Welcoming a New Post-2015 Pacific Urban Agenda

Welcoming a New Post-2015 Pacific Urban Agenda

Suva, Fiji. The fourth Pacific Urban Forum (PUF) concluded with a stronger call to find sustainable solutions to the challenges of urbanization and its impact on towns, cities and urban centres in the Pacific region. The Forum this year continued to build on the work that first began in 2003 with the development of the Pacific Urban Agenda (PUA) which was endorsed by regional leaders in 2005 for inclusion in the Pacific Plan.

The three day meeting, which was held from the 25-27 March in Nadi focused on the theme: ‘Towards a New Pacific Urban Agenda: Harnessing Opportunities in a Post-2015 Environment’ and was facilitated by UN-Habitat and the Commonwealth Local Government Forum (CLGF) Pacific. The event was attended by urban policy makers, local and national government representatives, administrative heads of Pacific cities and towns and NGOs from eight Pacific Island countries: Fiji, Kiribati, Papua New Guinea and the Autonomous Region of Bougainville, Samoa, Solomon Islands, Tonga, Tuvalu and Vanuatu. Development partners were also in attendance and included, among others, the Asian Development Bank (ADB), the World Bank, European Union (EU), UNESCAP, the Pacific Regional Infrastructure Facility (PRIF), Women and Youth groups and received support from the Cities Alliance.

The programme of the Forum was structured around four main areas of development, namely Social Equity, Urban Economy, Environment and Governance; participants addressed the specific needs and challenges of the Pacific region in the process of rapid urbanization.

Key priorities identified were the upgrading of informal settlements and access to safe and affordable housing for all, provision of basic infrastructure and services, building urban resilience to climate risks and other shocks, enhancing rural-urban linkages, addressing gender inequalities, job creation and strengthening capacity for urban and local governance, planning, management and data collection and analysis.Participants were also given the opportunity to host innovation booths to showcase their organizations and work, as well as to provide case studies from the field on various urbanization related projects.

The forum was also timely as the Solomon Islands announced the development of the country’s first urbanization policy which will aim to manage and control the rate of urbanization in urban centres and support urban and rural dwellers in building affordable housing. In 2003, no Pacific country had an urbanization policy. Now five countries, Papua New Guinea, Samoa, Fiji, Tonga and with the new inclusion of the Solomon Islands, have urban and related policies and legislative frameworks.

With the deadline for the MDGs at the end of 2015 and the endorsement of the new Sustainable Development Goals, delegates agreed to a ‘New Pacific Urban Agenda’. The outcomes document highlights the point that urban challenges are a priority developmental issue for the Pacific region. This fact alone was demonstrated as the Forum took place amidst the coordinated efforts to respond to the effects of Cyclone Pam which had hit and caused catastrophic damage to Vanuatu together with other ripple effects of storm surge waves felt in the neighboring countries of Kiribati and Tuvalu.

In line with the process of engagement, of which national and regional urban forums are an instrumental part, the Pacific Urban Forum outcomes document will also constitute a valuable input to the Asia-Pacific region preparations towards Habitat III ahead of the formulation of a new global urban agenda for the next 20 years.

ENDS

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