The Kitakyushu Initiative for a Clean Environment was adopted by the fourth Ministerial Conference on Environment and Development in Asia and the Pacific in 2000, held in City of Kitakyushu in Japan. The unprecedented scale and pace of urbanization taking place in the region requires that new and innovative approaches be developed, on the one hand, and quickly replicated and up-scaled, on the other. In this regard, the Kitakyushu Initiative has generated considerable experience and lessons learned. Practices identified and promoted under the Kitakyushu Initiative delivered tangible environmental, economic and social benefits, and contributed to enhancing the political priority for such interventions. Key elements for successful replication and scaling up of practices identified included: (a) leadership and political commitment; (b) policy and regulatory support from the national Government; (c) public participation; and (d) effective partnerships.
The Kitakyushu Initiative concluded its implementation by reporting to the Sixth Ministerial Conference on Environment and Development in Asia and the Pacific in 2010. However, the information, knowledge and experienced amassed and the models and approaches developed throughout the Initiative's 10 years of implementation constituted assets for sustainable urban development in the region which continue to be shared and used even after the conclusion of the Initiative.
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