Highlights and images for 7 June 2016

Summary

The Habitat III Informal Hearings with Stakeholders continued at UN Headquarters in New York City, US, on 7 June 2016. The meeting brought together stakeholders from the Global Assembly of Partners for Habitat III (GAP), the UN Major Groups, and others to exchange views with member states on the recently submitted zero draft of the Habitat III outcome. The meeting was mandated by the UN General Assembly (UNGA) in December 2015 (A/RES/70/210).

In the morning, two panels addressed effective implementation and implementation at the local level. In the afternoon, two panels addressed follow-up and review, and partnerships for the New Urban Agenda. A brief closing session ended the day.

The panel on the effective implementation addressed: renewing political commitments and partnerships; implementing the New Urban Agenda; ensuring human, cultural and environmental rights are fulfilled; and ensuring polity coherence with other international processes.

The panel on the implementation at the local level discussed: decentralization and local taxation; the importance of including participation in strategic planning, policy conception and follow-up; the importance of reinforcing local institutions; the need to secure funding for public transport; and ecological taxation.

The panel on the follow-up and review considered: gender-equal science; youth in the follow-up and review process; linkages between the New Urban Agenda and the High-Level Political Forum on Sustainable Development (HLPF); the role of indigenous people in implementation; proposed periodic reports from various entities; and social and environmental indices and regional networks for data collection.

The panel on partnerships for the New Urban Agenda highlighted specific partnership experiences from different countries including: joining governments and universities; a recycling network; public-public partnerships and public-private partnerships (PPPs); community-driven data collection; and youth-to-youth partnerships.

The Informal Hearings with Stakeholders closed at 6:17 pm.

IISD Reporting Services, through its ENB+ Meeting Coverage, has provided daily web updates and a summary report from the Habitat III Informal Hearings with Stakeholders. Our report is available in HTML or PDF format.

Panel on effective implementation (L-R): Maria Luisa Alvarado, Habitat for Humanity International, Peru;
Habitat III Deputy Secretary-General Kumaresh Misra; Moderator Thomas Wright, Regional Plan Association;
Sonia Elliot, Secretary to Habitat III; Marta Benavides, Agricultural Missions, Siglo XXIII, El Salvador;
Daria Cibrario, Public Services International (PSI), Italy; and Clinton Moloney, PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC).

Panel on implementation at the local level (L-R):
Khady Dia Sarr, Dakar Municipal Finance Project, Senegal;
Rohit Aggarwala, Sidewalk Labs, US;
Habitat III Deputy Secretary-General Kumaresh Misra;
Moderator Emilia Saiz, United Cities and Local Governments (UCLG) and Global Task Force (GTF);
Sonia Elliot, Secretary to Habitat III;
Marcelo Montenegro, ActionAid, Brazil;
Andrew Bata, International Association of Public Transport (UITP), US; and
Alice Claeson, International Federation of Medical Students’ Associations (IEMSA), Sweden.

Marta Benavides, Agricultural Missions, Siglo XXIII, El Salvador, and Daria Cibrario, Public Services International (PSI), Italy

Nicholas Ngatia, Kenya Model UN

Panel on follow-up and review (L-R): Nicholas Ngatia, Kenya Model UN;
Ines Sanchez de Madariaga, Technical University of Madrid, Spain;
Habitat III Deputy Secretary-General Kumaresh Misra;
Habitat III Co-Chair Maryse Gautier, France;
Moderator Jessica Espey, Sustainable Development Solutions Network (SDSN), US;
Habitat III Co-Chair Maryse Gautier, France;
Rachel Stein-Holmes, Secretary to Habitat III;
Ana Lucy Bengochea, Garifuna Emergency Committee, Honduras;
Maruxa Cardama, Communitas Coalition, Spain; and
Justin Edwards, Social Progress Imperative, US.

Panel on partnerships for the New Urban Agenda (L-R):
Oscar Fergutz, Avina Foundation, Brazil; Sahar Attia, University of Cairo, Egypt;
Habitat III Secretary General Joan Clos; Moderator Katherine Kline, AARP, US;
Rachel Stein-Holmes, Secretary to Habitat III;
Mitchell Silver, Past President, American Planning Association, and Commissioner, New York City Department of Parks, US;
Shipra Narang Suri, GAP Vice President, and International Society of City and Regional Planners (ISOCARP); and
Rose Molokoane, Slum/Shack Dwellers International (SDI), South Africa.