International Environmental Technology Centre

IETC at the International Conference on the Future of Cities

On 20 October 2013, IETC attended the International Conference on the Future of Cities, in Kita-kyushu, Japan, which was hosted by the Government of Japan, the UN Industrial Development Organization (UNIDO), the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) and the City of Kitakyushu, Japan. The conference followed on from the outcome of the UN Conference on Sustainable Development (UNCSD, or Rio+20), which acknowledged the importance of building sustainable cities. IETC’s director, Mr. Surendra Shrestha, participated in a high-level panel discussion organized by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs Japan (MOFAJ) and moderated by Ambassador Takehiro Kagawa, Director-General for Global Issues, MOFAJ. With him on the panel were Mr. WU Hongbo, Under-Secretary-General in the United Nations Department of Economic and Social Affairs, Dr. Joan Clos, UN-HABITAT Executive Director and Under-Secretary-General of the United Nations, and Mr. Kenji Kitahashi, Mayor of Kitakyushu. The panel discussed the path to Sustainable Cities in the context of the post-2015 development agenda.

IETC also organized a lunch-time side event on the topic of Resource Efficiency and Waste Management in Future Cities. The event discussed approaches and case studies showing how urban development has already transitioned to more sustainable patterns in some parts of the world. It particularly focused on the challenge of waste management and how it can be turned into opportunities.

Prior to the conference, IETC gave a lecture for around 50 participants from developing countries at a session organized by the Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA).