UNITED  NATIONS	HS
	Commission on  Human Settlements	Distr.  GENERAL  HS/C/17/4  5 January 1999 ORIGINAL: ENGLISH

By its resolution 16/24, the Commission called upon the General Assembly at its special session for the purpose of an overall review and appraisal of the implementation of Agenda 21 (New York, 23-28 June 1997), to take into account the outcome of the second United Nations Conference on Human Settlements. The Commission also requested the Executive Director to submit his report on the implementation of Agenda 21 (HS/C/16/15) to the special session of the General Assembly, together with the comments made on it by the Commission.

The present report summarizes the follow-up action by the United Nations Centre for Human Settlements (UNCHS) (Habitat) on the priority areas contained in the Programme for the Further Implementation of Agenda 21: first, the integration of economic, social and environmental objectives and, second, sectors and issues. It is submitted to the Commission to assist it in its consideration of possible further action.

1. While endorsing Agenda 21, adopted by the United Nations Conference on Environment and Development (3-14 June 1992), the General Assembly decided to convene, not later than 1997, a special session for the purpose of an overall review and appraisal of the implementation of Agenda 21. The nineteenth special session of the General Assembly was held from 23 to 28 June 1997 and adopted the Programme for the Further Implementation of Agenda 21, as contained in the annex to resolution S-19/2 of 19 September 1997. In the Programme, the General Assembly underscored the importance of continued support from international institutions for achieving sustainable development. In addition to adopting a statement of commitment, an assessment of progress and decisions aimed at strengthening institutional arrangements, the Programme identified areas requiring urgent action. These priority areas are grouped in two categories: first, the integration of economic, social, and environmental objectives; and, second, sectors and issues. The present report summarizes follow-up action by UNCHS (Habitat) in these priority areas.

2. UNCHS (Habitat) has made a special contribution to the implementation of Agenda 21 as the system-wide task manager for sustainable human settlements (chapter 7) and for the environmentally sound management of solid waste and sewerage-related issues (chapter 21). The Centre is also responsible for monitoring progress with respect to water and sustainable development (chapter 18, programme area E), and is supporting the implementation of Agenda 21 in a number of cross-sectoral areas, notably, combating poverty (chapter 3), changing consumption patterns (chapter 4) and protecting and promoting human health (chapter 6).

3. The Programme for the Further Implementation of Agenda 21 emphasizes that economic, social and environmental advancement are interdependent and mutually reinforcing components of sustainable development. Such development needs to be broadly based and equitable, to benefit all people. The Programme underlines the importance, for this purpose, of good governance and properly constructed strategies, involving all sectors of society at the lowest administrative level possible. It calls for international cooperation in local sustainable development initiatives that promote participatory processes and the empowerment of marginalized groups and that make use of a broad range of mutually reinforcing policy instruments, such as regulations, economic instruments and information campaigns. In this context, the General Assembly also stresses the need to promote an exchange of experience among Governments. The Centre is active in four of the six priority areas identified for integrating economic, social and environmental objectives, as described below.

4. Sustainable settlements are essential to sustainable development overall. The Centre is supporting major local sustainable development initiatives in some 30 demonstration cities, through the Sustainable Cities Programme, the Localizing Agenda 21 Programme and other interrelated and mutually supportive initiatives that link operational and normative activities across city, national, regional, and global levels. These city demonstrations involve local stakeholders from the public, private and community sectors in city consultations and around concrete sustainable development issues, leading to negotiated joint strategies, coordinated action plans, implementation of priority projects and, ultimately, institutionalization.

5. The primary focus is on capacity-building, mobilizing local resources, both human and financial, and linking them to international support. National replication of these processes multiplies the impact of international support, as does regional exchange and cooperation. Operational experience at the local, national and regional levels is shared at the global level.

6. With a view to ensuring the full realization of the potential of this global dialogue, the Sustainable Cities Programme has launched the Urban Environment Forum and is acting as its secretariat. With global and regional meetings in Shanghai in 1997, Moscow in 1998 and Ismailia in 1998, the Urban Environment Forum has brought together some 300 cities and 50 international support programme. The Centre is cooperating in these activities with the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP), the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) the World Bank and more than 20 other international organizations. The most important partners, however, remain the local authorities and their international associations.

7. The Centre has been contributing actively to the international Decade for the Eradication of Poverty, with programmes and projects aimed directly and indirectly at urban poverty reduction. This involves working with Governments, local authorities, non-governmental organizations and civil society, including people living in poverty and their organizations, in promoting community development and enhancing living conditions. Efforts to that end include improving access to land and security of tenure, access to housing, water supply and other basic infrastructure.

