The source of the hundreds of billions, if not trillions, of funds that developing nations say will be needed to adapt to a fast-changing climate – governments, multilateral banks, or the private sector – has become a major subject of contention during the last eight days. The good, the bad...
Ahead of the closing ceremony, UN-Habitat Executive Director, Anaclaudia Rossbach, emphasised the Forum’s timely emphasis on local action. “Over half of the world’s population now resides in urban areas,” she said, as she highlighted the pivotal role of local governments in shaping cities and human settlements. WUF12 was “a turning...
What is the World Urban Forum? The World Urban Forum (WUF), a major UN conference on sustainable urban development, was set up in 2001 to address global urbanisation, one of the most pressing issues facing the world today. Since then, a forum has been held every two years and this...
Cities and towns have become the drivers of economic growth and now account for more than 80 per cent of global GDP. Yet, in 2020, over one billion inhabitants of urban areas were still living in slums or informal settlements, predominantly in Asia and sub-Saharan Africa. As urban populations grow,...