The Global Activities Report 2015, takes into account the progress made in addressing UN-Habitat’s projects portfolio with a view to increasing its impact and facilitating national ownership. An encouraging trend during the current reporting period is that the earmarked portfolio has continued to grow, confirming rising demand for the Agency’s technical expertise.

This upward trend, consistent with UN-Habitat’s strategy to expand its earmarked projects portfolio, has been sustained, from a level of USD 136 million in 2012, to USD 171 million in 2013 – representing a 25 per cent increase, and to USD 172 million by November 2014.

These contributions have enabled UN-Habitat to provide strong support of more than USD 162 million in 2014 alone to 16 countries in sub-Saharan Africa, 18 countries in Asia and the Pacific, 9 countries in the Arab States region, and 19 countries in Lati America and the Caribbean, in addition to regional programmes and normative global initiatives.

Given the substantial growth in new construction in economies in transition and the inefficiencies of existing building stock worldwide, if nothing is done, GHG emissions from buildings will more than double in the next 20 years. Therefore, if global targets for GHG emissions reduction are to be met, it is essential that mitigation of GHG emissions from buildings must be on every national climate change strategy. Tackling the emissions problem from the building sector, for example through green social housing, can create jobs, save money and most importantly, shape a built environment that has a net positive environmental influence. Investing in achieving such results in the social housing sector has the potential to boost the local economy and improve living conditions, particularly for low-income communities.

This publication represents another addition to UN-Habitat's work on Green and Sustainable Housing and was produced in collaboration with UNEP's Sustainable Buildings & Climate Initiative (SBCI).

In May 2009, three decades of conflict came to end in Sri Lanka. While the entire country had suffered as a result, districts in the North and East were devastated. Families were displaced on multiple occasions, compelled to leave their homes for many years. When people eventually returned to their villages, most of their houses had been either badly damaged or completely destroyed. As the majority of people affected were relatively poor with marginal incomes and little or no savings, they were unable to sustain major financial shocks, especially the loss of livelihoods and housing.

Through a series of photographs taken by UN-Habitat and SDC staff members during the implementation of the project, this publication documents the stories of courage, resilience and recovery of a cross section of the homeowners who have successfully reconstructed their homes.