The New Urban Agenda in the new UN - the most important outcome of HABITATIII
I was delighted to be a part of the Global Roundtable by the The Nature of Cities on the ideas of the most important outcome of HabitatIII. You can find all contributions from 16 distinguished colleagues all around the world and participate at the online debate here. My article is also copied below
The New Urban Agenda in the new UN
By Yunus Arikan, Head of Global Policy and Advocacy, ICLEI - Local Governments for Sustainability
The New Urban Agenda kicks off a 2-year process under the authority of the UN Secretary General and the UN General Assembly to define its modalities of follow-up and review. This process will overlap with the expected UN-wide reforms under the new UN Secretary General – who will take the office on 1 January 2017.
Both of these processes will be designed for and implemented in a world that is more urbanized and connected than ever before. Thus, both follow-up and review of the New Urban Agenda and the UN reform, in practice, will focus on defining a new concept for the UN system and ways for its Member States to engage with local and subnational governments, as their role in the implementation and advancement of global sustainability goals become even more crucial..
Sustainable urban development: evolution beyond the HABITAT Agenda
The period between 1972 and 1976, starting with Stockholm Conference on Environment and ending with Vancouver Conference on Human Settlements, was the first cycle of intergovernmental efforts that laid out the foundations for sustainability within the UN system. The second phase, from 1992 to 1996, starting with Earth Summit in Rio and ending with HABITATII in Istanbul, defined the basic principles of sustainable development.
During the implementation of this second phase, the scope and focus of the HABITAT Agenda was relatively narrowed down since its mission was reoriented as a response to the Millennium Development Goals, which decoupled it from the rest of the sustainability agenda. The Habitat Commitment Index by the New School is recognized as one of the key indices that assess progress in this period. Meanwhile, thousands of locally driven sustainability planning, consultation and implementation processes have been nourished in this period, building on the spirit of Local Agenda 21, stemming from the Earth Summit held in Rio in 1992. These ambitious and progressive actions on the ground have yielded fruits, resulting in key achievements relating to the engagement of local and subnational governments in numerous UN processes – on climate change, biodiversity and procurement in particular.
The New Urban Agenda: bringing urban development back to sustainability agenda
In broadest terms, HABITATIII was expected to conclude the third phase, which started with Rio+20 in 2012. In fact, the HABITAT Agenda was already reflected into the universal Sustainable Development Goals adopted in 2015 through Goal 11 on making cities and human settlements, inclusive, safe, resilient and sustainable, which is almost identical to the paragraph 1 of HABITATII in 1996. However, it was not possible to enshrine a clear linkage between SDGs and HABITATIIII until the last hours of the informal session in September. Luckily, paragraph 9 of the Quito Declaration, finally, foresees that the New Urban Agenda will “localize the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development in an integrated manner, and contribute to the achievement of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and targets, including SDG 11”. Together with paragraphs on follow-up and review, it is now possible to confirm that the New Urban Agenda is back as a core element in this third phase of the sustainability agenda which is expected to be more holistic, transparent, inclusive and transformative.
The New Urban Agenda in the making of the new United Nations of the Urban World
Pursuant to the enormous recognition on the need, potential and power of local and subnational governments to support national and global efforts, almost all UN agencies now have some sort of a project, programme or initiative focusing on cities and regions. The Executive Office of the UN Secretary General is also advancing its support by expanding the Subnational Climate Action Hub, initiated at the Paris Climate Conference in December, to all SDGs and relevant stakeholders.
Therefore, the implementation of a 2-year consultation indicated in paragraphs 171 and 172 of the New Urban Agenda may easily be expanded to all members of the UN system, pursuant to the leadership of the UN Secretary General and the UN General Assembly in the process. This will include an assessment of UN-Habitat commissioned by the UN Secretary General, which will be followed by a high level meeting at the UN General Assembly in 2017, and conclude with a decision of the UN General Assembly in 2018. It is hoped that the process will have strong interactions with some other events in 2017 (like the UN-Habitat Governing Council in April, UNFCCC stakeholder engagement workshop in May and the 3rd UN Environment Assembly in December) and in 2018 (World Urban Forum in February, IPCC cities conference in March and High Level Political Forum focusing on SDG 11 in July.)
It is obvious that these consultations will go hand-in-hand with the expected UN reform agenda under the new UN Secretary General starting on 1 January 2017. In the Urban World of 2030, appropriate utilization and vertical integration of the potential, ambition and power of the local and subnational governments is the key to ensure successful attainment of any global goals and national commitments. Thus, one of the biggest outcomes of the New Urban Agenda will, in fact, be to pave the way in developing a new model of collaboration and engagement of the local and subnational governments in the UN system. If this process delivers the necessary innovation, it can be considered as the biggest legacy of HABITATIII as well.