28 July 2016: A revised third draft of the New Urban Agenda (NUA) has been released, based on negotiations at the third session of the Preparatory Committee (PrepCom 3) for UN Conference on Housing and Sustainable Urban Development (Habitat III). The latest draft will be the basis for an informal negotiating session in late August or early September 2016, in New York, US. The additional session was scheduled when it became clear that negotiations would not conclude during PrepCom 3, which continued into the early hours of the morning of 28 July, according to meeting updates from ICLEI – Local Governments for Sustainability.

PrepCom 3 took place from 25-27 July 2016, in Surabaya, Indonesia.

The 23-page, 165-paragraph document, titled ‘Surabaya Draft Text,’ includes the Quito Declaration on Sustainable Cities and Human Settlements for All and the Quito Implementation Plan for the New Urban Agenda. The text includes references to: the right to adequate housing and the right to development, in both the declaration and the implementation plan; the principle of common but differentiated responsibilities (CBDR) in the declaration text; and administrative decentralization based on the principle of subsidiarity, in the implementation plan text.

The previous version of the text mentioned the right to development only in the declaration. The most significant changes to the revised draft from previous drafts come in the follow-up and review section, which includes addition details and elaboration of a follow-up and review process. The text calls for a UN Secretary-General’s report, issued every four years, with the first report to be submitted during the 72nd session of the UN General Assembly (UNGA). It should provide a qualitative and quantitative analysis of progress, based on activities of national, sub-national and local governments, UN-Habitat and other relevant UN-system entities and stakeholders in support of NUA implementation, and build on existing platforms and processes such as the World Urban Forum. Per the draft agreement, the report’s preparation would be coordinated by UN-Habitat, submitted to the UNGA through the UN Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC), and feed into the UN High-level Political Forum on Sustainable Development (HLPF), with the aim of ensuring “coherence, coordination and collaborative linkages” with the follow-up and review of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development.

The New Urban Agenda is expected to be adopted during Habitat III in Quito, Ecuador, from 17-20 October 2016. [Habitat III Website] [Habitat III Press Release] [28 July Draft of New Urban Agenda] [Negotiations Information] [ICLEI Blog] [IISD RS Story on PrepCom 3]