The meeting of the Forum of Ministers and Highest Authorities of Housing and Urbanism of Latin America and the Caribbean (MINURVI): Climate Resilience and Sustainable Growth in Human Settlements in Latin America and the Caribbean, will be held on Thursday, August 1, and Friday, August 2, 2024, in Brasília, Brazil. The meeting will primarily focus on climate resilience and sustainable growth in human settlements in Latin America and the Caribbean.

During the event, topics will include biodiversity and climate change resilience in human settlements in Latin America and the Caribbean, Build Back Better: an approach to post-disaster recovery for more resilient cities, and land and climate change. Additionally, a ministerial debate will be held to exchange and share experiences, best practices, and proposals to promote urban resilience.

The meeting will feature a diverse group of participants, including ministers and high-level authorities from Latin American and Caribbean countries, academics, and civil society representatives to foster a richer discussion.

The project "Inclusive, sustainable and smart cities in the framework of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development in Latin America and the Caribbean", of the cooperation program between ECLAC, the German Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ) and the Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ), focuses on strengthening the technical and institutional conditions to promote sustainable development in the field of action of urban connectivity. The project has as its structuring axis the big push for sustainability approach, according to which the post-COVID-19 recovery of cities should be characterized by better environmental practices, more qualified jobs, production with a higher technological content and coordination between private investments and a strategic vision formulated by the States.

The concept of circular economy has been gaining more and more relevance, especially because of its cross-cutting nature across economic sectors. The transition to a circular economy implies a profound change in the way we produce and consume, as well as the development of economic models that create value in a sustainable manner. For this reason, the objective of this event is to update the state of the art of the implementation of the circular economy in the Latin American and Caribbean (LAC) region, presenting studies and initiatives in the region in different sectors. It will also present cases of development and implementation of technologies and policies in this area, as a way of sharing experiences, contributing to the fulfillment of global decarbonization goals.

The agenda will be developed as follows:

Block 1: State of knowledge or progress of the circular economy (CE) in the Latin American and Caribbean (LAC) region.

Block 2: Technologies and initiatives for circularity in various sectors.

Block 3: State of progress towards circularity in cities and countries - technologies and policies

Block 4: Policies needed to accelerate the implementation of CE in LAC (contrasting technologies and policies)

With the aim of sharing experiences and fostering debate on housing, habitat and urban development in Latin America and the Caribbean, MINURVI's virtual discussion forums were held during September and October 2023, led by the Ministry of Housing, City and Territory of Colombia, which assumed the vice-presidency of MINURVI for the period 2023. The three Forums focused on central themes such as energy, territory, land management and climate change mitigation in relation to housing and urban development.

National and sub-national governments in the region were invited to submit experiences and good practices to nurture the exchange of experiences and in preparation for the XXXII MINURVI General Assembly to be held on 9 and 10 November in Buenos Aires, Argentina.

The topics and dates of the Forums were:

The recording of the event (in Spanish) is available by clicking on the attached link.