Governments to check progress made in urban goals

NEW DELHI: United Nations (UN) member states called for renewed attention to the New Urban Agenda during the briefing of an upcoming high-level meeting to assess progress on urban sustainability. The New Urban Agenda was created in 2016 by the UN Conference on Housing and Sustainable Urban Development. Governments will assess its implementation during a one-day high level meeting for the assessment, which was mandated by the UN General Assembly (UNGA) in December 2020.

The resolution also calls for the UN’s five regional fora on sustainable development to provide inputs to the meeting. The regional fora are expected to take place in March 2022. The resolution of the mandate says that the discussions should take into account a forthcoming quadrennial report of the Secretary General on progress in the implementation of the New Urban Agenda.

In October 2021, date was set for the high-level meeting as April 28, 2022. Abdullah Shahid, President, UNGA, had convened an informal briefing on November 30. Shahid said that currently 55% of the world’s population lives in urban areas, and this is expected to rise to 70% by 2050. He added that strengthening urban institutions to face challenges must be part of a resilient vision for our cities. He said, “New Urban Agenda offers us a roadmap to more sustainable and resilient cities.”