00:00Very good morning. I'm very pleased to be here this morning. An event of this
00:13sort would probably open light for us, for all of us, whether we are in
00:20sustainability or in engineering or probably in the media. Today I feel that
00:33I would probably be introducing something different than what I always
00:39speak about. I have always spoken about the impact of climate change. So many
00:47people in here probably have participated in some of my events in which I
00:56participate or probably read some of my articles that I publish in the in the
01:04local and international newspapers. Today I would actually be speaking about
01:12something different. We would really need to look into efficient governance in urban
01:28planning. They all say that for cities to be prosperous and efficient urban governance
01:40need to be set. And that is true. Because if you do have appropriate governance on urban
01:55settlement or urban planning or urban development, you look into all kind of
02:06engineering, housing, infrastructure, sustainability, all comes under that governance. So if
02:21governance are efficient and they are good for the future, then you as engineers, as
02:29companies are associated in the building industry, you can really relax and know that what you do today is good for the future.
02:41We probably sometimes miss the best part in urban planning. We don't know that what we plan today should actually be good for the next decades.
02:58What we build today should actually resist whatever that comes from nature. We know today that almost 90% of our infrastructure are coastal.
03:21So when we do our planning for this planning to be efficient and good for the future, we have to have that in mind.
03:34Because almost all, if 90%, that means all. So we know today that our governance need to be appropriately set for our buildings to be good for the future.
03:57Now, maybe some of you would ask me is our urban planning today good for the future? I'm not speaking about United Arab Emirates or the Gulf. I am speaking about the global and particularly global south.
04:19global south. In global south, we have had so much and probably we pass it. Today I thought maybe I will bring in five criteria. In global south and see how they are impacted by whether climate change or the environment.
04:48the environment or any future development. One probably is the rapid population growth. In the global south, we have cities that are overcrowded. And maybe we come from such cities.
05:15And this overcrowding is caused not only by the number of people who live in the cities. It is actually caused by us as engineers who probably 100 years, 200 years ago did not plan our cities right.
05:41So that is one thing that we really need to look into when we look into efficient governance. We really need to think into the growth of such population and the infrastructure associated with it.
06:00So that is one thing we have seen today. Maybe a decade ago or maybe more. We have not looked into it. And we do not know that more than 75% of the world's urban population, that is according to the UN, are actually crowded.
06:27They are not crowded. They are not crowded. They are not good for the future. And that is not from me. It is actually the United Nations. That is what they concluded.
06:34Also, we have a problem of the informal settlements and housing crisis.
06:47We know that one billion people currently live in slums. That is, I'm speaking about the global south.
07:03One billion people, almost one-seventh of the earth population. Guess what, on the forecasted 2050. Anybody can give a number?
07:21Three billion people, three billion people would actually be living in slums and not in a good condition cities.
07:34So that is very important for us to realize that the cities that we probably sometimes visit or live in, we can see some good part in it.
07:48But once you go in, there are people who live in slums. And that is informal settlements.
07:56Governments sometimes cannot do much with it. No financial institution would actually step in and help out.
08:11Thirdly, is my favorite part, is the environmental degradation and the climate vulnerability.
08:26Today in the south, in the global south, we need six trillion to mitigate the future climate impact only for half of our national determining indices
08:54that we have to submit. Six trillion. And that is only half. We only managed to receive from global north, probably 21 to 80 billion.
09:18Talking of trillion. And what we have received to mitigate the future impact of climate is actually 80 billion.
09:33And that is not enough. So the future of our cities in the south, in the global south, are threatened by climate.
09:45And we have very little to do. The global south have participated very little on the climate change, as you may well know.
10:01Almost 80% is actually from 97% or 93% is actually from global north.
10:13That is the impact of climate. So our share on this in the south, in the global south, is nothing but 7% of the impact.
10:28And today, in Asia, in Africa, in Latin America, they fear the destruction of their cities.
10:44cities. Some cities will vanish. Some islands will vanish as a result of climate change.
10:52So that is something that we always have to keep in mind as urban planners when we think into our future, the future of our cities, the future of what we should do.
11:06What we should do.
11:09Fourth is the inadequacy of fund, finance, economic, and urban poverty.
11:19Really speaking, all financial institutions are scared to finance any development in the global south.
11:30Because not only that the governments are not adequate for the future, but also the regulations, the system, the framework,
11:47does not help financial institutions to look into the future that this city could actually be improving in a decade, or in five years, or in 20 years, or the number of the loan.
12:03So that is there.
12:09The fifth that I thought that we share together is the governance and policy implementations.
12:18We live here, and we assume that all global south, all other cities, do have similar framework, systems, abilities, governance, and strategies.
12:41No.
12:42No.
12:43Unfortunately, it's not.
12:45You live in a place here where governance are gathered by future planning.
12:56Probably one of the very, probably the only city on the continent that has strategies for climate change,
13:10have strategies for energy, and have strategies for the environment.
13:17These strategies are approved, and they have their own governance, and we live with it.
13:26Yes, we live in a federal.
13:28They did some, some, between cities in Dubai, Abu Dhabi, Sharjah, and elsewhere.
13:35They do, they have their own, sometimes, regulatory systems, and sometimes they have their own.
13:42But I tell you, they are, when you look at them, they might differ a bit.
13:49But they are the same, they are coordinated.
13:52In big cities, this coordination is not there.
13:58Local governments are actually having different set of governance that is not applicable, or not organized, or not coordinated with.
14:18The federal.
14:19And that is difficult.
14:22Because here, financial institutions, United Nations, would not really be able to help.
14:34This is so difficult to interfere and help.
14:37This is so much challenges in here.
14:40Weakness in governance and lack of coordination hinder effective urban development.
14:46For sure.
14:48Now, how do we solve this?
14:50For sure, strengthen these participatory planning are very important.
15:02Engaging, empowering people while planning is also important.
15:09Looking into what is possible to be done is also important.
15:14Planning for the future is also essential.
15:18You cannot actually come up with governance that are good for today and may not be as good as you might be thinking a decade from today.
15:33So that is something that you, us, all together, we need to look at and find ourselves within a coherence that is good for the future.
15:48Because the future is not as bright, particularly when it comes to the south, the global south, is not as bright as we might be thinking or maybe as we might be wishing.
16:06Indeed, it is, I don't want to say gloomy, but it is, particularly when it comes to lack of efficient governance for the future, particularly when it looks into impact of climate.
16:28We've seen cities that vanished. We've seen islands that are no longer there.
16:38They're not there. It's not that because the climate is only the criteria.
16:45It's the government, the government that we are actually built on, our cities, was not clear enough, was not strong enough, has not have the vision of the future.
16:59So I know I've taken more time than I was planned for, but I hope that we, as engineers, as participants, those who are actually looking into the future, have to think in governance, in planning for the future.
17:20So urban development and urban planning is not anymore a set of drawing that we do here or in studios or in companies.
17:33We really need to empower people, engage them, look into what they need, because we are not in the north.
17:42In the south, it's different.
17:46Unorganized plants, slums, thousands of people live in places that are not healthy and they are not good for the future.
17:59Some areas, they are not even good for the present.
18:05I'm very sorry to take a lot of your time, but I thank you very much and I hope that I add some value to what you know.
