Mayor Ellen van Selm signs Letter of Intent with UN-Habitat

In the coming year, the Municipality of Opsterland, The Netherlands, will also be working to strengthen cooperation between urban and rural areas on a global level. With the signing of the Letter of Intent, the cooperation between UN-Habitat and the Municipality of Opsterland was officially launched on March 9. “The cooperation between urban and rural areas is of great importance. We are already convinced by this in The Netherlands, but there is also increasing attention for this topic worldwide”, said mayor Ellen van Selm of the Municipality of Opsterland. By signing the Letter of Intent, the municipality commits itself to work together to strengthen urban and rural cooperation on a global level.

Towards more cooperation between urban and rural areas

As chair of the P10 (the network of large rural municipalities in the Netherlands), mayor Ellen van Selm has been committed to the strengthening of cooperation between urban and rural areas for several years. The major challenges facing the Netherlands cannot be solved by cities or the countryside alone. Take for example climate change, the housing shortages, the energy transition and healthcare. In addition, is prosperity under pressure in both urban and rural areas. Mayor Ellen van Selm: “The interests of the city and the countryside regularly converge and the alliance between them is of great value in finding sustainable solutions”.

International activities in this field

Global attention for cooperation between urban and rural areas is increasing, with the help of UN-Habitat, the UN agency for human settlements, among others. The agency works on improving the quality of life in cities around the world, with the SDGs as a leading agenda. Recently, UN-Habitat is also working more and more on strengthening the cooperation between urban and rural areas, showcasing good examples from around the world. By cooperating with the Municipality of Opsterland, UN-Habitat wants to make examples from the Frisian region available to others.

“UN-Habitat is looking forward to the collaboration with the Municipality of Opsterland to localize the Urban-Rural Linkages Guiding Principles. We are committed to connect these principles with innovation and technology, towards the achievement of the Sustainable Development Goals, with particular focus on making communities more inclusive, safe, resilient and sustainable across the urban-rural continuum. We are committed to join forces in advocating for a better urban-rural integration in the Netherlands, Europe and beyond“, says Rafael Tuts, director, Global Solutions Division, UN-Habitat. Mayor Ellen van Selm: “Our countryside looks very different from rural areas in other parts of the world, for example in Asia or South America. The problems in our densely populated and wellorganised country are also different from those countries elsewhere in the world. That is why I am pleasantly surprised by the interest in how we as municipalities work together, both in the region, in the P10 and in the VNG (Association of Netherlands Municipalities).”

More examples from the Frisian region

The Municipality of Opsterland also closely cooperates with VNG International and the Municipality of Leeuwarden. The two Frisian municipalities Leeuwarden and Opsterland will jointly formulate a number of case studies on the relationship between urban and rural areas in the next months. The case studies will be published on the website of UN-Habitat, as examples for other governments worldwide. In addition the Municipality of Opsterland is available to participate in global events and workshops to present best practices. The collaboration between the Municipality of Opsterland and UN-Habitat covers the period of one year, from 2021 until 2022.

Noot voor de pers
Voor meer informatie kunt u contact opnemen met de gemeente Opsterland, Nienke Ripperda
(nienke.ripperda@opsterland.nl) of 06 19 19 86 94.. Of neem contact op via pers@opsterland.nl of 0512-386 222.