"In 2008, the world reaches an invisible but momentous milestone: For the first time in history, more than half its human population, 3.3 billion people, will be living in urban areas. By 2030, this is expected to swell to almost 5 billion. Many of the new urbanites will be poor. Their future, the future of cities in developing countries, the future of humanity itself, all depend very much on decisions made now in preparation for this growth."
Ever wondered where most Moroccans live? Well according to Moncef Fadili, a UN housing expert, six out of every ten Moroccans live in urban areas. The problem with this is that they live in areas where poverty and exclusion are rife and unemployment rate reaches 16%. Speaking to the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) State of World Population Report (2007), Mr. Fadili listed the main development programs adopted by Morocco: e "Millennium Goals development," "Free-Slum cities program", and the large-scale anti-poverty program "the National Initiative for Human Development."
"All these programs are meant to guarantee decent housing for Moroccans and ensure sustainable development," he explained.
Speaking on the same occasion, UNFPA Representative to Morocco, Georges Georgi affirmed that urbanization is "a natural process which comes as a result of natural growth and not only rural migration."
Quoting the report, he said that it was "erroneous" to believe that the rural population is better off in the countryside and that rural migration should be monitored.
The UN Coordinator in Morocco, Mourad Wahba, warned that this data-rich report "raises questions that must not be ignored." He called upon world leaders to provide social services and infrastructure to urban populations and invest for the good of women and young people.
According to this report,dubbed "Unleashing the Potential of Urban Growth," 3.3 billion people, will be living in urban areas. By 2030, this is expected to swell to almost 5 billion. The report also notes that cities embody the environmental damage done by modern civilization, however, it concedes that experts and policymakers increasingly recognize the potential value of cities to long-term sustainability.
Commentary
According to Alexander G. Rubio editor of "Bits of News" in "One problem is that a bit too much thinking coming out of the environmental movement is informed by the sensibilities of a Western urban middle class, nostalgic for a rural idyll that was partly never there, or would not be sustainable today, and least of all in the parts of the world where the problems are the most pressing.
Most of the world's poor, now and in the past, relocate to the cities of their own free will, and for perfectly rational reasons. While urban poverty might be more concentrated and obvious, it nevertheless represents hope of a better life for them and their children, in parts of the world where the countryside is subject to periodic famines. Hard as life may be in big city slums, you seldom see masses of starved people with distended bellies littering the streets.
One reason is that, like the street proletariat of ancient Rome, even the slum population in the cities wield more political clout than their relations in the countryside. Living practically cheek by jowl with the urban poor, the political and economic elite can not afford to disregard the danger of riots and organised action by people so close to home and the centre of power."
Read the State of the World Population Report here: English, French, Arabic, Spanish.
Tags: Moroccan Morocco Fes, Maghreb news
1 comment:
Great post, thanks for the wealth of info!
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