Publications /
Policy Brief

Back
Download PDF
A Conversation with Policymakers, Mayors, and Urban Specialists: An African Perspective on Sustainable Urban Development and the G20
Authors
Arkebe Oqubay
January 20, 2025
Related topics: 
Economy

This paper, included in the report "Urban Sustainable Development: Governance, Finance and Politics.", was originally published on:https://cebri.org/en/doc/356/cebri-and-rio-g20-committee-publish-urban-sustainable-development-governance-finance-and-politics

 © Vormittag, Pedro, Marianna Albuquerque & Eugénie Birch (Eds.). 2024. Urban Sustainable Development: Governance, Finance and Politics. Rio de Janeiro: CEBRI.

 

Sustainable urban development is vital for Africa, offering opportunities for a better future that requires political commitment and a collective response to global challenges. A shared perspective and productive debate on Africa’s challenges and future are essential to enhance economic transformation, urban sustainability, and the transition to a carbon-neutral economy. This commentary presents a compelling conversation among African policymakers, leaders, practitioners, and specialists on this pressing theme conducted in September 2024.

The conversation was based on a semi-structured qualitative survey featuring a qualitative format, targeted at a spectrum of African mayors, national policymakers, leaders of continental organizations, and development practitioners—urban specialists. The respondents play a critical role in shaping public policy and practice and include Prime Ministers and the African Union Commission Chairperson, offering a snapshot of their perspectives and concerns. Of the fifty invited participants, nearly 50% completed the survey, including eight ministers, seven officials of continental organizations, five development and urban experts, and the mayors of Rabat, Freetown, Windhoek, and Cape Town.

Cities are vital in attaining the United Nations 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and the net-zero goals endorsed in 2015 under the Paris Agreement. The questionnaire comprised questions underpinned by cities’ contributions as innovation and economic growth engines, as well as Africa’s commitment to the common aspiration of the global community. African countries made a significant stride by unanimously adopting Agenda 2063, a 50-year road map with a theme of “Africa We Want,” which places sustainable urban development at its core. Most recently, in September 2024, the African Union Commission successfully organized an African Urban Forum in Addis Ababa. This pivotal forum delved into African urbanization and the challenges of financing to achieve sustainable and resilient urban development.

RELATED CONTENT

  • Argentina Avoids Falling into Arrears with the IMF
    Authors
    Otaviano Canuto
    January 31, 2022
    On January 28, both Argentina’s government and the International Monetary Fund staff made announcements about an understanding on new support program. Meanwhile, in addition to the payment of an amortization due on January 28, another payment is also expected in the first week of February. Both payments relate to the previous package, approved in 2018 and substantially disbursed thereafter. Non-payment could sour relations at a critical moment for a new program to be approved by the ...
  • How Can Data Collection Help Inclusive Green Finance?
    Authors
    Morten Seja*
    Charlie Knight
    Hadley Hilgenhurst
    Amlan Banerjee
    Omair Azam
    January 31, 2022
    Setting the Scene for the Current State of Inclusive Green Finance Climate change is one of, if not the biggest, challenges facing the world. The challenge extends to banking regulators, who, in addition to other responsibilities, are now tasked with ensuring financial inclusion and climate change mitigation. However, central banks realizing how important inclusion and climate change are is only the first step. As part of this process, they need to understand how to define Inclusiv ...
  • Will emerging economies face a hard landing?
    Authors
    Otaviano Canuto
    January 26, 2022
    The year began with simultaneous signs of a slowdown in global economic growth and a reorientation toward tightening of monetary policies in advanced economies. In its latest Global Economic Prospects released on January 11, the World Bank forecasts that, after a global growth surprisingly at 5.5% last year, it should moderate to somewhere around 4.1% and 3.2%. % in, respectively, 2022 and 2023. In addition to the effects of omicron at the start of the year, less fiscal support and ...
  • Download PDF
    Covid-19 and the Dilemma of the Developing Countries
    Authors
    Hinh T. Dinh
    January 26, 2022
    COVID-19 has caused serious damage throughout the entire world. As of mid-2021, the global fiscal cost of COVID-19—excluding the most important consequences, such as human lives, mental health effects, restrictions of human freedom, and other non-pecuniary components, have amounted to at least $16.5 trillion, about 18% of world GDP (Dinh 2021). Financial support has varied across countries depending on income level, political willingness, and the extent of the pandemic in each econo ...
  • Green Finance Taxonomies: Measuring which Economic Activities Deserve to be Called Green
    Authors
    Morten Seja
    Hadley Hilgenhurst
    Charlie Knight
    January 25, 2022
    Why Green Finance Taxonomies? The increasing effort to mitigate climate change has caused more and more individuals, governments, and companies to shift away from traditional financial investments and activities, and towards more environmentally-friendly alternatives. However, until recently, there has been a lack of consensus on what green finance and its environmental impact is. Thus, green finance taxonomies are needed to provide classification systems that identify how environm ...
  • حديث الثلاثاء: التمكين الاقتصادي للنساء في المغرب
    January 18, 2022
    يخصص مركز السياسات من أجل الجنوب الجديد حلقة برنامجه الأسبوعي "حديث الثلاثاء" لموضوع التمكين الاقتصادي للنساء مع الطيب غازي، باحث في الاقتصاد بمركز السياسات من أجل الجنوب الجديد. يعد مجال التمكين الاقتصادي للنساء من المداخل الأساسية لإرساء المساواة بين النساء والرجال، ويستمد هذا المجال ...
  • Is the EU's Carbon Border Adjustment Mechanism a Threat for Developing Countries?
    Authors
    Rim Berahab
    January 13, 2022
    “This opinion was prepared within the framework of the Jean Monnet Atlantic Network 2.0. The European Commission's support for the production of this publication does not constitute an endorsement of the contents, which reflect the views only of the authors, and the Commission cannot be held responsible for any use which may be made of the information contained therein.”   As part of the lengthy fight against climate change, the European Union (EU) has introduced a Border Carbon A ...
  • Falcons and fighter jets
    Authors
    Helmut Sorge
    January 12, 2022
    Feeble eyesight may hinder you from finding Puntland on a map, the unrecognized Federal member state in Somalia, Khaatumo State, Jubaland, or Somaliland, concerning the planet’s size just large enough to be covered by the shadow of a palm tree. Arab entities surrounded by sun and sand and the Gulf of Aden, Somaliland is surviving as a self-declared nation, located on the southern coast of the Gulf of Aden bordered by Djibouti to the northwest, Ethiopia to the south and west, Somalia ...