Climate Change and Urban Environment (CCUE) Programme in the Asia-Pacific Region

Overview

UN-Habitat’s Regional Office for Asia and the Pacific (ROAP) is pleased to present its Regional Programme to Accelerate Multilevel Climate and Urban Environment Action in Asia-Pacific (2024-2030). This programme addresses climate change, biodiversity, and urban environmental challenges in Asia and the Pacific. Its development was informed by urbanization trends and recent findings from global, regional, and country reports on climate change projections and impacts. This programme considers inputs from stakeholders, partners and member states.

Building upon UN-Habitat’s past and ongoing climate change and urban development initiatives as well as the global flagship initiative RISE UP, the SURGe Initiative of the COP27 presidency, and building on the CHAMP pledge of COP28, the strong partnerships with city networks and the Marrakesh Partnership, the objective of this regional programme is to:

“Strengthen and expand support for Asia-Pacific national and local governments and non-state actors to increase climate ambitions, and accelerate implementation of tailored adaptation, mitigation, and biodiversity conservation actions through robust multilevel governance and transformative urban and human settlements initiatives”

Aligned with UN-Habitat’s strategic priorities defined for 2020-2025 and emerging for 2026-2029, as well as UN-Habitat’s Climate Change and Urban Environment (CCUE) Subprogramme, this Regional Programme on Accelerating Multilevel Climate and Urban Environment Action in Asia-Pacific will be a guide for ROAP’s country teams and partners to engage and contribute to the achievement of results envisioned in national development plans as well as in realizing the goals of the New Urban Agenda, the Paris Agreement, the Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework, the Sendai Framework and the Sustainable Development Goals.

To achieve the ambitions targets set out in this document, concerted efforts across scales – local, national, and regional – and sectors will be needed. A climate resilient urban development framework will be applied, bringing together climate change adaptation and mitigation, natural asset protection and enhancement and actions supporting loss and damage cooperation. As climate change aggravates development challenges and other crises, an integrated approach to climate, biodiversity, pollution, development, conflict and displacement will be taken. This Regional Programme supports the development of country-level projects as well as regional programmes in response to peristent and emerging regional climate change challenges. It will be operationalized considering national realities and the UN Sustainable Development Cooperation Frameworks in the countries across the region, as an integral part of the coordinated work of UN Country Teams.

Through this living document, intended to be used as a process and results delivery guide, we encourage stakeholders to work with UN-Habitat to implement this programme towards building inclusive, safe, resilient, and sustainable cities and human settlements in Asia-Pacific.