UN-Habitat supports countries across Asia and the Pacific to address the complex challenges posed by rapid urbanization, disasters and conflict as a leading regional partner for policy advice, capacity development, technical assistance, crisis response and normative and advocacy engagements on sustainable urban development.
Impact
Urban numbers
Challenges
Urbanization continues to be a defining megatrend in the Asia-Pacific region. Fifty-four per cent of the global urban population, more than 2.2 billion people, live in Asia. By 2050, the urban population in Asia is expected to grow by 50% - an additional 1.2 billion people.
Cities in Asia and the Pacific are at the global forefront of economic opportunity and in efforts to secure a more sustainable future. They face challenges related to environmental degradation, increasing impacts of natural and man-made disasters, the persistence of slums and social exclusion, lack of affordable housing and unemployment. Yet, they are also economic powerhouses, dynamic hubs of innovation and transformative urban solutions and awarded for their protection and use of cultural heritage.
Country Beneficiaries
“Usually, only the rich have construction plans. But here [with the Post-Yolanda Support for Safer Homes and Settlements], every household has a construction plan. And we all learned how to read and use these plans. UN-Habitat conducted DRR seminars to train us to be disaster-resilient. So now, whatever happens, we are more prepared.”
Joselito Asevedo, Community Leader, Barangay Pontevedra, Capiz, The Philippines
Donors and partners
UN-Habitat has developed many significant partnerships in Asia and the Pacific on which our programmes and their impact are highly dependent. Some of them country- or project-based, others are in support of advocacy or normative initiatives for implementation of the New Urban Agenda at the regional level.
UN-Habitat works in close association with our institutional partners UN ESCAP with whom we have developed the follow-up to the New Urban Agenda and are co-creating the Future of Asia-Pacific Cities Report as well as we the Asia-Pacific Urban Forum held every 4-5 years. We also support the Asia-Pacific Ministerial Conference on Housing and Urban Development (APMCHUD), ASEAN and other regional and sub-regional entities to promote sustainable urban development and strengthen technical cooperation.
Based in Fukuoka, Japan, the Regional Office works through key substantive and financial support from the Government of Japan and the consortium of Fukuoka-based partners.