World Urban Forum III

Introduction

The third World Urban Forum (WUF III), ( http://www.wuf3-fum3.ca/en/home.shtml ) organised by the United Nations Human Settlements Programme (UN HABITAT) was held in Vancouver, Canada from June 19 – 23. The theme of the Forum, which is a non-legislative meeting, was ‘Our Future: Sustainable Cities – Turning Ideas into Action.’ The challenge of sustainable urban development is staggering – and one that requires action and leadership, it is for this reason that LEAD identified WUF III as a key event to bring together members of the LEAD Network. Thanks to support from a number of agencies, most notably the Federal Government of Canada, LEAD was able to attend the Forum to participate and contribute in a number of ways. In total around 11,000 people attended the Forum.

The LEAD delegation included 21 Fellows and 8 staff including the program directors for Canada, Francophone Africa, Indonesia and Mexico. The group of Fellows typified the diversity of the LEAD Network and spanned cohorts 2 through 11. They came from Brazil, Canada, China, India, Indonesia, Mexico, Nigeria, Russia and South Africa, and included municipal planners and administrators, university professors, academic and investigative researchers and NGO leaders.

LEAD Activities

LEAD was able to contribute to the Forum in a number of ways:

Participation in the Roundtable discussion on the role of the private sector in urban sustainable development ; this was a focused discussions that explored what business can do to work more effectively to meet the challenges of urbanization.

http://www.wuf3-fum3.ca/full_program/files/event_details.asp?ID=19

As part of the preparations for the roundtable meeting LEAD International drafted a short discussion document – available here. xxx

LEAD was invited to chair the networking event organized by Industry Canada focused on the theme of Engaging the Private Sector in Sustainable Urban Development- Frameworks for Sustainable Partnerships – an outline of the event is available here:

http://www.wuf3-fum3.ca/networking_events/profile_events.asp?ID=50

Masse Lo, Director of Francophone Africa was a panelist in an event organized as part of the follow up to the work of the Commission for Africa. The panel also included Executive Director of UN Habitat, Anna Tibaijuka and former Head of the Secretariat of the Commission for Africa, Myles Wickstead. A summary report of the event will be made available on this website in the near future.

http://www.wuf3-fum3.ca/networking_events/profile_events.asp?ID=12

LEAD International Networking Event – Sustainable Energy Systems for Large Cities. Many of the LEAD Fellows attending WUF III had prepared background papers identifying different aspects of the challenges that exist with regard to energy and urbanization. The networking event reflected the diversity of the LEAD delegation with three presentations. Rob Rainer (Cohort 6 Canada) provided an overview of the linkages between population, energy and climate change, and introduced a case study from the state of Vermont, on institutionalizing the delivery of energy efficiency services. Sandeep Dash (Cohort 11, LEAD India) introduced how New Delhi switched its public transit system to a cleaner-burning fuel, in an effort to clear that city of smog. Tri Mumpuni (Cohort 2, LEAD Indonesia) closed with a case example of micro-hydro development in a rural area and how this development is promoting sustainable livelihoods and helping alleviate migration to cities. Following the presentations there was a lively interactive discussion with questions to the speakers and comments from the floor. The networking event was well attended and a number of the participants have followed up with correspondence. LEAD will establish a web forum and list serve for all those interested in continuing to network on this theme

For more information please contact Trevor@lead.org