PROGRAMME OF ACTION OF THE UN ICPD
Actions
9.14. Governments should increase the capacity and competence of city and municipal authorities to manage urban development, to safeguard the environment, to respond to the needs of all citizens, including urban squatters, for personal safety, basic infrastructure and services, to eliminate health and social problems, including problems of drugs and criminality, and problems resulting from overcrowding and disasters, and to provide people with alternatives to living in areas prone to natural and man-made disasters.
9.15. In order to improve the plight of the urban poor, many of whom work in the informal sector of the economy, Governments are urged to promote the integration of migrants from rural areas into urban areas and to develop and improve their income-earning capability by facilitating their access to employment, credit, production, marketing opportunities, basic education, health services, vocational training and transportation, with special attention to the situation of women workers and women heads of households. Child-care centres should be established, and special protection and rehabilitation programmes should be established for street children.
9.16. To finance the needed infrastructure and services in a balanced manner, taking into account the interests of the poor segments of society, local and national government agencies should consider introducing equitable cost- recovery schemes and increasing revenues by appropriate measures.
9.17. Governments should strengthen the capacity for land management, including urban planning at all levels, in order to take into account demographic trends and encourage the search for innovative approaches to address the challenges facing cities, with special attention to the pressures and needs resulting from the growth of their populations.
9.18. Governments should promote the development and implementation of effective environmental management strategies for urban agglomerations, giving special attention to water, waste and air management, as well as to environmentally sound energy and transport systems.