Marrakech Declaration on Urban-Rural Interrelationship for
Sustainable Development
 As
a result of the 2nd FIG Regional Conference “Urban-Rural
Interrelationship for Sustainable Environment”, which was held in
Marrakech, Morocco, 2–5 December 2003, FIG together with the partners has
published the Marrakech Declaration (Urban-Rural Interrelationship for
Sustainable Development). The Marrakech Declaration was launched at the 2nd World Urban Forum in Barcelona, September 13-17, 2004 and at the
Symposium on Urban-Rural Interrelationship organised by UN-Habitat in
Nairobi during the World Habitat Day celebrations, October 1-4, 2004.
The conference in Morocco was organized by the Ordre National des
Ingénieurs Géomètres-Topographes (ONIGT) and the International Federation of
Surveyors (FIG). The conference was co-sponsored and supported by the Arab
Union of Surveyors (AUS) and the Arab Urban Development Institute (AUDI) and
several United Nations agencies, the Food and Agriculture Organization of
the United Nations (FAO), United Nations Centre for Human Settlements
(UN-HABITAT), United Nations Environmental Programme (UNEP) and United
Nations Economic Commission for Africa (UNECA).
The aim of the conference was to shed some light on selected issues of
urban-rural interrelations and to raise awareness of this complex topic. It
also tried to explain the close linkage of land policy and land
administration.
Currently the urban-rural interaction agenda is broad and covers a number
of concerns. The interaction consists of the exchange of goods and services,
people, information, and money that can be provided by adequate
infrastructure, such as transportation, communication, energy and basic
services. Infrastructure is the backbone of the urban-rural development.
However, its provision often involves a trade-off of land and natural
resources: roads, trails and power lines have negative impacts especially to
rural areas by cutting the landscape. Provision of this crucial
infrastructure needs to balance the interests of both rural and urban
communities. This will ensure their common future.
Due to the different functionality of land for the human being, different
land policies and land administration can be observed between urban and
rural areas in many countries. However, while sustainable land development
for both areas is a complex mix of political, legal, socio-economic and
ecological aspects, the well-being of human habitation in rural and urban
space can be achieved only by a common land policy and the adoption of a
comprehensive land policy to support sustainable land management.
Many international governmental and non-governmental organizations have
accentuated the need for both a common land policy for rural and urban areas
and a holistic thematic approach to enable the sustainable development of
land and to ensure human well-being.
As with previous publications of the International Federation of
Surveyors (FIG) – some published together with partners like the United
Nations – this publication is stressing a specific topic of global interest
and importance. FIG as a Non Government Organisation (NGO) wants to
contribute to the United Nation’s millennium goals of building a more
sustainable, just and peaceful world. The Marrakech Declaration reflects the
findings and recommendations of the 2nd FIG Regional Conference held in
Marrakech, Morocco in December 2003. It is intended to support politicians,
senior managers, professional organizations and decision makers in their
efforts to enable a balanced coexistence of a sustainable nature and a
liveable habitat.
Even though the guidance and lessons learnt are tailored to the situation
of urban-rural interrelations in African and the Arabic countries, they can
be adapted to the specific requirements of urban-rural spaces all over the
world including Europe where there is currently an intensive discussion
taking place around this unsolved topic.
The Marrakech Declaration has been published in the FIG publication
series as publication number 33. You can download the
Marrakech Declaration here as a .pdf-file.
Executive summary
The objectives of the 2nd FIG Regional Conference “Urban-Rural
Interrelationship for Sustainable Environment”, held in Marrakech, Morocco,
2–5 December 2003, were divided into a number of themes covering the most
significant aspects of the Urban-Rural Interrelationship to enable FIG to
make a realistic and pragmatic input into an agenda that is increasingly
being recognised at the international level.
The conference recognised that the issues associated with the Urban-Rural
Interrelationship manifest themselves differently in different regions
around the world and that it is necessary to have guidance in the form of
general principles that can be adapted to specific circumstances. The key
issues focused upon in this declaration are: The urban-rural linkages;
including urban sprawl and urban migration. UN- HABITAT estimates that 60%
of the world’s population will be living in urban areas by 2015. The
Marrakech Declaration recommends that comprehensive national land policies
need to be developed and implemented if the issues are to be addressed in a
co-ordinated and timely manner. These policies need to be built upon sound
professional experience. It is against the background of these developments
and discussions that UN-HABITAT and UNEP call for an end to the urban-rural
dichotomy. There is a need to promote urban-rural linkages and in this
context the dynamic nature of these issues means that the past is not
necessarily a good guide to the future and it is essential to engage in new
and innovative solutions if these issues are to be addressed in time.
This document concentrates on three key interrelated and overlapping sub
issues of: Institutional and Governance Concepts; Land and Natural Resource
Infrastructures; and Capacity Assessment and Development. Each section
provides guidance; lessons learnt, and sets out a way forward for each
issue. The Marrakech Declaration recognises that these issues can not be
solved in isolation and this document is intended to contribute to the
holistic vision required to bring about improvements in the urban-rural
interrelationship. Countries are encouraged to take appropriate action in
accordance with the Marrakech Declaration on Urban-Rural Interrelationships.
Marrakech Declaration on improving Urban-Rural Interrelationship
The international Federation of Surveyors (FIG) and the partners of the
Marrakech Declaration recognise the urban-rural divide in different areas of
the world and believes that a commitment to address this issue is essential
for acceptable human living conditions throughout the world. The urban-rural
interrelationship for sustainable developments is a central theme of the
world-wide idea of good urban-rural governance.
The declaration recommends the development of a comprehensive national
land policy which includes:
- Institutional and governmental actions required for providing good
governance.
- Land administration infrastructures for control of land tenure, land
value and land use.
- Tools for capacity assessment and development at societal,
organisational and individual level.
NGOs such as the FIG have a three-fold role in connection with the
theme of urban-rural linkages for sustainable development in cooperation
with our global, national and local partners:
- These organisations and their member associations and individual
members can be enablers, that is, they can act as community developers,
organisers or consultants alongside community based organisations (CBOs).
- They can be mediators between people and the authorities that control
access to resources, goods and services.
- They can be advisers to governmental institutions on policy changes to
increase local access to resources and to provide greater freedom to use
them in locally-determined ways that includes urban-rural linkages.
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