Urban–Rural Linkages For Sustainable Territorial Development: Addressing Urban Transition In The NENA Region

This paper was initially the input from the United Nations Human Settlements Programme (UN-Habitat) Policy, Governance and Legislation Section to The State of Land and Water Resources for Food and Agriculture, prepared by the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) office for the Near East and North Africa (NENA).

This background paper was meant to contribute to the chapter on “Territorial governance and the urban-rural interface” prepared by FAO. However, its preparation confirmed the importance for both UN-Habitat and FAO of urban–rural linkages for territorial development – which go beyond land and water dimensions, stricto sensu – and evidenced the challenges related with embarking on an emerging issue, such as limited evidence and lack of institutional ownership. It is therefore suggested that the paper could provide a basis for future inter-agency collaboration.

The paper aims to draw attention to the need for some degree of re-localization of development strategies for sustainable development and bridging the current urban–rural divide.