Joburg mayor signs urban goal petition
JOBURG- A letter requesting that the United Nations (UN) incorporate a specific urban goal to the Sustainable Development Goals (SDG), was handed over on 6 February.
Mayor of Rio de Janeiro and newly appointed C40 Cities Mayors’ Summit chair, Eduardo Paes presented the letter to UN Habitat’s executive director Joan Clos at the C40 Cities Mayors’ Summit.
The letter, which was written by Paes, made two requests to the United Nations Working Group in its conceptualisation of the SDGs.
Paes requested that specific goals focused on cities and their ability to deliver significant reductions in greenhouse gas emissions should be included in the SDGs.
Additionally, the urban goals should continue to make the case for greater emphasis on urban sustainability and climate protection in the international sustainability conversation.
“Cities are, of course, integral parts of their nations; and cities therefore share many of the same needs as non-urban areas, for education, health and similar human needs,” the letter stated.
“But the concentration of people in a small area gives the challenges of sustainable urbanism special and critical needs that must be acknowledged in the SDGs.”
According to Paes, an urban development goal would help to concentrate the world’s attention on issues unique to cities such as urban planning, population density and how solid waste, water supply, transport and public health are managed due to growing populations.
The letter was signed by 39 C40 mayors, including City of Johannesburg Executive Mayor Parks Tau and Cape Town Mayor Patricia de Lille.
The letter joins a campaign of over 200 cities, regional governments and international organisations supporting an urban goal.
The UN Open Working Group’s Sustainable Development Goals would come into effect once the Millennium Development Goal expires in 2015 and will cover the period 2015 to 2030.
