[Congressional Record Volume 159, Number 41 (Wednesday, March 20, 2013)]
[Senate]
[Pages S2020-S2021]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                             CLIMATE CHANGE

  Mr. LEAHY. Mr. President, during the past 50 years there has been 
significant progress in improving living standards in developing 
countries. Some of the successes have been particularly noteworthy: 
eradicating smallpox and almost eradicating polio, stabilizing 
population growth rates in many areas, longer life spans, lower infant 
mortality, fewer people living in poverty, the expansion of democracy.

[[Page S2021]]

  Investments in international development made by government agencies, 
nonprofits, businesses, and philanthropic foundations in the United 
States and around the world have made a difference. Our country is more 
secure and our economy more resilient than it would otherwise be, 
thanks to these investments.
  Yet there is plenty of room for improvement to get better value for 
our overseas investments, particularly to increase the sustainability 
of the assistance we provide. Too often we set unrealistic goals, do 
not hold governments accountable for corruption, ignore local input, 
and channel our aid through contractors that charge high fees and put 
profit over results.
  There are other critical areas that have not received nearly the 
attention they deserve, either by our government or other donors, 
including the explosive growth of cities and the world's changing 
climate.
  The President mentioned the looming threat of climate change in his 
inauguration speech, and like many others I am glad he did. To date, 
our efforts to address this global challenge have been painfully slow 
and woefully inadequate. As anyone who works the land will tell you, 
the world's climate is changing fast--spring is coming earlier, polar 
ice and glaciers are melting, and storms are more violent. Scientists 
say these changes are potentially catastrophic, and that we will 
experience even more frequent severe weather events, shrinking water 
supplies, more intense heat waves and droughts, the spread of disease, 
and more and more threats to food production.
  It is the poorest people who are most vulnerable to these phenomena, 
and who are most likely to be uprooted from their homes as a result. If 
the international community does not mobilize quickly to address this 
challenge we risk the reversal of many or most of the international 
development gains of the last 50 years, leaving an unprecedented crisis 
for our children and future generations.
  Then there is the related challenge of urbanization. I am proud to 
say that a Vermont organization called the Institute for Sustainable 
Communities, founded by former Vermont Governor Madeleine Kunin, is 
leading an effort to accelerate climate solutions among more than 320 
U.S. cities--and the list is growing. The institute is focusing on 
cities because it is in densely populated areas that the opportunity to 
quickly strengthen climate resilience and reduce greenhouse gas 
emissions is greatest. This work should be expanded on a global scale.
  Currently, only a very small percentage of international development 
dollars is spent to address problems in urban areas, yet 70 percent of 
the world's population will live in cities by 2030. The number of 
people migrating to New Delhi, Mumbai, Dhaka, Lagos, Kinshasa, and 
Karachi each year is greater than the entire population of Europe. 
Between now and 2030--only 17 years--the world will need to build a 
city of 1 million people every 5 days to keep up with the urbanization 
of the developing world. That is a staggering and frightening 
statistic.
  Those cities are not remotely prepared to handle this flood of 
desperate people. These are not places like Boston or London, 
Washington or Paris that expanded gradually over centuries becoming 
stronger as they grew. Cities in developing countries expand through 
shantytowns, like the vast slums of Nairobi and Lagos. And bit by bit, 
the edges of the city creep out and suddenly the city's size has 
doubled, or quadrupled. Closer to home, Tijuana, on the United States 
Mexican border, is one of Mexico's fastest growing cities. Tijuana adds 
about 80,000 people each year, and is projected to be the second 
largest city in Mexico by 2030. Many of its inhabitants arrive with no 
place to live and no job. The city's infrastructure is utterly 
unprepared to handle them. It is a recipe for crime and misery.
  Slums are not infrastructure, and in general most infrastructure 
decisions are not well planned. Most of the developing world does not 
have running water or reliable electricity, and nearly 40 percent of 
the world's population does not have access to basic sanitation, 
including 1 billion children. That number is likely to rise as rapidly 
expanding cities become even less able to meet the demand for basic 
sanitation and health care.
  This immense growth in cities is a cauldron for chaos and 
instability. People living in cities without safe water or electricity, 
plagued by hunger, disease and unhealthy living conditions, threatened 
by rising sea levels and violent storms--these desperate conditions are 
likely to lead to violence, displacement, and even the toppling of 
governments.
  Rapid urbanization is already putting tremendous pressure on the 
environment and threatens productive farmland. What will happen when 
there is not enough food or water for cities filled with millions of 
people? What will happen if the population of Jakarta doubles without 
an improvement in living conditions?
  Yet as cities grow we also have an opportunity to prevent chaos. 
Growing cities are going to be constructing new buildings--let's make 
sure they are energy efficient. They are going to be creating new 
transport systems--let's focus on low-carbon strategies that move 
people, not just cars. They are going to need to feed hundreds of 
millions of hungry people--let's make sure urban centers are connected 
to the rural economy in a sustainable way. And as they build new 
infrastructure, let's make sure that it is designed to support livable 
communities and built in ways that are more resilient to extreme 
weather and sea level rise.
  Investing in cities gives us economies of scale. We can accomplish a 
great deal through investing in efficient infrastructure, and we can 
apply lessons learned all across the developing world. An estimated 60 
percent of the infrastructure needed to keep pace with the growth in 
urban centers has not been built yet, but it will be by 2030.
  Let's focus on helping cities build smarter. It is a lot easier and 
cheaper to build it right the first time, than to go back and fix it 
later. And here in the United States there are companies that produce 
some of the world's best technology and some of the world's best 
thinking about creating smart cities. Together with our international 
partners we can meet this challenge if we share our expertise.
  International donors, led by the U.S. Agency for International 
Development, should devote a larger portion of resources and effort to 
addressing the urgent problems of climate change and rapid 
urbanization. It is a critical investment for the 21st century.

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