Barcelona 23 January 2017 - the formal signing of a Memorandum of Understanding between the Department of Territory and Sustainability of the Government of Catalonia and UN-Habitat took place recently. The main objective of this MoU is to establish a framework for cooperation between UN-Habitat and the Department of Territory and Sustainability that will enable the two institutions to share knowledge, provide mutual support and define cooperation programmes for carrying out specific projects.

The cooperation actions and projects that will be carried out within the two institutions' areas of responsibility, will have a particular focus on urban resilience.The implications will be in the following areas; urban policies, sustainable development, land and planning, adaptation to climate change, management of water and other natural resources, waste management, and urban public transport and sustainable mobility.

During the signing ceremony, Dr. Joan Clos, the Executive Director of UN-Habitat, emphasized that the experiences in Catalonia on environment and territorial planning, resilience, water and waste will be very useful for UN-Habitat. In addition, both Dr. Clos and Mr. Josep Rull, Conseller of Territory and Sustainability, Government of Catalonia, Spain, agreed on the potential benefits of having Catalonia support, through the transfer of experience and knowledge, in particular focusing on Catalonias’ deep experience on urbanization and urban planning. In closing, Mr. Rull said, “We work fully within the New Urban Agenda”.