UN: Urban climate security is new and emerging field

Urban climate security is still a relatively new and evolving field, Antonio Sampayo, Advisor at the UN Climate Security Mechanism (CSM), said at the 13th Session of the World Urban Forum (WUF13) in Baku, Report informs.

The official highlighted that cities are not only a source of challenges but also part of the solution: "Colleagues at George Mason University are conducting a literature review on urban ecological peacebuilding. We do not speak of cities and urbanization only as problems; they can also be mechanisms for solutions. Urban development, and even urbanization itself, can serve as a solution. Yet this process often concentrates in countries and cities least prepared for it."

Sampayo recalled an example noted by Anacláudia Rossbach: "Urbanization consumes the environment – almost literally swallowing nature. Rural-to-urban migration and natural population growth often lead to informal settlements and horizontal expansion of city outskirts, destroying green areas and agricultural lands. This largely stems from poor planning and weak urban governance. As a result, high population density increasingly concentrates in one or two major cities."