KwaDukuza mayor, Ricardo Mthembu, was invited to speak at the ICLEI Local Governments for Sustainability 2015 World Congress in Seoul, South Korea, last week.
He addressed the congress last Thursday, focusing on low emission development strategies and economic development.
The conference ran from April 8 through to 12 with an agenda focused on energy and climate change, water and sanitation, urban biodiversity, integrated environmental management and sustainable consumption and production.
The four day summit gave KDM the opportunity to observe the strategies adopted for the implementation of the above agenda elsewhere in the world.
Local governments from countries on every continent met to discuss initiatives to grow their local economies with precedence on environmental responsibility and social development.
Given the rate of exponential growth seen in Ballito over the last ten years and with continued expansion inevitable, KDM hoped that the Congress would have provided the municipality with insight into manageable, sustainable solutions for future urbanisation and the financial emancipation of disadvantaged people in our region.
Also attending the summit were local government representatives from leading foreign economies such as the United States and European Union Member States including Germany, France and the United Kingdom; having consulted on their own initiatives.
Providing KwaDukuza with more useful strategies are the emerging overseas markets such as India, which have exhibited a strong record of economic growth as a result of symbiotic population employment and urban development schemes and the subsequent rise in annual GDP.
