Skip to main content

Housing and Land Management Press Releases

Displaying Results 26 - 50 of 103

Humanity is facing not one but three intertwined crises: the COVID-19 pandemic, climate change, and a lack of adequate and affordable housing. Each of these three emergencies has the potential to compound the multidimensional impacts of the others in health, social cohesion, environmental integrity
Approximately 50 million people in the UNECE region live in inadequate housing conditions. In the 21st century, the governance, land and finance systems that influence the delivery and consumption of housing have been beset by numerous crises. Emanating from climate change, unguided investment
Globally, 690 million people suffer from hunger and three billion cannot afford healthy, nutritious food. Despite this, the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) estimates that one-third of all food fit for consumption is either lost during the production or shipping process
The COVID-19 pandemic has had a multi-dimensional effect on the UNECE region, causing the worst economic contraction in decades. Cities and urban areas, with their high population density and interconnectivity, were particularly vulnerable and encountered major disruptions. The pandemic impacted
Approximately 150 million people are homeless and  more than 1.8 billion people worldwide lack adequate and  affordable housing. While levels of homelessness vary considerably across UNECE countries, finding sustainable solutions to ensure access to housing for all members of society remains a
The United Nations Economic Commission for Europe (UNECE) and the Norman Foster Foundation signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) on 23 March 2021.  The two organisations formalise their cooperation in the promotion of sustainable housing and sustainable cities through the establishment of the
A UNECE-led partnership will improve energy efficiency of the global building supply chain and its products to deliver high performance buildings in seven UNECE member States: Armenia, Georgia, Kyrgyzstan, Republic of Moldova, Tajikistan, Ukraine, and Uzbekistan.  The launch of the project was
The use of material resources, fuelled by economic and population growth, urbanisation and societal changes, has increased more than ten times since 1900 and is set to double again by 2030. The annual global extraction of materials has increased from 27 to 92 billion tonnes since 1970, while the
Localizing the Sustainable Development Goals at the urban level is crucial to deliver on the 2030 Agenda, stresses UNECE in a new report that advocates for a “cities-based” and “people-smart” approach to sustainable development.   With cities today as the driving force in economic, social, and
More robust monitoring and measuring systems are required to meet the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), according to a UNECE report on Measuring and Monitoring progress towards SDGs that uses a “nexus” approach to chart a course for more “joined up” activities.  High-quality statistics are
Cities are growing fast. Half the world’s population already lives in urban areas and another 2.5 billion are expected to be living in cities by 2050. In 2015, the international community set the goal of making cities “inclusive, safe, resilient and sustainable” by 2030 (Sustainable Development
UNECE and LIUC – Cattaneo University have agreed to establish a Geneva UN Charter Centre of Excellence to advance sustainable finance for infrastructure and smart cities. Against the backdrop of the COVID-19 pandemic, UNECE joins forces with an expert institution in sustainable finance to support
The new repository will help address disaster risks in line with the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development It consolidates good practices and lessons learned over the past decade in Europe and beyond in the fields of land-use planning and industrial safety
The current health crisis made the need for more robust cities more evident than ever before. The pandemic amplified and exposed the vulnerabilities of current urban realities, including overcrowded public transport, inadequate and unsanitary settlements, high levels of air pollution, and the
Local authorities are on the front line in addressing some of today’s most pressing sustainability challenges, including climate change, environmental degradation, social inclusion and mobility. However, despite their responsibility for actions affecting citizens’ lives every single day, making
Belarus has made considerable progress in implementing sustainable housing and land management policies over the last decade, but targeted efforts will be required to address remaining challenges, according to a new UNECE report.The Second UNECE Country Profile on Housing and Land Management for
UNECE and the Norwegian City of Trondheim have agreed to establish a Geneva UN Charter Centre of Excellence to advance sustainable housing as a foundation for urban development. This is the fifth Centre to be created by UNECE.The Geneva UN Charter on Sustainable Housing endorsed by UNECE
The global financial crisis of 2008 was the result of inadequate regulation of financial and real estate markets. Real estate bubbles were allowed to inflate, mortgage lending was inadequately supervised, the financial markets were allowed to develop complex financial instruments that few
Urban areas are responsible for an estimated 75% of C02 emissions worldwide, making city-level action critical for global efforts to address the climate emergency. Mayors and other key urban leaders can play a pivotal role in localizing climate action, with immediate impact on the ground
Cities play an essential role in addressing some of today’s major sustainability challenges, whether it comes to reducing the impact of climate change, giving people a home, strengthening resilience to disasters or reducing pollution. Mayors meeting today at the United Nations in Geneva for the
The global financial crisis of 2008 led to more inequality in the UNECE region. The past two decades have witnessed a general trend towards increasing home ownership. According to the Habitat III Regional Report on Housing and Urban Development for the UNECE Region (2016), many local governments
The Secretary General of the Organization for International Economic Relations (OiER), Ms. Kari Aina Eik, and the Executive Secretary of the UNECE, Ms. Olga Algayerova, signed today a Memorandum of Understating (MoU) to establish a Geneva UN Charter Centre of Excellence on Smart Sustainable
In 2017 UNECE adopted the Framework Guidelines for Energy Efficiency Standards in Buildings which promote the adoption of aggressive, performance-based codes for buildings.  To support the deployment of the Framework Guidelines and to advance the performance of buildings broadly, UNECE is
The Grenfell Tower fire in London in June 2017 has brought under the spotlight the need for a coherent global approach to fire safety. That fire -  the worst in the UK for almost a century that claimed 72 lives - not only focused attention on building and fire safety in the United Kingdom
According to United Nations estimates, around two-thirds of the world’s population will live in urban areas by 2050. Smart sustainable cities technologies and approaches, including those based on ICT solutions and Internet of Things (IoT) are already helping people to overcome multiple