Lesotho National Urban Forum

Bo Mme le Bo Ntate, Khotsong.  Please allow me to pay my respects to:

 

HIS MAJESTY KING LETSIE III, 

THE RIGHT HONOURABLE THE PRIME MINISTER,  

HONOURABLE PRESIDENT OF THE SENATE,  

HONOURABLE SPEAKER OF THE NATIONAL ASSEMBLY, 

HIS LORDSHIP PRESIDENT OF THE COURT OF APPEAL,  

HER LADYSHIPSHIP THE CHIEF JUSTICE, 

HONOURABLE DEPUTY PRIME MINISTER,  

HONOURABLE MEMBERS OF PARLIAMENT, 

HONOURABLE MINISTERS OF HIS MAJESTY’S CABINET, PARTICULARLY THE HON. MINISTER OF LOCAL GOVERNMENT AND CHIEFTAINSHIP, NT. MAHALA MOLAPO   

THEIR LORDSHIPS JUDGES OF THE COURT OF APPEAL AND OF THE HIGH COURT,  

YOUR EXCELLENCIES MEMBERS OF THE DIPLOMATIC CORPS; 

HEADS OF UN AGENCIES AND DEAR COLLEAGUES; 

PRINCIPAL SECRETARIES; 

SENIOR GOVERNMEN OFFICIALS; MEMBERS OF THE MEDIA; 

DISTINGUISHED GUESTS, BO MME LE BO NTATE,  

ALL PROTOCOL OBSERVED 

In the context of an ever-increasing urbanized world, the last decade has seen a growing understanding of the linkages between urbanization and sustainable development. The Sustainable Development Goals express a wide recognition of the spatial dimension of development.  Indeed, SDG 11 (SDG11) states: “Make cities and human settlement inclusive, safe, resilient and sustainable”. 

With SDG11, Member States acknowledged the scale of urbanization and the fact that more than 50% of the world population now live in urban areas.  They also recognize the key role of cities in the global economy, the climate change agenda, the use and consumption of natural resources, as well as their contribution to social advancement and innovations. 

In addition to the adoption of the Agenda 2030 for Sustainable Development, other key international frameworks addressing global concerns were also agreed in 2015, such as the Paris Agreement on Climate Change and the Sendai Framework for Disaster Risk Reduction, both with strong inter-linkages with urban development and its dynamics. 

 

With reference to all these milestone commitments, the recognition of the key contribution of sustainable urbanization to achieve development culminated with the historical adoption of the New Urban Agenda in the United Nations Conference on Housing and Sustainable Urban Development (Habitat III) in Quito, Ecuador, in October 2016. The New Urban Agenda, grounded on bold transformative commitments articulated across the three pillars of sustainability (social, economic and environmental), provides a blue-print towards the achievement of  sustainable urbanization and a qualitative roadmap for its effective implementation.

It reasserts a positive notion of cities, demonstrating that if well planned and managed, urbanization can be a transformative force for inclusive prosperity and well-being, while protecting the environment and addressing climate change. In other words, localizing and scaling up the implementation of the New Urban Agenda will accelerate the achievement of the Sustainable Development Goals. 

Since its adoption, countries have embarked in realigning their development efforts, to the common vision and the provisions of the New Urban Agenda which integrate and complement the actions to achieve the Agenda 2030 and other internationally agreed development frameworks.  National Urban Forums, like the one we are starting today are multistakeholder platforms for an inclusive implementation of the new urban agenda at country level that responds to the call of the New Urban Agenda to create platforms and mechanisms for a wide meaningful participation at all stages of the urban decision making processes.  

The overall objective of the National Urban Forums is to promote inclusive policy debate and engagement from a wide range of governmental and non-governmental actors on sustainable urban development at all levels. 

