The outcome of the ANCs long-awaited KwaZulu-Natal conference was a win for the Thuma Mina crowd. (Delwyn Verasamy/M&G)
CAPE TOWN, May 26 (ANA) – The City of Cape Town has been selected to join the 100 Resilient Cities network, mayor Patricia de Lille announced on Thursday.
The City was one of 37 newly selected cities that joined 63 existing cities that form the 100 Resilient Cities (100RC) Challenge.
De Lille said the city’s selection to participate in the programme, aimed at helping cities build resilience to social, economic and physical challenges in urban environments, was a “significant honour”.
“As a member of 100RC, the City of Cape Town will gain access to tools, funding, technical expertise, and other resources to build resilience to the challenges of the 21st century,” she said.
“These challenges include shocks such as extreme weather events as a result of climate change, fires, floods, earthquakes, civil unrest as well as stresses that weaken the fabric of the city, such as unemployment, inefficient public transport, endemic crime and violence, drug and alcohol abuse, and energy shortages and outages.”
The City’s inclusion in the 100RC network means that Cape Town would be “eligible to receive grant funding to hire a chief resilience officer who will lead the city-wide resilience-building process and engage stakeholders from different government agencies, public and private sectors, and various communities to incorporate diverse perspectives and knowledge”.
The 100RC partners offer the 100RC members tools and services valued at over US$180 million at no direct cost in areas that include innovative finance, technology, infrastructure, land use, and community and social resilience.
100RC president Michael Berkowitz said: “We are so proud to welcome Cape Town to 100 Resilient Cities. We selected Cape Town because of its leaders’ commitment to resilience-building and the innovative and proactive way they’ve been thinking about the challenges the city faces. We’re excited to get to work.”
Among the other newly listed 37 cities are Addis Ababa (Ethiopia), Buenoes Aires (Argentina), Calgary (Canada), Lagos (Nigeria), Nairobi (Kenya), Salvador (Brazil), Tel Aviv (Israel), The Hague (Netherlands), Washington D.C. (United States), Yiwu (China).
– African News Agency (ANA)
Disclaimer: This story is pulled directly from the African News Agency wire, and has not been edited by Mail & Guardian staff. The M&G does not accept responsibility for errors in any statement, quote or extract that may be contained therein.