U.N. urban plan needs targets to measure success: environment head

A major summit on cities taking place in Ecuador this week must consider setting targets to measure progress on an ambitious 20-year plan for urban development, the United Nations' environment chief said on Monday.

In Quito, some 140 governments are expected to sign up to a non-binding vision for sustainable cities that includes multiple pledges, but analysts have criticized it for lacking specific goals or timelines.

More than 45,000 government leaders, academics, planners and campaigners have gathered for the U.N. Habitat III conference which is tasked with working out how the "New Urban Agenda" will be put into practice over the next two decades.

Erik Solheim, who took the reins as executive director of the U.N. Environment Programme (UNEP) in August, said targets would be needed so that cities could see whether their efforts were successful, and learn from one another.

Read the Reuters story - “U.N. urban plan needs targets to measure success: environment head.”