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The Declared Actions of the Eleventh Session of the World Urban Forum

The Declared Actions of the Eleventh Session of the World Urban Forum (WUF11) were introduced at the event’s closing ceremony on 30 June, the culmination of five days of debate and discussion in Katowice, Poland. Announced by H.E Madame Martha Delgado, President of the UN-Habitat Assembly, the Declared Actions will carry the sustainable development agenda forward to the next World Urban Forum in Cairo, Egypt in January 2024, and beyond.

Dozens of commitments have already been received, but city planners, mayors, governments, civil society and community groups have until 31 July, 2022 to submit their actions on the Urban Agenda Platform www.urbanagendaplatform.org on the WUF11 theme of ‘Transforming Our Cities for a Better Urban Future’.

Reading from the introduction to the Declared Actions, Ms Delgado said that participants in WUFF11 were “concerned by the lack of progress towards the SDGs and the Paris Agreement and call for urgent transformative action”.

“We need to focus on increasing the inevitable urban crises. The climate emergency, pandemics, the biodiversity crisis, other natural and man-made disasters, all converge in cities. Being prepared for and overcoming these crises becomes a precondition to transform towards a better urban future,” she said, quoting the document.

Photo: IISD/ENB | Diego Noguera, Martha Delgado, President of the United Nations Habitat Assembly Photo: IISD/ENB | Diego Noguera, Martha Delgado, President of the United Nations Habitat Assembly

The Declared Actions concluded with an appeal for greater funding for UN-Habitat, which convenes the World Urban Forum every two years and co-organizes the event with a host country and city.

At the closing ceremony, Maimunah Mohd Sharif, Executive Director of UN-Habitat, declared that the expression of interest for the Thirteenth Session of the World Urban Forum officially opened.

Previous hosts have been: Nairobi, Barcelona, Vancouver, Nanjing, Rio de Janeiro, Naples, Medellin, Kuala Lumpur and Abu Dhabi.

WUF11