The 2020 edition of the World Water Development Report (WWDR 2020) entitled ‘Water and Climate Change’ aims at helping the water community to tackle the challenges of climate change and informing the climate change community about the opportunities that improved water management offers in terms of adaptation and mitigation.

The scientific evidence is clear: the climate is changing and will continue to change, affecting societies mainly through water. Climate change will affect…

In cities and urban areas in East Africa, livelihoods and incomes of populations are seriously affected by the COVID-19 pandemic, particularly for those living in informal settlements. These urban populations are more vulnerable to food insecurity and unstable livelihoods as they mainly depend on the informal sector. It is estimated that the number of food insecure people in East Africa will increase to more than 41 million people because of COVID-19 including 14 million urban dwellers.

Local authorities have played a major role to curtail COVID-19, particularly in vulnerable urban settings, while maintaining critical services.
To identify problems and suggest solutions, UN-Habitat assessed 34 Unions of Municipalities and 5 individual municipalities, covering 52 per cent of Lebanese municipalities. The report highlights key urban challenges and proposes several mitigating measures.

COVID-19, a global pandemic declared by the World Health Organization (WHO), is crippling the global economy and upending people’s lives thereby threatening sustainable development across all its dimensions. Africa is also facing the dire consequences of the crisis, necessitating timely response, recovery and rebuilding policies and strategies. Globally, urban areas are the epicenters of the epidemic accounting for most of the confirmed COVID-19 cases.

This report highlights UN-Habitat’s 2019 work with the federal government, and its Member States in responding to the Somalia National Development Plan priorities and contributing to the Sustainable Development Goals (particularly SDG 11) and the implementation of the New Urban Agenda (NUA). Working as a member of the UN County team, UN-Habitat’s interventions are underpinned by the agency’s core normative programming on inclusive and sustainable development of cities.

This publication, a joint effort of UN-Habitat and Tongji University, shares the rich experiences of China and other countries in addressing the enormous challenges faced during rapid population growth, urbanization and industrialization, and demonstrates technical, managerial and financial solutions developed to improve water quality and the general environment of urban rivers through well-developed wastewater management systems. These solutions will be a catalyst for better practices globally.

The United Nations World Water Development Report, Leaving no one behind, launched 19 March 2019 during the 40th session of the United Nations Human Rights Council (UNHRC), and in conjunction to the World Water Day, demonstrates how improvements in water resources management and access to water supply and sanitation services are essential to addressing various social and economic inequities, such that ‘no one is left behind’ when it comes to enjoying the multiple benefits and opportunities that…

The 2019-2023 GWOPA Strategy is a medium term vision to promote and encourage the partnerships between water stakeholders through a new framework of actions, providing donors and partners a clear vision for collaboration and cooperation.

This report provides a baseline inventory of the standard of living, housing and infrastructure services as well as access to urban basic services in Mwanza, Tanzania, focusing on informal settlements. It provides evidence-based guidance on how to improve access to urban basic services in informal settlements as an essential element to achieve healthy, livable and sustainable cities.