Delegates to the Habitat III conference in Quito, Ecuador, last week pledged to address the dangers posed by greenhouse gases and climate change as part of their work to guide sustainable development of the world’s cities.
The four-day event, more formally known as the United Nations Conference on Housing and Sustainable Urban Development, drew roughly 36,000 participants from 167 nations, according to a U.N. press release. At the close of the conference, delegates approved the New Urban Agenda, a “key instrument for national, sub-national, and local governments and all relevant stakeholders to achieve sustainable urban development.”
Among the dozens of calls to action featured in the document, many focused on climate change, participants pledged to:
- Curb greenhouse gas emissions and air pollution, among other goals, via “sustainable management of natural resources in cities and human settlements.”
- Augment sustainable use of resources through environmentally viable management and minimization of greenhouse gases and other pollutants.
- Encourage climate action at the local, subnational, national, and global levels, encompassing climate change adaptation and mitigation. “We further commit to support building resilience and reducing emissions of greenhouse gases, from all relevant sectors. Such measures should be consistent with the goals of the Paris Agreement adopted under the [U.N. Framework Convention on Climate Change], including holding the increase in the global average temperature to well below 2 degrees Celsius above pre-industrial levels, and pursuing efforts to limit the temperature increase to 1.5 degrees Celsius above pre-industrial levels.”
- Support access to the Green Climate Fund, established under the UNFCCC to provide financial support for climate-resilient and low-emissions development in developing countries, and other mulilateral funding mechanisms in order to help carryout climate change adaptation and mitigation plans, policies, programs, and other activities by local and subnational governments.
The document places no binding mandates on participating national or city governments, but instead offers a “shared vision” for using improved planning and development to increase safety, resiliency, and sustainability in cities, the U.N. said.