Creating sustainable urban environments for all

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Honourable Alice Wahome the Cabinet Secretary, Ministry of Lands, Public Works, Housing and Urban Development of Kenya, our Host;

Your Excellency Enrique Ochoa, President of the UN-Habitat Assembly,

My sister, Anacláudia Rossbach, Executive Director of UN-Habitat

And special guest Anne Hidalgo, Mayor of Paris,

Excellencies, colleagues and friends.

My thanks to Anacláudia for the invitation to speak at this resumed second session of the UN-Habitat Assembly.

Our organizations have a long history of collaboration. And this Spring we renewed our bilateral cooperation framework, the Greener Cities Partnership. A partnership that will support implementation of UN-Habitat’s Strategic Plan for 2026‒2029, as well as UNEP’s upcoming Medium-Term Strategy for 2026-2029.

UN-Habitat’s Strategic Plan will promote adequate and resilient housing. Strive to protect land resources and ensure basic services for all. Support implementation of the New Urban Agenda, the global roadmap for safe, affordable, healthy and resilient economies and urban spaces. All the while seeking to enhance biodiversity and protect the environment. UNEP’s upcoming Medium-Term Strategy will be in accord and in harmony with this, helping to underpin a healthy world with a sustainable urban environment. Our two organizations with their two distinct, but mutually reinforcing mandates, stand strong with your strong support.

There are many facets to this work as it relates to the environment, so let me focus on only a few, where UN Habitat has been given mandates by its Member States.

First, leaning on nature. 

Cities that embed and prioritize nature reap multiple benefits. They can reduce emissions and protect people by using natural cooling, shading and flood barriers. They can create urban food systems that deliver affordable and nutritious food. They can improve physical and mental health: because exposure to nature makes us healthier. Cities can therefore take inspiration from UN Habitat’s good work on mainstreaming biodiversity in the urban setting. Work that we at UNEP are very strongly supportive of. 

Second, where UN Habitat is really pushing, finding less resource-intensive ways to construct and operate buildings, including housing and infrastructure.

Buildings account for a third of global emissions and a third of global waste. Every five days, the world adds structures equivalent to the size of Paris. But the International Resource Panel’s Weight of Cities report told us that cities could almost halve their resource consumption by 2050 through a series of measures that include smart construction and operation. We are talking building with less material and resource intensity, leaning on renewables and energy efficiency. So, as UN Habitat continues the strong implementation of the new urban agenda and work on affordable housing, these are areas on which we can collaborate.

Third, reducing waste, including plastic waste, through local action.

The reality is that cities are facing a deluge of waste, so we must find ways to reduce, reuse and recycle. This is the approach we are taking here at our beautiful UN compound in Nairobi, on this land deeded to UNEP by the Government of Kenya in 1972. Take this conference centre, which is in the process of being upgraded. We are not grabbing new land. We are building on already converted land, and we are using many of the materials you see around you – glass, concrete, metals – for recycling. This is an example of the future we all need to embrace in our cities. I also look forward to strengthening our cooperation through the Nairobi Sustainable Cities GEF-8 project, which we are now jointly preparing.

Fourth, including city and local government action in Nationally Determined Contributions. 

Since 70 per cent of climate solutions lie with subnational authorities, involving cities and local governments is a no brainer. As countries prepare new climate pledges ahead of COP30 in Belém, Brazil, UNEP and UN Habitat are supporting nations to include city actions on sustainable cooling, low-emission transport and more.

Nature and cities, less resource-intensive cities, waste reduction, and climate action. These are four areas where cities, mayors and local governments can lead.

Excellencies, colleagues and friends,

As cities expand, the weight of their environmental impact will increase. And, as climate change intensifies, more urban dwellers will be exposed to extreme heat, water scarcity and rising sea levels. Unless we do something. You have come here today to UN Habitat and to this compound to approve the UN Habitat Strategic Plan. As you set out to do that, you will help prepare the world for a safer, more sustainable, more liveable world.  

Thank you.