24 November 2017, Bangkok - Two years after Member States adopted the Sustainable Development Goals and One year after Habitat III, UN-Habitat and UN ESCAP will host a second Asia Pacific Partners Forum on the Implementation of the New Urban Agenda (NUA) and the Localisation of SDGs from 28 to 29 November 2017. Hosted together with UN ESCAP, the Forum will compile practical guidance to implement the 2030 Development Agenda and the NUA in the region’s cities.
The Region’s stakeholders were engaged in the preparatory process of Habitat III. The Regional Partners Forum continues a collaborative approach to drive urban policy and action in Asia and the Pacific. Officials of national focal agencies on the NUA and the SDGs, representatives of local governments and stakeholder organisations, as well as a number of regional thematic experts and specialists from international development partners are invited to attend.
The acknowledgment that urbanization can drive sustainable development is well acknowledged in the recent global sustainable development agreements (SDGs, Paris, Sendai, Addis Ababa, Quito). Asia Pacific region has also been at the forefront of seeing urbanization elevating prosperity. But the call for transformative change on the way cities and urbanizing regions are planned and managed is strong.
In this context, The Forum will take stock of emerging good practices and common challenges in the region and chart out practical guidelines to drive forward sustainable urbanization jointly by national governments, local governments, civil society, academia and the private sector. A Partner Guidance document with strategies and priorities will be developed to better coordinate implementation of the NUA with 2030 Agenda.
The Partners Guidance shall be a contribution to the follow-up on the NUA and the localization of the SDGs in the region. The outcome will be taken forward for broader consultation at the World Urban Forum 9 in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia from 7 to 13 February 2018 and the Asia Pacific Forum on Sustainable Development in Bangkok, Thailand between 28 and 30 March 2018. The guidance will also feed into the first Global Report on the Implementation of the NUA, due in the second half of 2018 for the next session of the UN General Assembly.
The Regional Partner Forum will take place during 2017 SDG week at UN ESCAP, which also invites Partners Forum participants to exchange various approaches from the region to make progress on SDGs. A ‘Bazaar of Ideas’ showcasing innovative, inclusive and integrated initiatives for sustainable development follows on 30 November.
For media enquiries, please contact:
Lucia Kiwala of External Relations Division at UN-HABITAT via：lucia.kiwala@unhabitat.org
Katie Elles, Public Information Officer, Strategic Communications and Advocacy Section, ESCAP, M: (66) 9481 525 36 / E: elles@un.org
About New Urban Agenda:
The NUA was adopted at the third United Nations Conferences on Housing and Sustainable Urban Development (Habitat III) in Quito, Ecuador in October 2016, providing a vision and an implementation roadmap for building cities that can serve as engines of prosperity and centres of cultural and social well-being while protecting the environment. It identifies several transformative commitments for sustainable urban development, including Leaving No One Behind (inclusion and eliminating poverty), environmental management and resilience and prosperity through an equitable economy with decent urban work. It also sets out several means of implementation, most notably regarding better financing mechanisms, more effective urban legislation, appropriate technologies and innovation, enhanced and shared knowledge and capacity as well as more and more diverse partnerships.
For the further information regarding the New Urban Agenda, please visit：
http://habitat3.org/wp-content/uploads/Habitat-III-New-Urban-Agenda-10-September-2016.pdf
About SDG week:
SDG week is held by ESCAP to enhance understanding of the key challenges for effective implementation of the Sustainable Development Goals. Over the course of five days, it will facilitate dialogue amongst experts on challenges involved in effective implementation of the sustainable development agenda and tools and support available, including through ESCAP, to strengthen peer learning and capacity development to advance progress on the 2030 Agenda.