8. UNCHS (Habitat) has been actively collaborating with partners within and outside the United Nations system in promoting action research, policy dialogue and programme implementation, and the International Forum on Urban Poverty was established in 1997. In 1998, Asian and African regional forums were established, to articulate strategic objectives and establish plans of action in these regions. UNCHS (Habitat) is continuing to collaborate with the Ford Foundation at the regional and the global levels, in supporting emerging networks on urban poverty reduction and improvement of governance.

9. UNCHS (Habitat) has focused on the priority area of improving sanitation services and providing safe drinking water. The Centre's Settlement Infrastructure and Environment Programme is implementing a demonstration project in India, using an integrated, participatory and gender-sensitive approach to the provision and management of urban basic services, with a view to improving community health. The Programme is also building the capacity of local authorities in the area of infrastructure-related environmental and health risk assessment in low-income communities.

10. In an endeavour to increase knowledge on the linkage between health and the urban environment, the Settlement Infrastructure and Environment Programme is also actively collaborating with the World Health Organization (WHO) Centre for Health Development in Kobe, Japan, in its project on urban health determinants and their interlinkages in megacities. The project is being implemented in Jakarta, Karachi and the Ruhr area, and will be expanded to Alexandria, Mexico City, Rio de Janeiro and Sao Paulo.

11. Addressing the priority action areas identified in the Programme for the Further Implementation of Agenda 21, the Settlement Infrastructure and Environment Programme organized, in June 1998, a regional conference on promoting sustainable consumption in Asian cities, with a view to promoting best practices and identifying options for the sustainable consumption of energy, water and forest-based resources in cities. The conference made extensive recommendations on problems, issues and constraints linked to changing consumption patterns in Asian cities and proposed institutions and promotional policies required to bring the desired change. The conference also recommended a demonstration initiative to promote sustainable consumption in the region. UNCHS (Habitat) is currently seeking funding support for the implementation of the demonstration initiative in selected Asian cities.

12. The Programme for the Further Implementation of Agenda 21 identifies a number of specific sectoral areas that are of wide-spread concern because of the inability of member countries to reverse current trends of resource degradation which have potentially disastrous effects on social and economic development and on human health. The Programme places special emphasis on the need for an integrated approach, particularly in the areas of energy, transport and water-use among different sectors, and on the need for international cooperation in support of national efforts. The response of UNCHS (Habitat) in the priority sector areas is described below.

13. The Centre is placing emphasis on improving the local capacity for managing water resources in urban areas, with a particular focus on the needs of Africa, which has the poorest service coverage among all the regions in respect of drinking water supply and sanitation. To promote this objective, the Settlement Infrastructure and Environment Programme organized International Consultations on Partnership in the Water Sector for Cities in Africa, in Cape Town, South Africa, from 8 to 10 December 1997. The Consultations, which were organized in collaboration with UNDP, the World Bank and the Governments of Denmark and the Netherlands, adopted a ministerial declaration (the Cape Town Declaration) and a plan of action to provide adequate access to drinking water and sanitation to the unserved and under-served populations living in poverty in the regions.

14. With a view to operationalizing the Cape Town Declaration, UNCHS (Habitat) and UNEP have recently embarked on a joint regional initiative within the framework of the United Nations System-wide Special Initiative for Africa. The initiative is funded by the United Nations Fund for International Partnership (UNFIP) and seeks to strengthen the capacity of African countries for integrated urban water management at city and river-basin levels. UNDP and the World Bank are actively collaborating in this initiative.

15. With a view to promoting integrated transport policies which consider alternative approaches to meeting mobility needs in cities of the future, the Settlement Infrastructure and Environment Programme is implementing activities to improve public transport, as a viable and realistic alternative to the overuse of private motor vehicles, in meeting transport needs in the future. In the area of transport demand management, the Programme has worked directly with city officials from Wuhan, China, in designing two pilot-demonstration projects to improve public transportation. A report on regulating and supporting the informal urban transport sector will be produced by the Centre during the current biennium.

16. To encourage the sustainable production, distribution and consumption of energy, the Settlement Infrastructure and Environment Programme will organize a workshop in 1999 and will prepare a report on energy and environment linkages in urban areas to discuss energy-related production and consumption issues in the context of Asian megacities. This workshop will seek to develop an enabling energy policy to improve economic efficiency and environmental quality in Asian cities.