Mrs. Tibaijuka addressed a meeting hosted by ICLEI on Wednesday 10 December. The following is a summary of her remarks.

As UN-HABITAT is the focal point in the United Nations system for local governments I would like to make the following points:

It can be said that the greatest impacts of climate change begin and end in cities.

Disasters teach us all that there is a dire need to devise and institute early warning systems in villages, towns and cities around the world.

We can greatly enhance prevention by reducing urban poverty, and adopting better land-use planning, urban transport systems and building codes.

Ladies and gentlemen,

Allow me to say what may seem obvious:

It is no coincidence that global climate change has become a major international development issue at precisely the same time and the same pace as the world has become urbanised. As our climate changes, things are getting worse threatening more extreme weather.

We know that if sea levels rise by just one metre, many major coastal cities will be under threat: Buenos Aires, Cairo, Dhaka, Karachi, Kolkata, Lagos, Los Angeles, Mumbai, New York, Osaka-Kobe, Rio de Janeiro, Shanghai, and Tokyo. To cite just some, we are talking here of cities with populations of more than 10 million people. Never mind the many smaller cities and island nations. For example, under these conditions the entire Maldives archipelago is under threat. Remember New Orleans after hurricane Katrina.

Put another way: at least 40 percent of the global population lives less than 60 miles from the coast, mostly in big towns and cities. More and more people are drawn daily to the urban magnet. And this is happening as we expect further coastal erosion, rising sea levels, saltwater contamination and potentially more powerful storms – and further human pressure on the environment.

Everywhere it is the urban poor who live in the most dangerous places most vulnerable to the impacts of a disaster, in dwellings that would be swept away. The health consequences of a city’s water and sanitation system becoming contaminated and placing millions at risk are unthinkable.

These are just two reasons why municipalities cannot fight the costly mitigation battle alone. In this new urban age with most of humanity now living in towns and cities, there is no question that they must have the political and financial backing of government. 

Given the climate change challenges, and dangers posed to millions, especially the urban poor, we are acutely aware at UN-HABITAT that local governments are being compelled to take on functions previously considered the realm of national governments – mainly in terms of improved service delivery.

In our position as the UN system’s local government focal point, we have nevertheless made some headway here. Article 64 of the Rules of procedure for member governments in the Governing Council that oversees UN-HABITAT, grants local governments observer status at the Council’s meetings every two years.  Bearing in mind too that the Council now has the status of a subsidiary of the UN General Assembly, this is a major boost for local governments in the international arena.

In these times of global financial crisis, it is more important than ever that effective decentralization of powers and resources to the benefit of local authorities is the best way to help mitigate and adapt to climate change in cities. No longer can local governments afford to remain outside of a climate agreement. Whether or not they are signatories of an international climate agreement, they have to be considered de facto partners and allies of national governments when it comes to implementation.

In too many developing countries, local governments are not included in national action plans. And this is why our Cities and climate change initiative stresses the links between national and local levels of government. We are working together with UNEP to develop these.

We must always bear in mind that 1 billion people languish in slums, mostly in developing countries. In a process we call the urbanisation of poverty, the locus of global poverty is moving into cities.

So when it comes to urban planning, we have to find a system that works to alleviate the plight of slum dwellers. It must combine concerted action by local authorities, with that of national governments, civil society and the international community. The planning must be people-centred and ensure that no-one is left behind in the drive for mitigation and adaptation.

Our cities must be energy efficient. This applies to our buildings, transportation, industry and renewable water and sanitation provision. Here local authorities are in charge of the local regulations covering all of these areas, and here again, UN-HABITAT has an undisputed mandate.

On adaptation, local government can support innovative financing and micro-insurance; they can help community groups in slum upgrading, environmental conservation, and most critically, with small-scale lending schemes managed by community groups.

Local government must always be ready for internal environmental displacement sending people scrambling into cities, such as during droughts, for example.

UN-HABITAT and its partners in local government must raise awareness of climate change problems.

Let me say in conclusion that these messages were conveyed to us very strongly last month at the fourth session of the World Urban Forum in Nanjing, China.

The Forum stressed that no city in the world can afford to ignore the effects of climate change. It is vital to climate change mitigation that cities start by cutting their waste output and emissions, and that they consume less energy.

The nexus between rapid and chaotic urbanization and climate change has multiple impacts on highly vulnerable groups – especially women, youth and the very poor. Many practices were presented at the Forum showing how cities can reduce their ecological footprints and emissions. And naturally we are willing to share these with you.

The forum made it very clear to us that the groundswell of local initiatives underlines the need for international and national decision-making processes to integrate the cities and climate change agenda in the post-Kyoto regime. Again, many of the answers lie in rational, people-centred urban planning.

Thank you