Children and Youth

The first day of the 2020 High-level Political Forum began online, focused on how to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) while combatting COVID-19. It was business un-usual at the 2020 meeting of the High-level Political Forum on Sustainable Development (HLPF), which opened on Tuesday. Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, however, the HLPF is taking place virtually. While locally-based Permanent Representatives were at the UN Headquarters in New York, most other participants joined from different parts of the world. The HLPF is mandated to review progress on the 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and assess progress towards achieving the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development (2030 Agenda). The agenda for the 2020 session, however, was altered to focus on the impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic on the SDGs. In the opening session, Mona Juul, Permanent Representative of Norway and President, UN Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC), said this is a crucial HLPF meeting that can be a springboard towards “building back better” from COVID-19 and moving the world towards implementing the SDGs. Liu Zhenmin, UN Under-Secretary-General for Economic and Social Affairs, presented the UN Secretary-General’s report on progress towards the SDGs. While progress was already uneven before the pandemic, he noted, COVID-19 has had considerable adverse impacts that disproportionately affect the poorest and most vulnerable. He called for increased multilateralism and international cooperation, a comprehensive multilateral response cumulatively amounting to at least 10% of GDP globally, and additional financial resources for developing countries. In the morning, a panel discussion on keeping the focus on the SDGs while combating COVID-19 focused on: SDGs, regional dimensions, and countries at different levels of development including middle-income countries; and 2020 targets, data, and institutions for integrated policy making. Vera Songwe, Executive Secretary, Economic Commission for Africa and Coordinator of Regional Commissions, said the pandemic demonstrated that existing GDP-based country classifications are not applicable in every situation, as middle-income countries and small island states reliant on sectors like tourism and oil production were severely affected, irrespective of their income levels. In the afternoon, a two-part session was held, on building back better after COVID-19 and what can have the greatest impact on the SDGs. The first part focused on protecting and advancing human well-being and ending poverty, while the second part focused on ending hunger and achieving food security. The day ended with stakeholder perspectives on transformative pathways to realize the 2030 Agenda, through a whole-of-society approach, taking into account the impact of COVID-19. Haaziq Kazi, a Grade 8 student from Indus International School, India, on behalf of the Children and Youth Major Group, noted that the greatest barrier to progress is not the lack of solutions, but our love of models that have proven insufficient in the face of current realities.

