Joint Assembly of the Convention concluded between the African, Caribbean and Pacific States and the European Union (ACP-EU) - Resolutions adopted on urban development in the ACP countries (ACP-EU/1625/A/fin.)

The ACP-EU Joint Assembly,

- meeting in Brussels from 17 to 20 March 1997,

- having regard to the report on urban development in the ACP countries (ACP-EU 1625/A+B/fin.),

A. whereas the current urban growth rate in the ACP countries is the highest ever recorded on any continent and is likely to result in African cities absorbing around 575 million new inhabitants over the period 1990-2025, i.e. more than the current total population of Africa, and having regard, in particular, to the links between the urbanization rate and the population growth rate, as illustrated by the West African region, whose urban population is likely to treble by 2020,

B. whereas urban areas have become the main driving force behind economic growth - including, to a large extent, agricultural growth - in the ACP countries, and whereas in Africa two thirds of wealth is currently generated by urban areas,

C. whereas many ACP urban areas are experiencing acute problems - which are worsening - in areas as varied as housing, infrastructure, the environment, health and access to education and training; whereas the poorest and most vulnerable sections of the urban population are particularly affected and require priority attention and specific measures,

D. whereas an urban planning and development policy must consider urban areas as the driving force behind economic growth in the ACP countries; whereas, in this respect, there can be no substitute for economic growth, and effective action against the various aspects of urban poverty - especially as regards the poorest and most vulnerable strata of urban society - must include the introduction of policies and concrete measures at regional, national and local levels to promote economic activity, employment, the production of goods and services and the redistribution of income,

E. whereas the lack of adequate infrastructure to provide drinking water and drains has direct negative consequences for public health and the lack of infrastructure in the energy sector has harmful effects on the environment as a result of the excessive use of firewood to provide energy, primarily in the home,

F. whereas, with regard to the environment and public health, many city-dwellers in ACP countries are exposed to various kinds of pollution (water, air, domestic and industrial pollution and especially pollution associated with the absence of satisfactory waste treatment), industrial risks associated with increased industrialization, and industrial accidents; whereas basic infrastructure needs to be developed as an essential prerequisite for an enhanced environment and improved health standards; whereas the adoption and gradual introduction of appropriate legislation to combat pollution, industrial risks and industrial accidents should be promoted,

G. whereas, with regard to public health, the health problems of the poorest city-dwellers in ACP countries are generally little known and underestimated; whereas priority should be given, in the context of ACP-EU cooperation, to improving knowledge of the health situation of these people and their needs and to devising and implementing appropriate solutions,

1. Stresses, in particular, that the health situation of children, who constitute a particularly vulnerable section of the population, should form the subject of specific measures and that, more widely, ACP-EU cooperation should draw up specific measures to deal with the growing problem of street children;

2. Calls on the Commission and the ACP States to take account of the important contribution made by women in the urban environment - particularly within the informal production sector and, in the family, as regards health, hygiene and education - and to devise solutions that are geared towards their particular situations and specific needs, especially with regard to housing, employment, training and health;

3. Points out that the statistics show fertility rates to be lower among the urban population than among the rural population and women and men living in towns to be more likely to have access to information on contraception; notes, however, that the urban poor often lack access to high-quality reproductive health services, and calls for due support to be given to the provision of services and information for under-served groups as effective population and reproductive health policies continue to be introduced in the ACP countries;

4. Calls on the Commission to bear in mind that the situation of each ACP country is different and requires a different approach; considers that small island states and states emerging from a period of conflict face particularly difficult circumstances which call for appropriate solutions;

5. Deplores the fact that the Fourth Lomé Convention does not provide for or formulate an urban development policy, that it refers to towns and urban development only in Articles 14 and 155 and that the recent mid-term review of the Convention has not changed the situation; also deplores the fact the Commission's Green Paper on relations between the European Union and the ACP countries on the eve of the 21st century makes no reference to this issue;

6. Stresses that, given current trends and foreseeable economic, social, demographic and political developments, there should be no question of waiting for the renewal of the current Lomé IV Convention before the urgently needed urban planning and development policy is defined;

7. Stresses in the strongest possible terms the vital need to formulate and implement, in the context of ACP-EU cooperation, a global, coherent and sustainable urban planning and development policy in the ACP countries to help put into practice the lessons learnt at international level from international conferences, such as the 1992 Rio conference and, more recently, HABITAT II and the various undertakings made on those occasions;

8. Welcomes the results achieved at the HABITAT II Conference and, in particular, the recognition of the right to housing for all, as stipulated in the Istanbul Declaration, and the fact that local authorities have become full partners in the urban development process and are now recognized as such;

9. Welcomes the ACP-EU efforts, which have already led to significant cooperation in the field of urban policy under successive Lomé Conventions, particularly with respect to urban infrastructure - water, drains, energy and roads - but also with regard to promotion of the private sector, use of counterpart funds resulting from the implementation of structural adjustment plans and decentralized cooperation;

10. Stresses the important role of the European Investment Bank, particularly with regard to urban infrastructure and the promotion of the private sector; calls for measures to ensure the most effective coordination possible between its actions and those administered by the Commission;

