The Tenth Session of the World Urban Forum (WUF10) took place in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates (UAE), from 8 to 13 February 2020), under the overall theme of “Cities of Opportunities: Connecting Culture and Innovation”. The Forum attracted over 13,333 attendees of which 64.9% were males and were 35.1% females1, from 169 countries.

Under the guidance of UN-Habitat Lebanon, and as part of the emergency response to the massive explosion at the Port of Beirut on August 4, 2020, IBI Group was commissioned to provide technical oversight and testing services for the Rubble to Mountains initiative, a project aimed at reusing construction and demolition waste (CDW) in environmentally sustainable urban-restoration developments.

UN-Habitat and the World Green Building Council (WorldGBC) co-developed the Guidelines for Sustainable Reconstruction and Urban Regeneration in the MENA Region to highlight key issues, approaches and methods, and propose bespoke solutions for individual and community-wide sustainable reconstruction projects based on the Build Back Better, leveraging recognized sustainability practices in the built environment while also addressing context specific needs unique to post-conflict reconstruction.

This report presents the global status on wastewater treatment and acceleration needs to achieve target 6.3 by 2030, based on the latest data on indicator 6.3.1 (total wastewater flows as well as flows from industrial sources and households).

UN-Habitat Iraq Project briefs for the Headway Programme funded by European Union Madad Fund.

The Handbook for “Building Participatory Accountability Systems for City Policies” offers guidance on how to develop urban projects and interventions through a participatory and consultative approach with city stakeholders, while allowing for flexibility to tailor interventions to the specific needs of individual cities and regions.

UN-Habitat’s first Policy, Legislation and Governance (PLGS) Annual Report highlights the section’s implementation of the Strategic Plan 2020-2023 for 2020. The Annual Report features the section’s and its partners’ contributions and results realized across various key programmes and projects at the local, national, regional and global levels between November 2019 and the end of 2020.

To promote evidence-based programming and coordination among state and non-state actors, UN-Habitat and UNICEF have jointly completed 28 profiles of disadvantaged neighbourhoods across Lebanon. This collaboration responds to the long-standing need for reliable, multi-sectoral spatial data required to inform sustainable development and humanitarian response by all actors.

This paper sets out how working towards sustainable urbanization is crucial for the sustaining peace agenda. It builds on the ongoing reforms of the peace, security and development pillars of the United Nations and it illustrates how UN-Habitat’s expertise and experiences add value to the humanitarian development- peace actions of the UN in the region.