12 May 2014: The UN Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC) has released the list of high-level speakers for the first-ever Integration Segment, which will take place on 27-29 May 2014, in New York, US. The theme for discussion will be “Sustainable Urbanization,” with a focus on integrating the three dimensions of sustainable development in an urban context.
The Segment will feature Special Addresses by Paul Kagame, President of the Republic of Rwanda, Angelino Garzon, Vice-President of Colombia, and Michael Bloomberg, UN Special Envoy for Cities and Climate Change, along with representatives of Member States, the UN system, and civil society.
Organized by the UN Department of Economic and Social Affairs in collaboration with UN-HABITAT, and the Office of the Special Adviser on Africa (OSAA), and with support of the United Cities and Local Governments (UCLG), the discussions will contribute to Habitat III in 2016 (the third UN conference on housing and sustainable urban development), as well as ECOSOC’s 2014 High-Level Segment and the 2014 session of the High-Level Political Forum on Sustainable Development (HLPF).
Discussions and events during the Integration Segment will address: cities as drivers of sustainable development; urban inequalities; sustainable urbanization in Africa; effective governance and policy-planning for urban areas; and innovations and partnerships, among others. A town-hall style discussion with Ministers and Mayors will be held to discuss the way forward in sustainable urbanization.
ECOSOC’s Integration Segment was mandated by the UN General Assembly (UNGA) in Resolution 68/1 on the strengthening of ECOSOC, in order to “consolidate all the inputs of Member States, the subsidiary bodies of the Council, the United Nations system and other relevant stakeholders and to promote the balanced integration of the three dimensions of sustainable development.” The segment is also intended to provide policy guidance to the relevant bodies of the UN system, and to provide dialogue between various stakeholders. [Save-the-Date] [Integration Segment Website] [Background Paper] [Integration Segment Mandate] [DESA Press Release]