Stronger urban-rural linkages unlock opportunities for more sustainable, inclusive and resilient societies

Use of water, food waste and migration are some of the many challenges citites face and that can be addressed by strengthening rural-urban linkages, said René Castro, FAO Assistant Director-General of Climate, Biodiversity, Land and Water Development, during the HLPF side-event, “Strengthening Rural-Urban Linkages for Inclusive and Resilient Societies and Healthy Ecosystems,” on 13 July in New York.

Co-organized by FAO, with the Government of Colombia, European Union, IFAD, UN-Habitat, Local Governments for Sustainability (ICLEI) and Cities Alliance, the side-event presented innovative and concrete examples of how urban-rural linkages can be used to leverage and accelerate progress on a number of SDG targets, including food security and nutrition, water, energy, land degradation and biodiversity protection. The event also discussed how to engage the small-scale producers and the rural poor as critical agents of change to ensure no one and no space is left behind.

Serving as the moderator of the event, Castro noted that much work needs to be done in certain areas to catch up on the implementation progress and that it is important to rethink rural-urban linkages as they offer an entry point in addressing major challenges and are key to making cities more sustainable.

Chantal Marijnisse, Head of the Environment, Natural Resources and Water unit, Directorate-General for International Cooperation and Development, European Union, informed that reinforcing rural-urban linkages was part of a comprehensive strategy adopted by the EU to respond to the urbanization challenge. Good governance, territorial planning, land tenure security and sustainable ecosystems management were identified as key elements of this effort, that are considered in its international cooperation.

Felipe Castro, Director of Policy Follow up and Implementation of the National Planning Department of Colombia, said that the 50 years of conflict left rural areas behind and stressed that integrating rural sectors and promoting rural development were critical for the successful implementation of the peace agreement in the country.

Barbara Turk, New York City’s Director of Food Policy, stressed the role that cities can have in in expanding relationships with rural areas, creating new opportunities and opening markets for local farmers.

Raf Tuts, Director of Programme Division, UN Habitat, presented the Guiding Principles for Urban-Rural Linkages to Advance Integrated Territorial Development which are being produced in a collaborative effort to support coordinated actions to strengthen urban-rural linkages and implement integrated territorial development.

William Cobbett, Director of Cities Alliance, called attention to the consequences of unplanned urban expansion and said that better urban growth was an important part of the solution to rural poverty.

Mildred Crawford, a farmer from Jamaica, provided a rural perspective by highlighting the value of strengthening citizen engagement in empowering marginalized population. She also expressed concern with the fact that rural youth leaving rural areas noting, at the same time, that urbanization generally provided limited opportunities for rural people to improve their lives.

Torben Nilsson, Senior Global Engagement Specialist at IFAD, delivered the closing remarks, stressing that farmers and producers are part of the rural-urban continuum and that there is a need to support access to markets by smallholders. “For functional cities we need functional territorial development”, said Nilsson, stressing also the importance of guaranteeing land tenure rights.