UNITED NATIONS, Oct. 5 (Xinhua) -- A new global report on planning sustainable cities, released Monday by the UN Human Settlements Program (UN HABITAT), warns that many cities and towns are not adequately equipped to deal with the unprecedented amount of global challenges, including rapid urbanization and the negative impacts of climate change.

    According to the new report, entitled "Sustainable Cities: Global Report on Human Settlements 2009," which assesses human settlements conditions and trends, the global urbanization crisis comes from the massive migration to cities, as well as the consequences of global warming, UN officials said here Monday.

    Discussed in the report was the impact of climate change on cities and towns, as well as the dependency on fossil fuels, which are presented as primary challenges to urban management for sustainable cities.

    "Since 1975, there has been a fourfold increase in the number of recorded natural disasters," said the report.

    Africa was cited as the country with the highest rate of increase with a threefold increase of natural disasters in just the last decade. Low-lying coastal cities and island nations in developing regions were identified as the most at risk in the effects of rising sea levels and extreme weather events, like tropical cyclones and flooding.

    With the dependence on oil as an energy source, urbanization is promoted. Linking an oil-based economy to climate change, the emissions from vehicles and aircraft have remained important contributors to greenhouse gas emissions.

    "Urbanization modifies the environment and generates new hazards, including deforestation and slope instability thus resulting in landslides and flash flooding," said the report.

    Urban planning, the strategic approach for designing and planning environments, was identified as an effective tool for facing these impending challenges. Offering the best solution in reducing emissions with large-scale initiatives, it would also help with the implementation of long term post-disaster management strategies, the report said.

    Pushing for civic authorities to take charge in such an initiative, the report discussed how some mayors in world cities have become involved in activities for energy efficiency, renewable energy, cleaner production, as well as setting in place regulations in the management of industrial emissions. The report cited the urgency in trying to balance "the green agenda," which represents the natural environment and "the brown agenda" which is concerned with the built environment.

    According to the report, because of rapid growth in cities, especially in the past 50 years, the impact has led to an overpowering of "the brown agenda" with buildings and transportation.

    Some of the key solutions offered to enable healthy environments and sustainable cities in synthesizing both "the brown agenda and "the green agenda" were utilizing renewable sources of power like solar, wind, hydro and geothermal power, decreasing the dependency on fossil fuels and working to achieve carbon-neutral cities.

    A number of "promising" trends were discussed -- the development of sustainable energy and transportation, and the improvement of eco-efficiency which utilizes waste products to complement urban energy and material needs.

    American Planning Association (APA), a non-profit organization that plans sustainable cities, held a live webcast on Oct. 2 that featured the new UN Habitat report.

    Executive Director and CEO of APA W. Paul Farmer spoke at the broadcast, and emphasized the theme of adaptation and mitigation measures for dealing with climate change through improved urban planning.

    "Certainly, climate change is starting to affect cities and will affect them much, much more as the years go by. Coastal cities are an area where they will be particularly affected as we know with sea level rise, and with increasing velocity and frequency of storms," Farmer said.

    With climate change set to take center stage at the upcoming UN conference in Copenhagen for December, Farmer urged for "real commitments and global agreement" for "more predicable outcomes" so that adaptation and mitigation measures can be effectively used.

    Also speaking at the broadcast was UN Under-Secretary General and Executive Director for UN-Habitat Anna Tibaijuka.

    In expressing her hope for the Copenhagen talks, she said the talks needed to come up with "international support measures" in the areas of adaptation and technology transfer. Calling it a "window of opportunity," Tibaijuka urged that this "core issue" be pushed.

    At the UN headquarters in New York on Sept. 22, the UN Summit on Climate Change took place to get world leaders to reaffirm their promise for an agreement.

    U.S. President Barack Obama at the summit renewed his support for Copenhagen and said that it is "not simply an agreement to limit greenhouse gas emissions," but "an agreement that will allow all nations to grow and raise living standards without endangering the planet."