"URBAN SETTLEMENTS"

Maimunah Mohd Sharif, Executive Director of the United Nations Human Settlements Programme (UN–Habitat), briefed in the context of the High-level Political Forum on Sustainable Development (HLPF 2018), on the implementation of the Sustainable Development Goal 11.

According to a new United Nations data set launched today, 55 percent of the world’s population lives in urban areas, a proportion that is expected to increase to 68 percent by 2050. UNIFEED

High-level plenary debate to discuss the effective implementation of the New Urban Agenda and the positioning of the United Nations Human Settlements Programme (UN-Habitat).

With two thirds of the world’s population projected to live in cities in the next 30 years, the fate of humanity hinged on how Governments addressed the “megatrend” of urbanization, the General Assembly heard at a high-level meeting to discuss the implementation of the New Urban Agenda agreed by Member States in 2016.

Joan Clos, Executive Director of the UN Human Settlements Programme (UN-Habitat) and Secretary-General of the UN Conference on Housing and Sustainable Urban Development (Habitat III), briefs journalists.

Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon today (16 Oct) said cities are “central to climate action, global prosperity, peace and human rights,” and highlighted the goal of making them “inclusive, safe, resilient, healthy and sustainable.” UNIFEED

The Deputy Secretary-General of the United Nations, Jan Eliasson, said that while most of the humanitarian assistance goes to refugees living in camps, urban refugees “are largely overlooked.” UNIFEED-UNTV

The President and CEO of the International Rescue Committee (IRC), David Miliband, said that urban displacement has reached an "unprecedented level with 60 percent of refugees now living in urban areas." UNIFEED-UNTV/FILE

With the estimated number of elephants in West Africa dropping to between 5,000 and 13,000, a dozen countries are scheduled to sign a treaty on the animals' protection at a United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) meeting in Kenya's capital, Nairobi. UNTV

A five-year drought in Kenya's Northwestern Turkana district is resulting in a desperate struggle for survival amidst an increase of small-armed conflict. IRIN