The United Arab Emirates is participating in the first UN-HABITAT assembly in the Kenyan capital Nairobi, through a delegation headed by H.E. Mohamed Al Khadar, Executive Director Strategic Affairs of the Department of Urban Planning and Municipalities (DPM). The attendance by DPM is geared around advancing central aims of the tenth edition of the World Urban Forum (WUF10), conducted in Abu Dhabi in February 2020. Taking place from 27th to 30th May, the UN-Habitat Assembly will convene all UN Member States, as the world’s highest-level decision-making body on sustainable urbanisation.
Head of the UAE delegation, H.E. Mohamed Al Khadar, Executive Director Strategic Affairs at DPM said: “The UN-Habitat Assembly provides the perfect opportunity for DPM to advance Abu Dhabi’s agenda for the upcoming World Urban Forum. With advancement of the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals front and centre of this three-day event, there is perfect alignment with our content development strategy for WUF10. Our approach includes implementation of the New Urban Agenda (NUA) in the region and the UN Sustainable Development Goals, which firmly place urbanisation at the core of Abu Dhabi development policy.”
H.E. Mohamed Al Khadar continued: “The centrepiece of our participation to the UN-Habitat Assembly will be the 12 priorities identified for sustainable urbanisation in the MENA region, crowdsourced from our recent Pan-Arab Urban Development Symposium (PAUDS) held in Abu Dhabi. Classified in three categories corresponding to each of the four pillars – Economy, Environment, Society and Culture, these will be the UAE programme priorities for WUF10. The Forum will play a major role in shaping the Arab agenda for sustainable urban development and asserting Abu Dhabi’s leadership in this field.”
On May 28th and in collaboration with the Regional Office of UN-Habitat for Arab States (ROAS), DPM will present to the Arab delegations present at the UN-Habitat Assembly the outcomes of the 1st Pan-Arab Urban Development Symposium (PAUDS). Furthermore, it will also cover the way forward to the second PAUDS, which will take place in October 2019 during the third edition of the Arab Ministerial Forum on Housing and Urban Development.
The UN-Habitat Assembly is themed ‘Innovation for a Better Quality of Life in Cities and Communities – Accelerated Implementation of the New Urban Agenda towards achievement of the Sustainable Development Goals’. The event will bring together urban practitioners and experts, national, regional and local governments, academia, civil society and the private sector. All are brought together with a shared focus on innovative urbanisation and to provide solutions for a better quality of life in cities and communities.
The UN-Habitat Assembly is the United Nations’ focal point for sustainable urbanisation and human settlements development. This event will adopt global norms and policies that will guide how cities and communities are planned, managed and governed. It will also determine the strategic priorities for accelerating implementation of the New Urban Agenda to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals for the next six years, through UN-Habitat’s Strategic Plan (2020-2025).
WUF10 will take place in Abu Dhabi in February 2020, convened by UN-Habitat and jointly organized with the Abu Dhabi Department of Urban Planning and Municipalities. The Forum will provide a platform to discuss 21st century city planning within a context of rapid development with specific cultural and demographic considerations. WUF10 will showcase the Abu Dhabi Plan, through which the city aims to realise its long-term sustainable development vision. This blueprint will advance concrete achievements that position the Emirate as a benchmark, in a region with one of the fastest urbanisation rates on the globe.
Established in 2001, WUF is the world’s premier gathering on urban issues. The Forum examines the impact of rapid urbanisation and its implications for social, economic and environmental policies in communities, cities and towns.