AUICK First 2006 Workshop

THEME

Population and Environmental Protection in Urban Planning

BACKGROUND

Sustainable Development is defined in the Program of Action (POA), agreed in 1994 at the International Conference on Population and Development (ICPD). It states that “sustainable development” is “a means to ensure human well-being, equitably shared by all people today and in the future; requires that the interrelationships between population, resources, the environment and development should be fully recognized, properly managed and brought into harmonious, dynamic balance.” The Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), adopted at the UN Millennium Summit in 2000, also identifies “Environmental Sustainability” as one of the eight goals, which includes the following three targets: (1) Integrate the principles of sustainable development into country policies and programs and reverse the loss of environmental resources; (2) Halve by 2015 the proportion of people without sustainable access to safe drinking water; and (3) By 2020 to have achieved a significant improvement in the lives of at least 100 million slum dwellers.  The United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA), one of AUICK’s sponsors, sets “Population and Sustainable Development” as one of its three goals in the 2004-2007 MYFF Strategic Results Framework (SRF), saying “Countries should address interactions between population dynamics, sustainable development, and poverty, including the impact of HIV/AIDS.”

For sustainable socio-economic development, it is globally recognized that the harmony of economic development and environmental protection is most important, and each nation is making every effort to maintain environmental protection as one of the global priorities. Since the global environment is composed of local environments, environmental protection cannot be achieved globally if it is not also achieved locally. Today, medium-sized cities in Asia are experiencing rapid population growth and socio-economic changes. While the concentration of population in urban areas encourages economic activities and improves living conditions, it also causes deterioration of the environment unless there are effective countermeasures for environmental protection, especially at the local level.

AIM

From the viewpoint of “Population and Sustainable Development” addressed by UNFPA, this first AUICK workshop of 2006 focused on achieving improved knowledge to address the urban policy implications of the links between population processes and environmental problems. The workshop was designed for senior officials of AUICK Associate Cities (AACs) to deepen their understanding and know-how on the theme through presentations, case studies, discussions on current states and challenges their cities face in the fields of industrial liquid waste, industrial and non-industrial solid waste, and greening. The participants also developed concrete action plans for environmental protection to be implemented upon their return to their cities.

PARTICIPANTS

The workshop was designed for the senior-most officials who are in the top or second top position of the departments which administer city planning or environmental protection from 9 AUICK Associate Cities: Chittagong (Bangladesh), Weihai (China), Chennai (India), Surabaya (Indonesia), Kuantan (Malaysia), Faisalabad (Pakistan), Olongapo (Philippines), Khon Kaen (Thailand), and Danang (Vietnam). Countries are listed in alphabetical order.

Mr. Kazi Mobassher Ahmed
Ward Commissioner, Ward No.2: Jalalabad Ward, Chittagong City Corporation, Bangladesh

Mr. Sun Pingyi
Vice Director, Weihai Environmental Protection Agency, China

Mr. V. R. Gurumurthy
Executive Engineer & Superintending Engineer (i/c), Solid Waste Management, Corporation of Chennai, India

Ms. Henny Dwi Ferita
Staff, Investigation and Evaluation, Environmental Impact Control, Environmental Management Agency, Surabaya City, Indonesia

Mr. Nazruddin bin Ismail
Director, Urban Services and Environment Department, Kuantan Municipal Council, Malaysia

Dr. Ishfaq Ahmad
District Officer, Solid Waste Management, City District Government Faisalabad, Pakistan

Ms. Marivic Jadulco Nierras
Planning Officer III, Technical Section, City Planning and Development Office, Olongapo City, The Philippines

Mr. Thotsaphon Wong-Asa
Chief, Subdivision of Natural Resources, Natural Resources Section, Office of Public Works, Khon Kaen Municipality, Thailand

Mr. Dung Viet Dang
Director, Department of Transportation and Public Works, Danang People’s Committee, Vietnam

Special Participants

Mr. Rezaul Karim (Resource Person of the Best Practice in Chittagong)
City Planner and Head, Department of Architecture and City Planning, Chittagong City Corporation, Bangladesh

Dr. Ali Mahmoud Mousa Madibo (Observer)
Urban Planning Expert, Arab Urban Development Institute (AUDI)

Ms. Shahana Chattaraj (Observer)
Program Specialist, Asia and the Pacific Division, United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA)

PERIOD

From Monday 19 June to Friday 29 June 2006

SCHEDULE/PROGRAM

REVIEW

The workshop program was highly regarded by all the participants.  They noted it had very good mix of classroom sessions, field visits, an exchange of experiences and an opportunity for the participants to reflect on the environment situation in their own cities and where and how improvements can be brought about.

Most of the program components received very high evaluation from all the participants. In particular, they were greatly impressed with the presentations of the Best Practices in Weihai (China) and Chittagong (Bangladesh), since they were well presented and gave the participants first hand experiences to tackle with the environmental issues.

Through the visits to the municipal environment facilities, they learned the importance of popular participation and increasing citizen’s awareness in order to preserve natural resources. They also learned it is an arduous task for the city administrator, but it is a strategy that pays large dividends. They also learned that how important it is to manage the waste treatment properly as well as preserving the environment by their site visits and interaction they had with Kobe city administrators.

They were also fascinated by their visit to Minamata City and learning of its tragic history of mercury contamination caused by the single company. It was a dramatic and eye opening experience and some of the facts shown there may have been hard to acknowledge. However, knowing about what happened there motivated all the participants to work for the protection of their cities by applying what they learned to environmental protection.

The discussion with the Kobe citizens at the Open Forum, UNFPA Seminar, also stimulated them to tackle problems they are facing in achieving the goal of environmental protection in urban planning.

AUICK’s new workshop instruction method of action plan development is still in the phase of development. Most of the participants submitted ready-made action plans since the detailed guideline of the action plan was given prior to the participation to the workshop. They should be provided some kinds of idea on the action plan and need to prepare the basic groundwork before their attendance, but the final compilation with tips that they learn from the workshop activities should be done during the workshop.

As a whole, all the participants were grateful that the workshop gave them full opportunity to advance their understanding of the population and environmental protection in urban planning, through the lessons, especially the hard experiences, shared by the experts and administrators in Kobe and Minamata City. As Kobe City started to manage waste treatment after the first plague victim in Japan was found in Kobe, and as the distressing disease experience has led Minamata City to undertake a vast environmental protection program, the status of human welfare is characterized by a dynamic balance of interactions between natural and man-made forces. And no matter how great an amount of money or effort is spent, it is often impossible to return a once-polluted and all but destroyed environment to its original state. This workshop was especially successful in that it emphasized the importance of developing right policies for contributing to the improvement of human welfare for the people not only in their cities, but for the whole globe.