11. Regrets the absence of any comprehensive inventory of all projects carried out in the context of ACP-EU cooperation in the field of urban development and the lack of adequate assessment of actions taken; considers that an inventory of projects and an overall assessment of their impact - which should also take account of the experience of other development operators and agencies at international level - would be useful for the formulation and implementation of a global ACP-EU urban development policy; calls on the Commission to undertake this type of work without delay;

12. Calls on the Commission and the ACP States to support scientific research - in Europe and the ACP countries - designed to enable all problems associated with urbanization processes to be better analysed and understood, so that practical lessons may be learnt for the policies to be formulated in this sphere;

13. Considers it essential, therefore, that the necessary human resources be allocated to urban development within the Commission;

14. Calls for appropriate measures of a fiscal, administrative and legislative nature for the promotion of small and medium-sized enterprises and industries; calls for ACP-EU cooperation to take additional measures to promote SME-SMIs in medium-sized towns, and to encourage the informal sector in the same way;

15. Stresses that most ACP countries are faced with major imbalances in the geographical distribution of their population and economic activities and that the problem is worsening owing to demographic pressure; calls on the ACP States, therefore, to establish, with the Commission's assistance, interventionist regional planning policies, to be devised and implemented at regional and sub-regional levels, and aimed, in particular, at developing a balanced network of medium-sized towns;

16. Calls on the ACP States and the Commission to take account of the highly complementary relationship between the development of towns and that of rural regions, in particular neighbouring regions, given that urban growth both relies on agricultural and rural development and contributes to it through the constant exchanges between town and country and every effort should be made to encourage rural dwellers to stay in their own environment by providing assistance to create employment and better living conditions through structural planning and capacity building;

17. Calls on the ACP States to work with the Commission's assistance towards new arrangements for power-sharing between national and regional/local bodies, to bring about some decentralization and greater autonomy for local authorities; these are necessary for the implementation of effective regional planning policies and for a functioning legal and financial system;

18. Calls on the ACP States to take the necessary measures, with the Commission's assistance, to ensure that as powers are increasingly transferred to local level, local and municipal business is effectively conducted by democratically elected local authorities;

19. Stresses the considerable interaction between the various problems and sectors in the field of urban development - infrastructure, environment, public health - and calls on the Commission and the ACP States, therefore, to establish crosssectoral analyses and action plans capable of identifying such interaction and to take coordinated action in all sectors with a view to ensuring rational progress is made across the board;

20. Calls for the factors limiting access to land and housing, to be assessed and modified; calls, in particular, for easier arrangements for granting credit to all people, and especially women;

21. Notes the development and diversification of irregular patterns of land occupation and housing construction and calls for greater importance to be attached to projects to legalize urban development and operations to remodel illegal developments;

22. Considers that NGOs, district organizations and women's and young people's representatives must be more closely involved in all areas of urban development and the implementation of projects, to ensure that measures are better adapted to actual needs;

23. Calls on the ACP States, with the Commission's assistance, to take the necessary measures to ensure the participation of those concerned in drawing up and implementing projects so that such projects are geared towards the real needs of the people and the financial participation of consumers of goods and services and users of the various infrastructures is facilitated;

24. Calls on the Commission and the ACP States to adopt a more regional and subregional approach and increase cooperation at these levels in the planning and creation of infrastructure and to ensure the effective management and maintenance of infrastructure in order to guarantee the sustainable nature of investment;

25. Stresses that, given the considerable funding which will be needed for urban investment and the development of towns in the coming decades and especially for the creation of basic infrastructure, a significant reallocation of financial and budgetary resources to this sector and a redistribution of financial resources between central government and local authorities seem necessary in many ACP countries; calls on the ACP States to take all appropriate measures as soon as possible with the Commission's assistance;

26. Calls on the ACP States to ensure, with the Commission's assistance, that the present legal systems permit the required greater involvement of the private sector and foreign investment and admit joint ventures;

27. Calls on the ACP States to create, with the Commission's assistance, effective new credit mechanisms and institutions for local authorities and, in particular, to enable these authorities, to gain access to appropriate international funding;

28. Considers that, in the context of ACP-EU cooperation, decentralized cooperation is a particularly appropriate instrument and approach for meeting urban development and, more generally, regional development requirements; draws attention in this context to new Articles 251a to 251e in the revised text of the Convention, emphasizing that decentralized cooperation operations may be financed with the financial resources allocated both to the National Indicative Programmes and to the Regional Indicative Programmes;

29. Stresses that, in view of the growing complexity of the problems to be solved, municipalities must be provided with teams of competent managers and technicians; calls for ACP-EU cooperation to make a significant contribution in this field;

30. Calls for the increased conclusion of cooperation agreements between local and municipal authorities of ACP countries and EU Member States, to promote the indispensable exchange of information, experience and technical and administrative personnel;

31. Calls for ACP-EU cooperation to promote the development of a more effective private sector, particularly with regard to the building of housing, the provision of urban amenities for waste management and the production and use of local materials, which are likely to be both better suited to needs and more affordable for users; stresses that the promotion of these sectors may help to revitalize the economy by revitalizing domestic demand;

32. Calls on the Commission and the ACP States to arrange regional meetings with the EU Member States and to itemize the procedures for implementing the HABITAT II agenda;

33. Instructs its Co-Presidents to forward this resolution and the accompanying report to the ACP-EU Council, the Commission, the governments of the ACP States and the Member States of the European Community.