Towards climate resilient informal settlements: meeting basic needs in a climate changed era

The residents of informal settlements face entrenched underlying drivers of vulnerability: spatial, economic and political marginalisation. How can informal settlements be developed in a climate resilient way – meeting basic needs and rights for secure housing, whilst addressing the risk posed by climate change?

One approach is to understand whose resilience needs to be built and to what risks; whose role is it to do this; and what assets and capacities need to be strengthened for this to happen. This session investigates these questions, through:

a) an opening plenary setting out the key issues, from the perspectives of federations of the urban poor, practitioners and researchers – including approaches to addressing some of the underlying drivers of risk, and the over-arching drivers of risk.

b) breakout discussions on the following:

What assets do individuals and households in low-income and informal settlements have? How can these be strengthened to deal with shocks and stresses?

What capacities do individuals and households in low-income and informal settlements have? How can these be strengthened to deal with shocks and stresses?

What can residents of low-income and informal settlements do by themselves and what can they not do? How can these gaps be addressed with / by external actors (of different types)?

While residents of informal settlements generally have a low carbon footprint relative to other urban dwellers, meeting their needs will require increased resource consumption – what opportunities are there for integrating mitigation in the process?

This discussion will feed back into a closing plenary about key lessons, innovations and areas for action.

This networking session will inform the development of a UN HABITAT thematic guide on 'Building climate resilience in informal settlements' aimed primarily at an audience of National and Local Governments, urban development partners and the climate change community.