I was overwhelmed with emotion yesterday listening to Afghanistan’s Minister of Urban Development, Mr. Mohammad Yusuf Pashtun, describe conditions in the wartime ruins of his country. After 25 years of war, Afghanistan’s cities have been destroyed, many literally flattened on a scale unimaginable to people outside the country. More than 70 percent of all urban infrastructure is gone, and the remaining 30 percent is in poor condition.
In addition to the devastated physical landscape, Afghanistan’s health, education and basic governance structures also are in ruins. At the same time, the country’s urban population has grown almost five fold and a further 5 million refugees displaced by war have returned to towns and cities unable to accommodate them. Slums and informal urban settlements are growing five percent per annum, he noted.
He described his country’s plight as an urban crisis where average life expectancy is only 43 years; where women are still prevented from achieving their full potential; where warlords and drug traders remain a threat; and where the country's democratic structures are desperately weak.
What moved me was his call for Afghanistan's political and business partners to view this urban crisis as an opportunity for national and international investment; where a huge reservoir of cheap skilled and unskilled labour exists; where cheap local construction materials are everywhere; and where new partnerships can generate job opportunities for millions of people.
He concluded by saying Afghanistan is not afraid, because Afghanistan is not alone.
Nothing could better describe the purpose of the World Urban Forum than his simple message of hope, that despite unimaginable pressures and problems, countries like Afghanistan could view the future with optimism, because the rest of the world is there to help.
The thread that links Kabul and Vancouver is the message that we are all in this together, and Minster Pashtun’s optimism shows how powerful this message can be in creating hope.
Many great things will emerge from WUF3, but none will be as important as this.
In 1976, Buckminster Fuller related many things to the people gathered for Habitat, including also that at that time he estimated that 200,000 of his geodesic domes had been erected around the space ship earth. Furthermore he stated that while visitng Afghanistan, troops there had erected in 24 hours, a dome he said the American military would take 2 weeks to put up. It is not uncommon for decent humans to self deprecate and impute great (perhaps unrealistic) expectations of others.
Thank-you Charles for all the work you all have done, for I am the Jam and also WUF et all, we're all very grateful.
I have another memory of Bucky Fuller from '76, speaking from the flat deck of a truck in the court of Jericho. Extolling the hydraulics of trees, 400 lbs per sq.in. driving water through the cambrium to the periphery of the tree, his arms pressured up and out as branches waving in the gusts of enthusiasm.
We may all be good people, but as our egos contend, the issues continue to bleed. The program of systematic global action to provide, immediate relief from dirty water, health services in the world slums, and sanitation is required to be fought like a war. We must demand from all, that the billions being squandered on the destructive vanity of madmen, be immediately applied to the salvation of humanity. We know we must turn the swords into water pumps and desalinators, solar ovens, etc. We could make simple sophisticated satellite settlements (such as engaged in intensive farming industry) with all the perks of the city for people to move to beyond the slums. Slums which we could in turn make into green belts and farms. Maybe limits to growth should be applied to cities?
Planning several million new rural settlements, undertaking global desert reclamation for instance, may ameliorate the problems of global climate change, resource exhaustion, and the flood of economic refugees to cities unable to do them justice.
A simple global development plan that everybody can identify with, that is altruistic, aesthetic, efficient, inclusive, and pragmatic is naturally...?
Best regards to you all
Pat at pbritten@shaw.ca
Posted by: Patrick Britten | June 22, 2006 at 23:18