LANDS MINISTRY CALLS FOR SUSTAINBALE RESILIENT CITIES IN UGANDA

By Our Reporter

The Minister of State for Urban Development Hon. Obiga Kania has called for well planned  sustainable -resilient cities in Uganda to mitigate  urban hazards.

He  was presiding over the  World Cities Day celebrated annually on 31st October under a general theme “Better City, Better life”. This year, the day is celebrated under a sub theme “Adapting Cities for Climate Resilience”.

Speaking at a media and stakeholders breakfast meeting at Hotel Africana ,Hon Obiga highlighted  climate change as one of the key emerging issues that cities must contend with, noting that the cities impacts due to climate change is a frontline challenge for them today.

“Cities and other urban areas like Municipalities and town councils are both drivers and victims of climate change. As cites expand, they engulf environmental and ecological systems like floodplains, forests, and wetlands that naturally exist,” he noted.

He said that  urbanization together with other interlinked forces, will always create demand for space and resources which are all finite!. And as a result ,contribute to natural and man-made disasters such as land degradation, deteriorating air and water quality, poor solid waste management, inadequate greenery for residents, flooding and fire which have potentially serious consequences on human health, livelihoods and urban assets.

The risks are anticipated to be even higher in un-planned areas where inadequate infrastructure leaves the urban poor and other vulnerable groups in informal settlements exposed to environmental hazards.

Hon. Obiga warned that if focus and action is not taken, regional cities will be affected by climatic changes and emergencies whose cost due impacts of climate change can expand exponentially each year.

“The results of any inaction will go on to exacerbate the litany of problems in the cities and other urban areas already struggling with low household income, inadequate finances from own source revenue to deliver critical urban services, inadequate innovations in the productive sector, inadequate green technologies for jobs, urban poverty and food insecurity,” he added.

He therefore recommended prompt planning for sustainable resilient cities and human settlement development, and collective efforts by all; urban residents, the political leaders and urban managers, developers and investors to operationalize resilience.

The Minister noted that actors should pay special focus on the regional and special cities of Uganda and support them become resilient cities by; promoting sustainable development goal 11 on sustainable and livable cities; strengthening partnerships between key players to enhance collaborations under the UGCities4Resilience Network and making use of networks to extend essential information regarding building resilience to communities; and capturing the attention of key actors involved in the development processes of the new cities in Uganda, to institute and practice resilience from the grass roots.

Minister further urged the cities to strive at tackling how climate and non- climate drivers of change together in order to build resilience.

“All regional cities should come up with sustainable city designs and practices that anticipate and respond to potential risk and opportunities; be innovative by adopting new planning approaches besides the conventional methods; consider urban safety by making use of risk-based land use planning practices to identify the safest areas to prioritize investments for urban development and infrastructure projects. Investors look for low risk and sustainable areas to invest in the long term.”

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