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This activity report shows how UN-HABITAT is combating fast growing urban poverty, rapid urbanisation, unemployment, disasters and the scourge of climate change. It introduces the Sustainable Urban Development Network that helps local governments in developing countries to strengthen climate change prevention measures.

The main purpose of this manual is to assist people who are working in or with local government to develop sustainable energy and climate action plans and implementation programmes. The document addresses the challenges of energy consumption, climate change and development in developing countries. It deals with the role of urban centres and local governments in defining a sustainable development path and a new energy future in their countries. The handbook further explains why it is important for urban centres in developing countries to engage in sustainable energy planning, provides a step-by step process to developing and implementing a sustainable energy plan and offers a range of case studies from developed and developing urban centres covering all the major areas of local government responsibility.

This analytical report covers the decisions and conclusions made for the coalition for sustainable urbanisation. It looks at what it is, what needs to be done and how it can be achieved.

This brochure looks at the role of cities in contributing to and mitigating climate change. Some of the topics covered include: mitigation, global policy and networking.

This analytical report presents the main outcomes of the Expert Group Meeting organised and hosted by UN-HABITAT on Cities in Climate Change in November, 2007 in Nairobi, Kenya. The meeting brought together participants from research institutions, local authorities, the private sector, and colleagues from different UN agencies. The paper summarises the main conclusions and possible future action.  

This analytical report analyzes how climate change impact can undermine a country’s efforts to achieve the goals of sustainable development and worsen poverty in developing and least developed countries. This report is part of the Cities and Climate Change Initiative.

This analytical report discusses the consequences of natural disasters and conflicts. It highlights that one of the key lessons that UN-HABITAT and other agencies have learned is that it is important to incorporate proper long-term planning for sustainable development with the best protection against repeat disasters from the outset – indeed from the moment the humanitarian rescue operation begins. The other important lesson on which UN-HABITAT has plenty of experience to draw is this: taking preventive action and planning ahead to offset the worst. The United Nations has calculated that one dollar invested in disaster reduction today, can save up to seven dollars tomorrow in relief and rehabilitation costs.

This analytical report highlights some of the risks that cities are facing and how they are becoming more and more vulnerable to risk rather than being refuges from them. In fact, rapid urbanisation, the weight of accumulated failures in urban development and ineffectiveness in urban governance have placed growing numbers of people in cities at risk. However disasters and the vulnerability that underlies them are not inevitable. They are an outcome of choices made locally, in the boardrooms of governments and businesses in the city, and also increasingly at international and national levels.

This activity report presents a case study from Philippines. In particular, it looks at the fact that many Filipinos do not really feel secure in their cities when it comes to natural disasters. Each time typhoons hit the country claiming hundreds of lives and cutting a trail of destruction, there are power outages, trees blocking roads, vehicles overturned, and renewed calls on the authorities to ban big advertising billboards. Good urban governance is the key to restore trust and prevent damages. There is a need for a city consultation process so that collectively agreed solutions can be put in place.

This technical document provides an overview of the social investment funds and their projects which have been implemented in Asia, Latin and Central America, Eastern Europe and Africa since the 1980s. Originally used as a tool to mitigate against the affects of structural readjustment policies on the poor, social investment funds have emerged as a successful mechanism to fast-track community-based projects on the ground.

This analytical report includes some of the lessons learned by UN-Habitat over the years in situation of post-natural disaster situations. In particular it stresses the necessity to incorporate proper long-term planning for sustainable development with the best protection against repeat disasters from the outset – indeed from the moment the humanitarian rescue operation begins.

This document consists of four pages of relevant references concerning the Cities and Climate Change Initiative.

This activity report presents the details of the winner of the Habitat Business award for 2009: China Merchants Property Development Co. This company impressed the jury and was awarded the Habitat Business award in 2009 for its development of “The Hills” project to reduce carbon emissions and environment pollution, which is described as “a green, creative and international community.”

In this statement Mrs. Anna Tibaijuka Under-Secretary-General of the United Nations and Executive Director of UN-HABITAT, talks about the cooperation between UCLG (United Cities and Local Governments) and UNHABITAT on decentralization policies and the linkages between climate change and urbanization.

This document presents a statement by Mrs. Anna Kajumulo Tibaijuka, Under Secretary General and Executive Director of UNHABITAT, at the High-Level Segment of the United Nations Climate Change Conference. The Executive Director outlines how to tackle climate change issues within a broader framework of sustainable housing and urban development.

In this statement Brian Williams of the UNHABITAT Chief Energy and Transport Section explains the interlinkages between urbanisation and climate change and outlines a number of measures to be taken, including stricter energy efficiency standards in fuel consumption from transport; energy efficiency in building construction and use; as well as improving global standards for appliance manufacturing and importation.

This is a statement by Mrs. Anna Tibaijuka, Under-Secretary-General of the United Nations and Executive Director of UN-HABITAT at the United Nations High-Level Event on Climate Change “The Future in our Hands: Addressing the Leadership Challenge of Climate Change”, in which she highlights how UN-HABITAT is supporting national and local authorities in their efforts to cope with the impacts of climate change.

This document presents a statement by Mrs Tibaijuka, Executive Director of UN-HABITAT. The Director addresses the issue of urban growth and its consequences for climate change. Today half of humanity lives in cities and it is projected that by 2030 that figure will rise to two-thirds. The cities growing fastest are those of the developing world, and the fastest growing neighbourhoods are the slums. Local solutions and local funding are needed in order to fight poverty and offset global disasters.

This document includes a statement by Inga Klevby, Deputy Executive Director of UN-HABITAT. The Director discusses climate change and its negative consequences, touching especially poor people living in developing countries big cities. In fact this is an age of unprecedented, rapid, irreversible urbanisation.

This document reports the statement of Mrs. Anna Tibaijuka, Under-Secretary General and Executive Director of UN-HABITAT at 15th Session of UN Commission on Sustainable Development. Mrs. Tibaijuka highlights the close relation between environment conservation and human security and presents UN-HABITAT’s work in the area of energy for sustainable development and combating Climate Change.