 

Urbanization in Lesotho 

Distinguished Guests, Bo Mme le Bo Ntate,

 

The population of Lesotho is predominantly rural, with slightly over (70%) residing in rural areas or outside urbanized settlements. But Lesotho is 

experiencing rapid urban transition with large-scale internal migration to the urban centres, and higher urban than rural population growth rates. The UN projects that urbanization in Lesotho will rise to (33.4%) by 2026 and to (46.7%) by 2050. Rapid urbanization in Lesotho is driven by a combination of natural increase and rural to urban migration. 

Achieving sustainable socio-economic growth in Lesotho depends largely on how well the urban areas are managed. Faced with growing urbanization, its opportunities and challenges, Lesotho is presented with a unique opportunity to define the future sustainability of its urban areas. In context of rapid urbanization, such as in Lesotho, advanced preparation for city expansion through coordinating the plans for urban expansion and satellite towns in the major centres, can provide the key tools for initiating more orderly urbanization and the prevention of slums, establishing sustainable bases for development, and increasing access to basic services and opportunities for growing urban populations. 

Increasing urbanization and population and demographic trends have made housing one of the fastest growing problems facing the Kingdom of Lesotho in terms of a quantitative and qualitative housing deficit in urban areas and housing deterioration in rural areas. The importance of housing in the country’s economy cannot be overstated. Housing is seen as the total physical, social, cultural and economic environment in which people live, grow and develop. Housing is thus a key element of poverty reduction strategies. The Government of Lesotho (GoL) has long recognized the growing challenge the country is facing as a result of the widening gap between housing supply and demand and the need for a housing policy to comprehensively address it (it has been approved in 2018). 

Honorable Minister, Bo Mme le Bo Ntate 

Lesotho is already experiencing impacts of extreme weather conditions – heavy rains and floods, drought, heat stress, hail, snow, strong winds and these events are likely to be more frequent in future. Extreme weatherrelated events have seriously affected urban areas in recent years, Lesotho will need to improve the resilience of its cities to reduce significant impact on the welfare of people, infrastructure and economic development. 

UN-Habitat and UNDP have supported the Kingdom of Lesotho in developing a housing profile and the new housing policy that will be launched later today. The UN system stands ready to continue engaging with the Kingdom of Lesotho for the implementation of the housing policy in the future years. 

World Cities Day: The United Nations celebrates every year on 31th of October the World Cities Day to focus the international community’s attention on how urbanization can be used to achieve sustainable development. While the general theme is “Better City, Better Life”, the specific theme for 2019 is “Changing the World: Innovations and a Better Life for Future Generations”. 

Innovation can foster inclusiveness and social cohesion. It should allow new comers, people with disabilities, the urban poor and other vulnerable groups to enjoy equal rights and access to services, infrastructure and livelihood opportunities. Cities are where many global problems, from climate change to inequality and migration, impact most people, especially the most vulnerable. Cities also create many of those challenges. Continuing to run our cities in the usual way will lead to increased global warming, higher mountains of waste, expanding informal settlements, gridlocked traffic and uncontrollable unplanned urban sprawl. In short – unsustainable cities. This is exactly the opposite to the inclusive, safer, sustainable and resilient cities envisaged under Sustainable Development Goal 11.  

Distinguished Guests, Bo Mme le Bo Ntate, 

We urgently need fresh new ideas to help transform the way we live in cities and ensure a better future for future generations. Innovation encompasses simple, ingenious ideas and complex frontier technology. Innovation can help us to design improved people and environment friendly cities with inclusive neighbourhoods and public spaces, to create thriving eco-systems and bio-diversity hubs and produce green energy.  Imaginative ideas will allow us to be more efficient and effective in the way we manage our resources, we move people and goods, deliver our services and construct our infrastructure and buildings. 

Let me conclude by wishing you fruitful discussions and deliberations over the next 2 days. I look forward to supporting the Mountain Kingdom in implementing the recommendations of the Maseru Declaration, which I believe will be the outcome of this National Urban Forum. 

Kea Leboha!