TOWARDS A NEW URBAN AGENDA

Meeting on the Habitat III National Report of Germany

Berlin (Germany), 28 April 2015

CONTENTS OF THE PRESENTATIONS

BACKGROUND OF THE CONFERENCE

20 YEARS SINCE HABITAT II

HABITAT III – PROCESS AND CONCEPTUAL FRAMEWORK

• GA res. 66/207 in 2011 the United Nations General Assembly decided to convene the Habitat III Conference in line with bi-decennial cycle (1976, 1996 and 2016),

• GA Res. 67/216 in 2012, decided the objective of the conference:

- To secure renewed political commitment

for sustainable urban development,

- To assess HA accomplishments to date,

addressing poverty,

- To identify and address new and

emerging challenges.

• GA Res. 69/226 in 2014, decided that the Conference will be held in Quito in October 2016.

UNITED NATIONS CONFERENCE ON HOUSING AND SUSTAINABLE URBAN DEVELOPMENT (HABITAT III)

Quito, Ecuador / 17-20 Oc-

tober 2016

HABITAT I – 1976Vancouver

The international community began to recognize the need for sustainable human settlements and the consequences of rapid urbanization, especially in the developing world.

// Recognition that shelter and urbanization are global issues to be addressed collectively

// Vancouver Declaration and Action Plan

// Creation of the United Nations Center for Human Settlements (UNCHS-Habitat) - 1978

The Vancouver commitments were reconfirmed 20 years later. Adoption of the Habitat Agenda as a global plan of action for adequate shelter for all.

// Cities are the engines of global growth

// Call for a stronger role of local

authorities

// Recognition of the power of

participation

// The UNHCS becomes a Programme -

2001

HABITAT II – 1996

Istanbul

WORLD URBAN POPULATION

37.9%

WORLD URBAN POPULATION

45.1%

WHAT HAS CHANGED FROM 1996 – 4 MAJOR SHIFTS

1. STATE AND MAGNITUDE OF URBANIZATION

2. NEW SUBSTANTIVE FOCUSES IN THE GLOBAL AGENDA

3. HIGHER DEMAND OF PARTICIPATION

4. GROWING RECOGNITION OF URBANIZATION IN

DEVELOPMENT FRAMEWORKS

1. STATE OF THE URBANIZATION

“Cities are where the battle for sustainable development will be won or lost” HLP 2013

World Urban Population

54.5% Increasing Urban Sprawl

Economy (GDP) > 70%

Global energy cons. > 60%

Green gas emissions >70%

Global waste >70%

It is becoming more and more clear that achievements on Sustainable development will depend on how we will

manage and guide the urbanization

CLIMATE CHANGE PEACE AND SECURITY INEQUALITY

2. GLOBAL AGENDA NEW FOCUSES

Growing inequalities

Environmental crises, air/water pollution, loss of agri-land and biodiversity

New challenges to address in the Global Agenda - spatially manifested in urban settings

Vulnerability and risks to natural and man-made hazards – Climate change

Economic crises, unemployment and insecurity

3. DEMAND OF PARTICIPATION

Habitat II as one of the first inclusive UN conference in the

90’s and creation of the “Habitat Agenda Partners”

Expansion of ICT facilitating and also fuelling the society

demand of participation

Need to address the growing skepticism towards

international summits

To address the demand of participation to ensure sustainability

4. GLOBAL DEVELOPMENT FRAMEWORKS

Growing recognition of urbanization reflected in global frameworks for sustainable

development

Universal - Designed for developed and developing countries as well

….the conference should result in a concise, focused, forward-look-ing and action-oriented outcome document

Based on relevant knowledge and reliable data for evidence based policy

The result of a wide engagement and participation

The NUA to be formulated will necessary build on the Habitat Agenda of 1996, However ….

Timely concurrence with:

Post 2015 Development Agenda finalization and SDGs (GA Oct. 2015)

Climate Change agreement discussion COP21 (Paris, Dec. 2015)

Operationalizing effectively the NUA will deliver sustainable urbanization contributing to the achievement of a number of SDGs including climate

change

HABITAT III PROCESS / CONCEPT AND ACTION FRAMEWORKThe HIII process is made of a statutory intergovernmental track (as UN

inter-gov. process) fuelled and complemented by actions summarized in 3

main interlinked dimensions KNOWLEDGE – ENGAGEMENT –

POLICY …plus Operations

The Bureau

GA 67 / 216 in 2012 – Establish a preparatory committee open to all member states and a Bureau is created.

The Bureau of the Prep-Com is the Member States’ representation for the coordination of the preparatory process towards Habitat III.

Officers from the following countries serve on the Bureau of the Prep-Com:

Ecuador and France (Co-Chairs)

Senegal (Rapporteur)

Members: Chad, Chile, Czech Republic, Germany, Slovakia, Indonesia, U.A.E

Intergovernmental statutory process

3 Prep-Com meetings: NY, Sept. 2014 / Nairobi, April 2015 / Jakarta, July 2016

OUTCOME DOCUMENT : Zero draft by April 2016

The Intergovernmental process and negotiations need to be substantively fuelled and participation broaden, here the 3 dimensions come to play

KNOWLEDGE

National reports: 2013 Government were asked to prepare National reports to provide evidence based knowledge on the implementation of the HII agenda

Regional Reports: Coordinated by the HIII Secretariat, UN Regional Economic Commissions and UN Habitat

Global report : Synthesis of the whole knowledge. Led by the HIII Secretariat and disconnected by the negotiations of the Outcome document

Issue Papers by UN Task team (more than 20 UN Agencies involved)

Thematic meetingsTo discuss topical issues including some of the Issue Paper. Declaration / recommendations

POLICY

Policy Units - 10 Policy Units – Max. 20 experts each.

Bring together high-level expertise to explore state-of-the-art research and analysis;

• Identify good practices and lessons learned;

• Develop independent policy recommendations on particular issues regarding sustainable urban development.

High level Ministerial regional meetings

Ideally to discuss the contents of the regional reports - Declaration / recommendations

Europe – Prague

Asia – Indonesia

Africa – Nigeria

LAC – Mexico

ENGAGEMENT

Beyond the governmental participation in the process through the GA

National Urban Forums and similar eventsTo discuss and deliberate on national priority subjects including the preparation of the HIII National Reports

World Urban Campaign - General Assembly of Partners (GAP)

Together towards HIII – Global survey (2015/16)

Organize other advocacy and awareness events under the “Together towards HIII” branding

National and Local Campaigns to raise awareness on the conference and specific new urban agenda themes

Media engagement through the UJA

NATIONAL URBAN FO-RUMS, CAMPAIGNS ,Etc.

Prep-Com1 Regional re-ports Finalized

Zero Draft/negotiations start

Policy pa-pers final-ized

Sept. 2014 May. 2015

Habitat III, Quito

Apr. 2016

Issue pa-pers final-ized

Feb. 2016 Oct. 2016

Global Re-port

Jul. 2016

PrepCom3 (Indone-sia)

NUF / Reg & Them. Meetings / PolicyRecommendations

Na-tional Report

Regional Report

Global Report

Zero Draft Outcome

Doc.

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HABITAT III INPUTS AND OUT-COMES

CONCLUSIONSOpportunities for country engagement and participation

Deliver HIII National Reports in a participatory way

Participate to the Intergovernmental process through participation to the PrepCom meetings and the conference itself Organize NUFs / Thematic & Regional meetings and issue final recommendations / Declarations

Organize NUCs or Local Campaigns and other events to raise awareness on the New Urban Agenda issues and expectations

People’s participation to the Global survey

habitat3.orghabitat3secretariat@un.org

! THANK YOU !