Pacific off the map

Region

Pacific off the map at Bangkok forum

By Kalinga Seneviratne

There was lively debate on the multi tude of problems faced by the rapidly growing cities of Asia at the second Asia-Pacific Urban Forum in

Bangkok from March 11-15. Organised by

the Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (ESCAP) and the “Asia-Pacific 2000” project of the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), this meeting was built as part of the region’s preparatory process for HABI TAT II - the major United Nations Conference on Human Settlements to be held in Istanbul, Turkey, in June.

The Forum was attended by over 100 delegates from Asian and Pacific countries.

but many South Pacific delegates com plained that their countries had been left out of the document presented to the meet ing for debate. The document titled “Living in Asian Cities” generated a lot of interesting discussion on the problems cre ated within Asia’s mega-cities with the increasing marginalisation of the poor, development of mafia networks and the breakdown of law and order.

“I understand this is a regional forum which includes countries from Asia, the South Pacific, Australia and New Zealand.

I’m of the opinion the title of this docu ment, “Living in Asian cities” is a bit mis leading. It needs to encompass all these other countries,” complained Dr Sababu Kaitilla from Papua New Guinea, during

the opening session of the Forum.

Talking to PIM later, he said he had read through all four chapters of the docu ment and no Pacific Island country was mentioned by name. “The word Pacific is missing in the whole document,” added Kaitilla, a senior lecturer at the University of PNG in Lae, who was representing the National Committee for Urban Shelter in

Png.

“PNG cities are much smaller at the moment but that doesn’t exclude them selves from the problems experienced by the mega-cities of Asia,” he said. “Right now, some of the cities in PNG are already experiencing those problems although not in great magnitude like the Asian cities”.

While the growth of urban infrastruc

ture in PNG is very small compared to cities in Asia, Dr Kaitilla argues there is nevertheless growing problems of urban gangs because of the economic disparities in growing urban settlements. Since the Pacific Islands, like most Asian countries, have no formal security structure, they may have a lot to leam from each other to tackle these problems.

Peni Gavidi, deputy permanent secre tary of the Ministry of Local Government and Environment also felt strongly about the exclusion of the South Pacific from the conference discussion document.” It appears that the Pacific is here by name only,” he told PIM.

“We feel we’re just being used to get the name of the Pacific. ESCAP is Asia-

Pacific, creating an impression that it’s serving a large area. In fact, it is just concentrating on Asia”.

Gavidi also argues that many Asian and Pacific Island countries have common prob lems but the scale of the prob lems are different. “In Fiji people are moving into urban areas. We have to address the allocation of resources. That is the common allocation of

land, question of raising finances or main tenance of infrastructure. The scale of the problem is different,” he observed, adding: “The scale of the problem we face in Suva is more manageable than in Bangkok, Manila or Bombay”.

Gavidi thinks that much more attention is given to the problems of Asia’s cities in Forums like this because there is a feeling that the populations are bigger, thus the scale of the problem is larger and the solu tions are urgent. “There’s a variety to the scale of the problem we’ve never heard of in the Pacific. For example, child labour, girls trafficking. We don’t face that in Fiji” he said, but added these are lessons which will be important for the Pacific to leam to avoid similar occurrences in their own countries.

“Quite clearly the developments taking place in Asia will have their impact on the Pacific. I think it’s important that we keep reminding the people of Asia about our existence” said Margaret Shields, a coun cillor of the Wellington Regional Council

and New Zealand’s sole representative to the Forum.

While the Pacific is unlikely to have for a very long time the type of urban prob lems faced by Asia, she argues that to meet the needs of these Asian urban popula tions, more demands will be placed on the resources of the Pacific Island countries.

“If we don’t use the resources of the Pacific wisely, we are going to become victims of the development taking place in Asia” said Shields. She points out that these pressures are already showing up in areas like logging, fishing, tourism and migration in the Pacific.

Jens Overgaard, the chief of the Bangkok-based ESCAP section for Human Settlements told PIM they had not

The title of the document “Living in Asian Cities” is misleading.

The document does not cover problems being experienced in the region and fails to mention the Pacific by name.

tried to marginalise the South Pacific at the Forum. The discussion document focused on the cities of Asia because it had a cer tain purpose and concept to provoke debate on the urgent problems facing the region’s big cities. He argues it is difficult to cover all 47 ESCAP member countries in a document like this, which is why it was called “Living in Asian Cities”.

“I don’t think the size matters so much.

It’s a question of whether with the kinds of

problems expressed, there is a possibility

to leam from each other in a Forum like this. The whole question of land, access to land, to land ownership are ones experi enced throughout the region” he argues.

But Kaitilla pointed out, that in PNG one of the major reasons for the problem of “rascals” (urban gangs) is the fear of eviction from their urban dwellings. Thus, here, PNG may have a lesson to learn from fellow island nation Sri Lanka’s "Million Houses Programme" where low-income families in urban areas were given govern ment housing and Non Governmental

Organisations like “Sevanatha” provided

information and organisational support for communities to build and maintain their dwellings. Representatives from both these projects attended the Bangkok Forum.

On the other hand, as Gavidi points out,

Fiji’s system of delegation of responsibili

ty and power to municipalities at local level may have many lessons for Asia’s smaller cities, given that ways of empow ering local authorities was one of the major topics of discussion at the Forum.

There were many local government repre sentatives from the region present to share their experiences.

With the Habitat 111 conference in Istanbul duped the “Cities Summit” many

Pacific delegates were wondering whether they would have a role to play, especially if they were to be repre sented through the Asia-Pacific caucus.

Shields thinks if the Pacific looks at the con ference as a learning process, to learn from the problems faced by high population urban

centres and use that knowledge to avoid these things happening in their smaller countries, will be a useful experience. But Gavidi feels the South Pacific should make a more concerted effort to work with other small island states in the Caribbean and elsewhere to place their own unique issues dealing with urban development on the agenda at Istanbul.

Overgaard said many Pacific countries have expressed interest in Istanbul but complained they have not received suffi cient information about the process taking place. He argues it has a lot to do with the travel costs involved in attending the preparatory conferences which have taken place in Nairobi and New York. “The pro fessionals who have now been left with the task have not taken part in those discus sions” he observed. “When it comes to Istanbul your representative have to be there (and) maybe work together with other island states to put across their point of view, when the global plan of action is

negotiated”. ■