International relations

The Ministry of Local Government and Regional Development participates in several global and regional organisations and forums who work with housing, urban and human settlement policy issues. The following is a short presentation of the major international organisations the Ministry of Local Government and Regional Development participates in.

UN-Habitat

The United Nations Human Settlements Programme, UN-HABITAT, is the United Nations agency for human settlements. It is mandated by the UN General Assembly to promote socially and environmentally sustainable towns and cities with the goal of providing adequate shelter for all. UN-Habitat is responsible for monitoring and implementing the Millennium Development Goal (MDG) Target 7 goal 11, to achieve significant improvement in lives of at least 100 million slum dwellers by 2020, and contributes also to UN’s work on the MDGs on halving extreme poverty, on access to safe drinking water and sanitation, gender equality etc.  

UN-Habitat has a special focus on the challenges developing countries are facing due to an accelerating urbanisation. Within a few decades the number of slum-dwellers will double from one to two billion and the vast majority of the world’s poor will live in cities. At the same time, urban sprawl will considerably increase the cities’ contribution to global warming and environmental degradation. To help developing countries in coping with these challenges, UN Habitat offers assistance to establish sound housing policies, pro-poor financing solutions, good urban governance, sustainable urban planning systems etc.

 
Norway is an active member of UN Habitat’s Governing Council, which meets biannually, and is one of the main financial contributors to the programme. The Ministry of Local Government and Regional Development cooperates closely with The Ministry of Foreign Affairs on Norway’s participation in Governing Councils and in the dialogue between the programme and Norwegian authorities.

 

Cities Alliance (CA)

Cities Alliance (CA) is a global coalition of cities and their development partners. UN-Habitat, the World Bank, major donors and several other partners are part in the alliance. The purpose of the alliance is to fight poverty through slum upgrading, city development strategies and help cities develop sustainable financing strategies, and attract long-term capital investments for infrastructure and other services.

• The Cities Alliance.

 

World Urban Forum (WUF)

The World Urban Forum (WUF) is an advisory forum for the Executive Director of UN- Habitat on urban issues. WUF is a biennial gathering between Governing Councils. The Forum consists of exhibitions, networking events, roundtables, dialogues and plenary discussions. WUF is attended by a wide range of partners, from non-governmental organizations, community-based organizations, urban professionals, academics, to governments, local authorities and national and international associations of local governments. WUF has become an important arena with many participants. Norway participates actively in the Forum.

• World Urban Forum.

 

UN-Economic Commission for Europe (ECE) – Committee on Housing and Land management 

The UN Economic Commission for Europe (ECE is UNs regional office for Europe. Its purpose is to promote sustainable economic growth among its 56 member states. The Committee on Housing and Land management provides policy advice and expert assistance on housing, sustainable urban development and land issues. Norway participates in the yearly committee meetings and has contributed with experts in several areas, for instance in developing guidelines for social housing. The Committee has a special focus on Eastern European countries and their challenges in the housing sector.

The Centre for Mapping and Cadastre in Norway is a member in the Working Party on Land Administration which reports to the committee.

 

Nordic Cooperation

The housing and building authorities in the Nordic countries had up to 2005 a Ministerial cooperation within the Nordic Council of Ministers. A reorganization of the Nordic Council of Ministers was carried out in 2005, and the cooperation where focused within a smaller number of areas.

• Norden describes the new structure of Nordic cooperation.

The ministers of housing in the Nordic countries, Poland and the Baltic countries agreed in 2004 on an Action Plan for Increased Exchange in the Building Sector between Countries in the Northern Dimension region. The follow-up of this plan is now carried out by the Council of Ministers for Trade, Energy and Regional Policies. A series of projects are carried out under this plan in the years 2005 – 2007. Authorities and organisations in the housing and building sector now seek to meet and cooperate through other existing channels of cooperation. The national authorities on building laws and policies from the various Nordic countries have an annual meeting.

 
The Norwegian Building code is available in English:

• The National Office of Building Technology and Administration.