By Martin Pollack

The City of Cape Town has appealed to international environmental organisations to place a greater emphasis on the role played by local government in sustainable development.

Speaking at the recent Third Global Environment Facility (GEF) Congress, hosted in Cape Town toward the end of August, Executive Mayor Helen Zille noted that "sustainability in developing cities is becoming increasingly important to the future health of the planet. Local governments will, more and more, be expected to ensure that their plans for development address the environmental concerns within their regions holistically."

The Global Environment Facility (GEF) is the world's largest environmental funding body. It was established in 1991, and helps developing countries fund projects and programs that protect the global environment.

GEF grants support projects related to biodiversity, climate change, international waters, land degradation, the ozone layer, and persistent organic pollutants. The United Nations Environmental Programme (UNEP), the United Nations Development Program (UNDP) and the World Bank are GEF implementing agents.

However, as Zille noted, the GEF Assembly has largely been negotiated and represented by national government delegations. "It is critical that the voice of local governments is heard in these discussions. Cities should have the opportunity to play a more active role in the major discussion forums and negotiating platforms of global development agencies such as the GEF and the UN Commission on Sustainable Development."

"I would like to appeal to GEF to consider placing a greater emphasis in its future activities on the role that local governments play in sustainable development.

"It is within our power to guide this rapid development of our City in order to create the best outcomes for our people and the environment they share," Zille said.

The GEF Assembly was attended by more than 1 200 development, finance and environmental leaders, including heads of states, ministerial delegations, captains of industry, civil society and media from across the globe.

The Assembly's 176 member countries meet every four years to assess the overall direction of the GEF and determine new funding priorities.

This year, GEF received its biggest ever financial boost with 32 governments agreeing to contribute US$ 3.13 billion to finance environmental projects over the next four years.

Concurrent with the GEF Congress was the Enviromedia 2006 Conference, co-funded by the City of Cape Town, GEF and Com+.

This was the third event of its kind, bringing journalists, media practitioners and development experts together to deepen understandings and share expertise about reporting on environment, sustainability and development in Africa.

The City also sponsored several journalism students from various Cape Town academic institutions to attend the conference, to build capacity and thereby enhance the quality of environmental journalism in Cape Town.

Source: City of Cape Town - official site