United News of Bangladesh

Chief Adviser Prof Muhammad Yunus on Saturday called on UN-Habitat to expand its presence in Bangladesh to help develop sustainable and affordable housing solutions for communities frequently impacted by climate-induced disasters. Prof Yunus made the remarks during a meeting with Under-Secretary-General and Executive Director of UN-Habitat, Anacláudia Rossbach, on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly in New York. They discussed a wide range of issues, including affordable housing for rapidly urbanizing areas, waste management, microfinance-based housing solutions and the global impact of climate change on vulnerable communities, said Chief Adviser’s Deputy Press Secretary Abul Kalam Azad Majumder. Prof Yunus urged UN-Habitat to develop context-specific, multipurpose housing models tailored for communities facing recurring floods, river erosion, and cyclones — disasters increasingly intensified by climate change. "Floods, cyclones, and river erosion destroy thousands of homes every year. We urgently need sustainable and affordable housing solutions for these people," Prof Yunus said. He proposed innovative design solutions, such as constructing rooftops that could function as boats during floods. "Design the roof in a way that it can become a boat during a flood," he suggested. Bhutan proposes signing FTA with Bangladesh The Chief Adviser also requested the Nairobi-based agency to explore integrated solutions for housing, sanitation and waste management in slums, favelas, and informal settlements worldwide. He emphasised the importance of designing homes that are women-friendly, saying, "We must ensure our housing designs meet the needs of women and make daily life more convenient for them." The discussion also touched on the urgent need for durable housing for more than one million Rohingya refugees currently sheltered in Bangladesh. Prof Yunus invited UN-Habitat to participate in next week’s high-level UN conference on the Rohingya crisis in New York. He proposed that the UN-Habitat World Urban Forum launch an annual global design competition focused on climate-resilient and affordable housing for different regions.Executive Director Rossbach welcomed the proposal.

A new report on pandemics and cities from UN-Habitat, points the way to how hard-hit urban centres can reduce the impact of future outbreaks and become more equitable, healthy and environmentally friendly. ‘Cities and Pandemics: Towards a more just, green and healthy future’, launched on Tuesday, describes how urban areas have been at the forefront of the COVID-19 crisis. “95 per cent of all cases” were recorded in cities in the first months of the pandemic, Maimunah Mohd Sharif, UN-Habitat Executive Director, said. Also read: UN Chief for ensuring equitable distribution of Covid-19 vaccine Cities on the frontline “Throughout this pandemic, it has been up to local governments and communities to move quickly and decisively to stop the spread of COVID-19 and ensure an effective response,” Ms. Sharif added. Despite these pressures, many local governments and community leaders responded quickly and effectively to prevent the spread of the pandemic and mitigate its effects.  The UN-Habitat report recommends actions for a sustainable recovery based on evidence from more than 1,700 cities. Life and death inequalities It found that patterns of inequality, due to a lack of access to basic services, poverty and overcrowded living conditions, have been key destabilising factors in increasing the scale and impact of COVID-19.  Eduardo Moreno, Head of Knowledge and Innovation at UN-Habitat, said that due to the pandemic, an estimated “120 million people in the world will be pushed into poverty and living standards will reduce by 23 per cent”.  “The conclusion is that income matters”, he added. According to the text, urban leaders and planners must rethink how people move through and in cities, using lessons learned from the last year of COVID-19. This includes an increased focus at the local level on planning neighbourhoods and communities that are multi-functional and inclusive.  Also read: UN chief calls for action to ensure human rights for all Planning, affordability The report explores how well-planned cities combining residential and commercial with public spaces, along with affordable housing, can improve public health, the local economy and the environment.  It calls for cities to be at the forefront of moves towards a Social Contract between governments, the public, civil society and private sector.  The new social contract should “explore the role of the state and cities to finance universal basic income, universal health insurance, universal housing”, said Sharif. For one real-world example, Claudia Lopez Hernandez, Mayor of Bogota, explained how in the Colombian capital, their new social contract prioritises women and children.  It is a “social contract that includes women, that provides them with time, with time to take care of themselves, with time to educate themselves, and with time and education skills to come back to the labour market”.  “To have self-sustainable women is to have self-sustainable societies”, Hernandez explained. Also read: UN chief calls for immediate attention to 3 global emergencies New priorities The Report outlines how a new normal can emerge in cities “where health, housing and security are prioritised for the most vulnerable, not only out of social necessity, but also from a profound commitment to human rights for all.”  This requires governments to focus on policies to protect land rights, improve access to water, sanitation, public transport, electricity, health and education facilities and ensure inclusive digital connectivity. The Report recommends strengthening access to municipal finance to enable city leaders to build a new urban economy that reduces disaster risk as well as addressing climate change by developing nature-based solutions and investing in sustainable infrastructure to enable low carbon transport.  The Cities and Pandemics Report makes it clear that the way urban environments recover from the pandemic, will have a major impact on the global effort to achieve a sustainable future for all – in line with the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development.