‘Kampala si bizimbe’ is commonly used to warn against conmen. For our readers who may not be well versed with the phrase or the language, it simply means in layman’s terms that Kampala is not made up of just buildings and so we better not trust anybody. Sustainable Development Goal 11 desires to make cities and human settlements inclusive, safe resilient and sustainable for the public. This is a global desire and while Kampala is not made out of just buildings, the quality of lives that people live is important for us to achieve this goal.  

The 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development recognizes and reaffirms the urgent need to reduce the risk of disasters. It aims to ensure access for all to adequate, safe and affordable housing and basic services and upgrade slums, provide access to safe, affordable, accessible and sustainable transport systems for all, improve road safety, and enhance inclusive and sustainable urbanisation and capacity for participatory, integrated and sustainable human settlement planning and management in all countries, by 2030. This goal also calls for strengthening efforts to protect and safeguard the world’s cultural and natural heritage, significantly reducing, by 2030, the number of deaths caused and the number of people affected by disasters. Your question may be what this all has to do with the environment, but this is a question that we will answer in our blog. 

Like any SDG, this sustainable goal has particular points of focus. These include;

• Leaving no man behind. This would require an intensified focus on about 1 billion slum dwellers. 
• The growth of cities comes with a rise in municipal solid waste problems and this SDG aims to manage this problem head-on. According to the United Nations site, about 82% of municipal waste is collected globally and 55% is managed in controlled facilities. 
• Another major target area is the quality of air that we breathe. About 99%of the world’s population breathe polluted air. 

Below are the targets and indicators to help us solve these problems by the year 2030:

Target 1: By 2030, ensure access for all to adequate, safe and affordable housing and basic services and upgrade slums.

 Indicator:

• The proportion of the urban population living in slums, informal settlements or inadequate housing

Target 2: By 2030, provide access to safe, affordable, accessible and sustainable transport systems for all, improving road safety, notably by expanding public transport, with special attention to the needs of those in vulnerable situations, women, children, persons with disabilities and older persons.

Indicator:

• The proportion of the population that has convenient access to public transport, by sex, age and persons with disabilities.

Target 3: By 2030, enhance inclusive and sustainable urbanization and capacity for participatory, integrated and sustainable human settlement planning and management in all countries.

Indicators:

• The ratio of land consumption rate to the population growth rate.
• The proportion of cities with a direct participation structure of civil society in urban planning and management that operate regularly and democratically.

Target 4: To strengthen efforts to protect and safeguard the world’s cultural and natural heritage.

Indicator:

• Total per capita expenditure on the preservation, protection and conservation of all cultural and natural heritage, by a source of funding (public, private), type of heritage (cultural, natural) and level of government (national, regional, and local/municipal)

Target 5: By 2030, significantly reduce the number of deaths and the number of people affected and substantially decrease the direct economic losses relative to the global gross domestic product caused by disasters, including water-related disasters, with a focus on protecting the poor and people in vulnerable situations.

Indicators:

• The number of deaths, missing persons and directly affected persons attributed to disasters per 100,000 population.
• Direct economic loss attributed to disasters concerning the global domestic product (GDP)
• Damage to critical infrastructure  
• Number of disruptions to basic services, attributed to disasters

Target 6: By 2030, reduce the adverse per capita environmental impact of cities, including by paying special attention to air quality and municipal and other waste management

Indicators:

• The proportion of municipal solid waste collected and managed in controlled facilities out of total municipal waste generated, by cities.
• Annual mean levels of fine particulate matter (e.g. PM2.5 and PM10) in cities (population weighted)

Target 7: By 2030, provide universal access to safe, inclusive and accessible, green and public spaces, in particular for women and children, older persons and persons with disabilities.

Indicators:

• The average share of the built-up area of cities that is open space for public use for all, by sex, age and persons with disabilities.
• The proportion of persons victim of physical or sexual harassment, by sex, age, disability status and place of occurrence, in the previous 12 months.

Target 8a: Support positive economic, social and environmental links between urban, peri-urban and rural areas by strengthening national and regional development planning.

Indicators:

• The number of countries that have national urban policies or regional development plans that (a) respond to population dynamics; (b) ensure balanced territorial development; and (c) increase local fiscal space.

Target 8b: By 2020, substantially increase the number of cities and human settlements adopting and implementing integrated policies and plans towards inclusion, resource efficiency, mitigation and adaptation to climate change, resilience to disasters, and development and implementation, in line with the Sendai Framework for Disaster Risk Reduction 2015-2030, holistic disaster risk management at all levels

Indicators:

• Number of countries that adopt and implement national disaster risk reduction strategies in line with the Sendai Framework for Disaster Risk Reduction 2015–2030
• The proportion of local governments that adopt and implement local disaster risk reduction strategies in line with national disaster risk reduction strategies.

Target 8c:

Support least developed countries, including through financial and technical assistance, in building sustainable and resilient buildings utilizing local materials.

“What is the use of the house if you don’t have a decent planet to put it on?”

– Henry David Thoreau