UN / WORLD URBANIZATION

A new UN report on the world urbanization prospects says that Africa's urban population will increase from 414 million to over 1.2 billion by 2050 while Asia will soar from 1.9 billion to 3.3 billion. Both regions together will account for 86 percent of all increase in the world's urban population. UNTV / FILE

• Categories: News & Features / News Stories / Unifeed
• Video Length: 00:01:40
• Production Date: 5 April 2012
• Asset Language: Original
• Corporate Name: UNITED NATIONS CHILDREN'S FUND - UNICEF; WORLD BANK
• Subject Topical: ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT; FINANCING; HUMAN SETTLEMENTS
• MAMS Id: U120405f

Description

STORY: UN / WORLD URBANIZATION
TRT: 1.40
SOURCE: UNTV / UNICEF / WORLD BANK
RESTRICTIONS: NONE
LANGUAGE: ENGLISH / NATS

DATELINE: 5 APRIL 2012, NEW YORK / FILE

Shotlist

FILE - 2011, UNITED NATIONS HEADQUARTERS NEW YORK CITY

1. Wide shot, exterior United Nations Headquarters

5 APRIL 2012, NEW YORK CITY

2. Wide shot, dais
3. Cutaway, journalists
4. SOUNDBITE (English) Jomo Kwame Sundaram, Assistant Secretary-General for Economic Development, United Nations Population Division of the Department of Economic and Social Affairs (DESA):
“Between 2011 and 2050, Asia and Africa’s urban population will increase by 1.4 billion and 851 million respectively, together accounting for 86 percent of all urban population growth over the next four decades.”

FILE – UNICEF – 1 FEBRUARY 2012, MORADABAD, INDIA

5. Various shots, city scenes

FILE – WORLD BANK – 2011 - SHAOXIAGN, ZHEJIANG PROVINCE

6. Wide shot, streets with taxis
7. Wide shot, streets with bikes

5 APRIL 2012, NEW YORK CITY

8. SOUNDBITE (English) Jomo Kwame Sundaram, Assistant Secretary-General for Economic Development, United Nations Population Division of the Department of Economic and Social Affairs (DESA):
“Cities are precisely where the pressures of economic development, social inequality, environmental pollution and climate change all come together.”

FILE – UNICEF – 30 JUNE 2011, DAKAR, BANGLADESH

9. Wide shot, traffic on street

FILE – UNICEF – 28-31 JANUARY 2012, ABIJAN, COTE D’IVOIRE

10. Wide shot, child in slum

FILE – UNICEF – 30 JUNE 2011, DAKAR, BANGLADESH,

11. Pan right, street traffic

FILE – UNICEF – 4 MARCH 2006, NAIROBI, KENYA

12. Zoom out, slum buildings

FILE – UNICEF – 12 FEBRUARY 2012, BANGLADESH

13. Close up, feet walking in fetid water
14. Med shot, father and child walking in slum

5 APRIL 2012, NEW YORK CITY

15. SOUNDBITE (English) Gerhard Heilig, Chief, Population Estimates and Projections Section, United Nations Population Division of the Department of Economic and Social Affairs (DESA):
“It’s surprising to find that many of the big cities are located in places where there is at least a potential risk of a natural catastrophe.”

FILE – UNTV – SEPTEMBER 2009, JAKARTA, INDONESIA

16. Wide shot, bus driving in flooded water
17. Aerial shot, flooded city
18. Wide shot, children by shore
19. Med shot, girl wading in dirty water

Storyline

Africa and Asia will account for the most of the growth in the world’s urban population by over two and a half billion people over the next four decades, United Nations (UN) officials told reporters in New York today (5 April).

UN Assistant Secretary-General for Economic Development, Jomo Kwame Sundaram said that Africa’s urban population would rise by 851 million to a total of over 1.2 billion and Asia’s by 1.4 billion to 3.3 billion, together accounting for 86 percent of all urban population growth between 2011 and 2050.

Sundaram was speaking at the launch of the 2011 Revision of the World Urbanization Prospects, a report that draws on new census data gathered from around the world and is able to provide the most “empirically firm” numbers in ten years for countries like India and China, according to DESA.

The largest increases in urban population are expected in India, China, Nigeria, the United States of America and Indonesia.

The Assistant Secretary-General said the unprecedented increase in urban population will pose new challenges. “Cities are precisely where the pressures of economic development, social inequality, environmental pollution and climate change all come together”, he said.

For the first time, the 2011 Revision of the World Urbanization Prospects includes geographical coordinates for all cities with more than three quarters of a million inhabitants. This will allow researchers to link estimates and projections of the population in urban agglomerations to various environmental characteristics, such as proximity to coastal areas, earthquake faults or climate zones.

DESA official Gerhard Heilig pointed out that “many of the big cities are located in places where there is at least a potential risk of a natural catastrophe” such as flooding or earthquakes.

An initial analysis found that sixty percent of urban areas with at least a million inhabitants, or about 890 million people, are located in regions exposed to at least one major type of natural disaster risk. Cities in Latin America and the Caribbean, in Northern America, and especially in Asia are often located in regions exposed to natural hazards.