UN-Habitat Assembly: Day four report

DELEGATES spent the fourth day of the Second Session of the UN-Habitat Assembly focused on finishing and approving the many draft decisions and resolutions. Despite best efforts, procedural snags resulted in only five decisions being adopted in plenary. Nine resolutions await translation into all official UN languages before their proposed adoption on Friday, while the Drafting Committee agreed to resume work in the evening on the draft Ministerial Declaration and a resolution on urbanization and climate change resilience.

High-level Session on SDG Localization and Financing

Moderated by Shipra Narang Suri, UN-Habitat, the last of the special thematic high-level sessions discussed mechanisms for closing financing gaps and the importance of localization for effective change.

Threza Mtenga, Ministry of Planning and Finance, Tanzania, emphasized the role of local governments in addressing city-specific issues, noting active ownership and involvement drive meaningful impact. To attract funding for local projects, she stressed an enabling environment for investment and improving trade conditions.

Natália Dias, Brazilian Development Bank, discussed difficulties in mobilizing resources for investment, citing political instability, associated risk, limited networks, local currencies, and constrained value chains among key issues. She shared the Bank’s experience in supporting entrepreneurship and innovation as a pathway for solving urban problems.

Committee of the Whole

The COW considered five draft decisions referred to it by the drafting committee on:

• extension of the Strategic Plan until 2025;
• dates for the resumed UNHA2;
• term of office of the members of the Executive Board and the Assembly Bureau;
• stakeholder engagement policy; and
• report of the Joint Inspection Unit (JIU) on the review of UN-Habitat management and administration.

Plenary

Adoption of Decisions: The plenary adopted a set of five decisions forwarded by the COW (HSP/HA.2/L.3). The decision on extending UN-Habitat’s Strategic Plan for the period 2020-2023 extends it until 2025 to align UN-Habitat’s planning cycle with the UN’s quadrennial comprehensive policy review of operational activities. It also requests the Executive Director, in consultation with the Executive Board, to begin preparations on the strategic plan for the period 2026-2029.

The decision on the date of the resumed UNHA2 sets the date for 29-30 May 2025, and approves a provisional agenda whose main operational element is an approval of the strategic plan for the period 2026-2029.

The decision on the term of office confirms that the current members of the Executive Board and the Assembly Bureau have their terms extended until the closure of the resumed UNHA2.

The decision on stakeholder engagement policy entrusts the Executive Board, “on an exceptional basis,” to continue work on this policy mandated by UNHA1 for possible approval at the resumed UNHA2 in 2025.

National Statements: The Group of 77 and China urged UNHA2 to recognize the distinctive circumstances of developing countries and called for more financial resources, capacity building, and technology transfer to support sustainable urban development.

Ghana pledged to adopt a new housing policy and welcomed UN-Habitat support in reviewing the draft policy and slum upgrade strategy. Senegal said African countries need to accelerate and coordinate their urban policies to facilitate the achievement of the New Urban Agenda (NUA) and noted its commitment to zero waste. Liberia highlighted his country’s fourth national urban forum recently validated the elements of the national urban policy for follow-up action.

Executive Board

Chair Silvio Albuquerque (Brazil) opened the second session of UN-Habitat’s Executive Board for 2023. The Board adopted its agenda (HSP/EB.2023/8) without amendment.

Election of Officers: Chair Albuquerque noted the suggestion to extend the term of Bureau officers by two years until 2025 to align with UN-Habitat’s other governing bodies. Egypt highlighted the need for equitable geographic representation and inquired about election procedures. The US clarified that normally an election would be required, but that this exceptional circumstance was clarified by the prior Board session. Delegates agreed to extend the mandate of the current Board officers.

Date of Next Session: Chair Albuquerque proposed that the Bureau of the Executive Board decide an appropriate date and duration for its third meeting of 2023 as soon as possible, considering relevant international meetings and national holidays, and set an appropriate agenda, in view of UNHA2 outcomes, to which the Board agreed.