Dispatches - July
Word Population Report Generates Wide Interest in Europe
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LONDON—The successful launch of the State of World Population 2007: Unleashing the Potential of Urban Growth, in 18 European cities has demonstrated that interest in urbanization runs high. Across Europe, ministers, parliamentarians, government officials, demographers, private organizations and the media gathered at press conferences and launch seminars to discuss how urbanization can contribute to the fight against poverty. UNFPA was widely acknowledged for bringing up the issue in this year’s report.
“Urbanization can and should be a force for good. No country in the industrialized age has ever achieved significant economic growth without urbanization,” said Thoraya Ahmed Obaid, UNFPA Executive Director, at the report’s main launch in London. “Cities concentrate poverty, but they also represent poor people’s best hope of escaping it. Cities create environmental problems, but they also create solutions.”
The report, which was launched in more than 100 cities around the world (the most since it was first published 30 years ago), was praised for its focus on the positive impacts of urban growth. However, to reap this potential, as the report makes clear, developing countries need to prepare now for the inevitable growth ahead. A number of speakers picked up on this theme. It was further stressed at the European launches that donors should invest in better infrastructure, shelter, sanitation, job opportunities and improved access for women and youth to reproductive health, in order to unleash the potential benefits of urban growth.
The groundbreaking role for UNFPA in dealing with urbanization as a positive force and the report’s strong call for political action were reflected in the exceptional and positive media coverage all over Europe, where most major newspapers and broadcasters reported on its findings.
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