Kathmandu, February 2
The Fifth Spatial Planning Platform meeting has begun in Nepal from today.
Coordinated by the Ministry of Urban Development in Nepal, the two-day meeting has been organised in collaboration with the Ministry of land, infrastructure, transport and tourism of the Government of Japan and the UN-Habitat.
The aim of the event is to assess how stakeholders are considering, developing and rolling out adequate responses to challenges like developing national and sub-national spatial planning policies and instruments stemming from economic shifts, increasing natural disaster and climate change, among others. The theme for the meeting is 'Local Planning for Integrated and Climate Adaptable Urban Development'.
Inaugurating the meeting, Urban Development Minister Bikram Pandey expressed hope that the conference would provide a guideline for building infrastructure and prove fruitful in terms of sustainable development in urban areas.
"It will help policy makers, urban planners and educationalists in the days to come.
Participants will share their experiences regarding ways to pursue the path away from the impacts of climate change to an adaptable environment," he said.
In the context of Nepal seeing the construction of new cities, it can learn from the challenges facing other countries in the process," he viewed.
Ministry Secretary Suresh Acharya said the assembly would consider the management of land as an important factor required to build infrastructure in city areas.
National Planning Commission Secretary Kewal Prasad Bhandari said the experiences shared by the participants from various countries regarding the ways of using lands for urban planning development activities could be of great help.
Also, other participants, including Bruno Dercon, Officer-in-Charge for the UN-Habitat, the Regional Office for Asia and the Pacific, and joint secretary of the Ministry of Urban Development of Nepal Padma Kumar Mainali said suggestions received from the conference could be fruitful.
The assembly is being attended by high ranking officials and experts from 13 countries, including Nepal, India, China, Bhutan, Bangladesh, Cambodia, Japan, Mozambique, Malaysia, Philippines, Sri Lanka, Uganda and Vietnam.
The SPP was established by the Government of Japan and the UN-Habitat's Regional Office for Asia and the Pacific in 2018 as a network of stakeholders with the aim of achieving the formulation and implementation of effective spatial plans at all the territorial levels.
The first SPP Meeting was organised in Japan in 2019.
Having participated in the conference since the beginning, Nepal has expected this assembly to help the government formulate policies and rules suited to the federal, province and local levels in the face of changing scenario of global economic activities, increasing natural disasters, climate change, and other challenges, according to the ministry.
During the technical session, participants will share spatial planning experiences for strengthening national land and urban systems in different governance structures, and spatial planning and territorial approach for climate change adaptation, it is said.
A version of this article appears in the print on February 3, 2023, of The Himalayan Times.
