementation
of the Habitat Agenda through the systematic exchange and transfer
of best practice expertise and experience. The conference was well
attended with 80 participants from the international community coming
from 26 different countries and 138 from China. This report provides
a summary of the presentations made, an analysis of lessons learned
and the final outcome of the conference, the Chengdu Declaration.
More detailed case studies of the presentations made are available
on www.bestpractices.org.
|
|
