Address by L N Sisulu, MP, Minister of Human Settlements of South Africa at the Closing ceremony of the Habitat III Thematic Meeting on Informal Settlements: Leading Change in the City: From Slums to Inclusive, Safe, Resilient and Sustainable Human Settlements
Deputy Secretary-General of Habitat III
Honourable Ministers, Deputy Ministers,
Ambassadors and Heads of Delegation Members of the Executive Council Chair
Members of the Parliamentary Portfolio Committee on Human Settlements Chair
Members of the Select Committee of the National Council of Provinces
Mayors
Participants
Members of the Media
The real test of success of any gathering is whether it meets its objectives. This conference is a build up to the world conference in Quito, Ecuador in six months’ time. It had to come up with a declaration that incorporated all those issues that will form part and parcel of our contribution to the New Urban Agenda. I have looked at the declaration we have all prepared and I am satisfied we have met our objectives.
The various inputs, be they by means of sharing of experiences, examples of good practice and insights and wisdom arising out of them, have collectively enriched our understanding of our environment. Indeed, by the time we meet in Quito, Ecuador, we shall approach our world counterparts with a weighty input that is informed, lucid, passionate and convincing.
We started this conference conscious of the historic nature of this meeting. In his address, Dr. Joan Clos focused our attention on the humongous challenge before us.
He noted that
- Around one quarter of the world’s urban population continue to live in slums and informal settlements. And the number of slum dwellers around the world continues to grow at around 10 percent every year, intensifying in many parts of the world.
- The proportion of slum dwellers is most acute in Africa (at 61.7 percent), followed by Asia (at 30 percent), Latin America and the Caribbean (at 24 percent), and Arab States (at 13.3 percent). Slums are considered normal in a statistical sense.
As the first United Nations meeting dealing with slums and informal settlements since the adoption of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development with its stand-alone goal SDG 11, what we have achieved in these two day is an impressive milestone in itself.
We have reached consensus around how to tackle the problem of informality. There is no doubt in my mind that there are commonalities about the problem of informal settlements. Clearly the issues of legislation and policy firmness, planning, land availability, funding, and stakeholder involvement are some of the things that were prominent in our discussions here.
And with this the critical elements of our Declaration came through and this is what we are going to carry these through to Quitto. To recap; We have thus collectively agreed that we would like to see in the “New Urban Agenda” clear policy as it relates to the 4 pillars that are in the declaration, namely:
- From Informal Settlements and slums to sustainable neighborhoods- Policy and strategy, frameworks for a paradigm shift.
- Urban planning and land use: drivers for integrated, inclusive, safe and resilient sustainable human settlements.
- Financing informal settlements/slum upgrading contributing to sustainable livelihoods and inclusive economic growth.
- Together transforming a billion lives: Participatory approaches in planning, implementing and monitoring informal settlement/slum upgrading.
To this end, I want to encourage all member states present and those that are not here to set our second target that of ensuring we all contribute to the funds so as to get the desired technical assistance in achieving this goal of a ‘slum free’ era for our future generations.
Conclusion
It is within this context that I am proud of having been a contributor to this noble developmental Programme and the hosting of auspicious audience in partnering towards a common goal. That of a policy position in the ‘New Urban Agenda’ addressing the eradication of all informal settlements in the next 20 years.
