Tshwane greenest city on the continent
Mayor of Tshwane Kgosientso Ramokgopa heard yesterday that his city had won the Africa leg of the Earth Hour competition for its consistent green policies. He was one of 25 of the continent's mayors attending the second African Capital Cities Sustainability Forum at the Council for Scientific and Industrial Research in Pretoria.The Earth Hour City Challenge, a collaborative effort between WWF and ICLEI - Local Governments for Sustainability - aims to mobilise action by and support from cities in the global transition towards a sustainable energy future.Kobie Brand, director of ICLEI Africa, said Tshwane metro was a shining example of the development and implementation of green energy by-laws. It will now face stiffer competition with Singapore, Jakarta and Paris.Green economies will be discussed at the week-long conference to try to counter the challenges of rapid urbanisation, including access to housing, land, energy, basic services and information technology.Kicking off the session, Deputy Minister of Co-operative Governance and Traditional Affairs Andries Nel said UN figures showed that 54% of the world's population lived in urban areas.By 2050, he said, the number of people living in cities would increase to 66%.In 1950 only three in 10 people in the world lived in urban areas."Continuing population growth will add 2.5billion people to the world's global population by 2050, 90% of these will live in Asia and in Africa," he said.Nel said at present Africa had three mega cities - those with more than 10million people - Cairo, Kinshasa and Lagos.He said by 2030 Johannesburg, Luanda and Dar es Salaam would be added to the list.In South Africa 63% of the population lives in urban areas.This is expected to rise to 71% by 2030.By 2050 eight out of 10 South Africans will live in urban areas."The challenge now is to guide and drive the growth and management of urban areas in a way that will unleash the potential of cities and towns and to reverse the terrible legacy of apartheid and colonial spatial injustice," Nel said...
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