Participants of the Children and Youth Roundtable pose with Fabrizio Hochschild Drummond, Special Adviser to the UN Secretary-General on the UN’s 75th Anniversary. WUF10 continued with two dialogues in the morning, including one on Urban Planning and Heritage Preservation – Regeneration, during which UN-Habitat Executive Director Maimunah Mohd Sharif stressed the importance of preserving heritage sites and buildings in cities, saying “once it is lost, it will only be retrieved at great cost.” Another dialogue focused on Partnerships and Initiatives Supporting Culture and Innovation in Cities, during which panelists called for implementing cost-effective mobility solutions for millions of urban dwellers in the global South and promoting social entrepreneur ecosystems and economic development to “uplift people and the planet.”In the afternoon, three roundtables convened, including one for children and youth representatives from different continents to express views on sustainable urban development. They circulated a petition calling for the Executive Director of UN-Habitat and the Deputy Executive Director of UN Environment Programme (UNEP) to declare a climate emergency, and urged the UN to stop organizing “tokenistic” youth summits, and instead ensure youth have a seat at a table. In a roundtable for traditional authorities, panelists underscored that millennia-old, culturally embedded traditional institutions cannot be destroyed by modern legal decisions, and discussed how traditional authorities and governments can have mutually beneficial relationships.Side events and special sessions continued into the evening, including a session on Affordable Housing Innovation to Foster Cities' Culture and Diversity, which heard interventions from a range of governments, international and regional organizations, and private sector representatives on, among others, efforts to reduce the cost of housing through data centralization and reducing delays in housing provision through e-governance and reduced bureaucracy. IISD Reporting Services, through its ENB+ Meeting Coverage, provided daily web coverage and daily reports from WUF10. In addition, a summary report has also been produce in HTML and PDF. Photos by IISD/ENB | Natalia Mroz For photo reprint permissions, please follow instructions at our Attribution Regulations for Meeting Photo Usage Page Dialogue 5: Urban Planning and Heritage Preservation - Regeneration The panel (L-R): Moderator Dena Assaf; Jyoti Hosagrahar, UN Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO); Arbjan Mazniku, Deputy Mayor of Tirana, Albania; Shatha Al Mulla, Ministry of Culture and Knowledge Development, United Arab Emirates (UAE); Cameron Rashti, Aga Khan Trust for Culture; Milena Ivković, International Society of City and Regional Planners (ISOCARP); Inés Samudio, Minister of Housing and Land Management, Panama Moderator Dena Assaf Inés Samudio, Minister of Housing and Land Management, Panama Milena Ivković, ISOCARP Shatha Al Mulla, UAE Cameron Rashti, Aga Khan Trust for Culture Arbjan Mazniku, Deputy Mayor of Tirana, Albania Jyoti Hosagrahar, UNESCO Time keeping during the dialogues Alaina Beverly, University of Chicago Ahmed Eiweida, World Bank Dwinita Larasati, Indonesia Creative Cities Network Patrick Domingos Tembwa, REALL Participants pose questions and listen to the discussion. Dialogue 6: Partnerships and Initiatives Supporting Culture and Innovation in Cities Moderator Jason Pomeroy Mukhisa Kituyi, Secretary-General, UN Conference on Trade and Development Maruxa Cardama, Secretary General, Partnership on Sustainable Low Carbon Transport Siraj Sait, Noon Centre for Equality and Diversity Participants listen to the discussion. The second panel (L-R): Tulio Vazquez López, Inter-American Housing Union; Irina Ilina, Higher School of Economics University; Vladimir Bataev, Zaz Ventures; Marcela Villarreal, Food and Agriculture Organization of the UN (FAO); moderator Jason Pomeroy Irina Ilina, Higher School of Economics University Vladimir Bataev, Zaz Ventures Marcela Villarreal, FAO Tulio Vazquez López, Inter-American Housing Union The third panel with moderator Jason Pomeroy on the dais Mamou Daffe, Arterial Network Bettina Tucci Bartsiotas, UN Interregional Crime and Justice Research Institute Children and Youth Roundtable Fabrizio Hochschild Drummond, Special Adviser to the UN Secretary-General on the UN's 75th Anniversary A participant makes a comment. A participant raises his hand to ask a question. Fabrizio Hochschild Drummond takes comments from the floor. Participants of the Children and Youth Roundtable react to the discussion. Traditional Authorities Roundtable Drani Stephen Izakare, Paramount Chief of the Madi people Katepu Laoi, Minister of Local Government and Agriculture, Tuvalu Ana Lucy Bengochea Martínez, Wagucha Community Practitioner Platform El Boukhari Ben Essayouti, Head, Timbuktu Cultural Mission Abdoulaye Makhtar Diop, Chief of the Lebu people Fatima Mohamed El Fadol Adam, Mayor of Nyala Special Session: Affordable Housing Innovation to Foster Cities' Culture and Diversity Doris Andoni, National Housing Agency, Albania Sameh Wahba, World Bank Joaquim Oliveira Martins, Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development Moderator Patricia Peiró Aso Mourad Limam, McKinsey & Company Christophe Lalande, UN-Habitat Around the Venue Volunteers at the venue Food at the combined Polish and WUF11 booth A participant looks at the photo exhibition. Partcipant at the venue using the translation service.  

The World Urban Forum’s tenth session (WUF10) convened on Saturday, starting with a flag-raising ceremony in the morning. After a joint opening plenary, the Women’s Assembly, Business Assembly, Grassroots Assembly and the Urban Youth Assembly met in parallel throughout the day, while the World Assembly of Local and Regional Governments met in the afternoon. Opening the Assemblies, Mohamed Al Khadar Al Ahmed, Abu Dhabi Department of Municipal Affairs and Transport, encouraged the forum to engage in “masterpiecing” through an exchange of views and experiences throughout the week. Maimunah Mohd Sharif, UN Under-Secretary General and Executive Director, UN-Habitat, called for WUF10 to be an action-oriented and inclusive meeting, noting that implementation happens primarily at the local level. The Urban Youth Assembly produced a draft ‘WUF10 Children and Youth DeclarAction’ which calls on governments and local authorities to improve the implementation of the New Urban Agenda and the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). The Grassroots Assembly's recommendations focused on “the struggle for recognition, acceptance and learning from each other that governments and grassroots groups can do together” and suggested that achieving the SDGs and addressing climate change will require significant learning, to which grassroots groups have a strong potential to make contributions. The World Assembly of Local and Regional Governments considered: how urbanization shapes, and is shaped by, culture and innovation; how cities can maximize tradition and modernity to achieve sustainable outcomes; and the role of technology in shaping a new future for cities to achieve the global goals. The Women’s Assembly analyzed ways to plan gender-responsive cities and identified potential barriers to the effective engagement of women in culture and innovation. The Business Assembly explored four operational areas that enable businesses to contribute more effectively to the achievement of sustainable urbanization at scale, including through investment, co-creation, joint advocacy, and adopting norms and standards.