UN-Habitat Assembly: Day three report

DELEGATES spent the day focused on the theme ‘A Sustainable Urban Future through Inclusive and Effective Multilateralism: Achieving the Sustainable Development Goals in times of Global Crises,’ looking at the key challenges and drivers affecting SDGs achievement, and how national and subnational governments and stakeholders can work together to localize the SDGs.

High-level Interactive Dialogue on the Special Theme for the Second Session of the UN-Habitat Assembly

Opening the morning session, Assembly President Meyer encouraged delegates to allocate 70% of their time to fieldwork and 30% to reflection to achieve the promise of the SDGs. Executive Director Sharif called for honest dialogue to identify, agree upon, and commit to transformative pathways and multi-level governance. Shipra Narang-Suri, UN-Habitat, introduced the Executive Director’s background paper on UNHA2’s special theme (HSP/HA.2/7).

High-level Panel 1: The Big Challenges of Our Time: This panel, moderated by journalist Laban Cliff Onserio, discussed experiences addressing three of the key themes of the special theme, on housing, climate change and crisis.

Ni Hong, Minister of Housing and Urban-Rural Development, China, shared national experiences in delivering affordable housing, including integrating scientific and technological innovation, putting peoples’ satisfaction at the center of policies, and renovating existing infrastructure. He emphasized the importance of multilateral approaches, and called for leveraging existing initiatives, such as World Cities Day, and developing new platforms to create mechanisms for knowledge sharing.

High-level Panel 2: The Key Enablers Driving the SDGs in the Time of Crisis: Amruta Byatnal, Context Newsroom, moderated the panel on key enablers such as data, financing, digital transformation and territorial approaches.

Nga Kor Ming, Minister for Local Government Development, Malaysia, called national development plans central to policy integration, encouraging commitment across government levels. Stating “data is gold,” he pointed to an SDG dashboard to monitor, measure, and disseminate SDG information.

Noting that the New Urban Agenda (NUA) includes commitments to rural communities, Emil Elestianto Dardak, Vice Governor, East Java Province, Indonesia, indicated small cities require the economic conditions to create non-farming jobs and skills to support infrastructure development. Lauding efforts to grant local governments responsibilities, he encouraged national governments to support them.

High-level Panel 3: Multi-level Governance and SDG Localization: Julians Amboko moderated this discussion between national and sub-national governments and stakeholders.

Juhani Damski, Permanent Secretary, Ministry of the Environment, Finland, said employing multi-level governance in Finland’s work on the SDGs has resulted in considerable progress in achieving the Goals, and the linkages created in the process are useful for addressing other issues. He stressed the importance of UNHA2 adopting the proposed resolution on SDG localization.

High-level Panel 4: Key Takeaways: Directions for the Summit of the Future:

Via video, UN Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC) President Lachezara Stoeva (Bulgaria) noted the importance of the Assembly leading up to the HLPF in July 2023, with SDG 11 being one of the five Goals under review, as well as the SDG Summit in September 2023 and the Summit of the Future in 2024. She further expressed the importance of developing outputs at the Assembly to shape the path forward, and to reconfirm the central role of the NUA as a road map for SDG 11 implementation.

Michal Mlyná, Deputy Executive Director, UN-Habitat, urged participants to utilize the gatherings and deliberations at UNHA2 to share knowledge, forge partnerships and practical cooperation, and to develop practical solutions for national, regional and local governments and stakeholders. He emphasized the need to translate inputs and recommendations from governments into action-oriented results, while asserting that “the future starts today.”