Promoting green urban development in African cities
The natural environment of eThekwini, the city also known as Durban, has been put under severe pressure due to rapid urbanization and climate change. These have contributed to the degradation of the City’s environmental assets, such as rare and threatened ecosystems, rivers and coastal wetlands, undermining the wellbeing of people and the economic prospects of the City, according to a World Bank report released. The report, Promoting Green Urban Development in African Cities: provides an urban environmental profile of the City of eThekwini. It notes that the City, has developed in a fragmented pattern including high growth in peri-urban areas that have encroached into natural habitats and conservation areas, threatening the City’s long term sustainability as the degradation of the City’s natural resource base has direct economic and financial costs.