| The World
Summit on Sustainable Development (WSSD)
UMP Representatives from Africa, Asia and the Arab States
took part in WSSD in Johannesburg last month. Nathaniel
von Einsiedel of the UMP Regional Office for Asia participated
through the ICLEI Local Government Session as a Resource
Person in the session on "Managing Rapid Urbanization" and
as a Panelist in the session on "Inter/Intra Governmental
Relations", sharing experiences and lessons from UMP city
consultations in Asia.  FULL
STORY
WSSD: From Rio to Johannesburg
 The Earth
Summit in Rio de Janeiro in 1992 brought together policy
makers, diplomats, scientists, the media and non-governmental
representatives from 179 countries in a colossal effort
to reconcile the interchange between human development and
the environment. The Summit culminated in the drafting of
Agenda 21; a groundbreaking programme for international
action on environmental and developmental issues intended
to help guide international cooperation and national policy
development into the next century. FULL
STORY
Municipal - Community Partnerships:
Experience from Pietermaritzburg
 "Little boxes,
little boxes…" The South African government's low-cost housing
masterplan is in danger of resembling a Sixties song lyric.
Little boxes are springing up in the thousands and have become
a major headache for municipalities. Services and maintenance
are expensive and very often the residents can't or won't
pay. And when colorless rows of identical little houses when
services break down, they become depressing hovels. And residents
get caught in an urban sink of hopelessness and decay…. unless
an audacious new approach to infrastructure maintenance and
environmental management is adopted. FULL
STORY
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