Why Climate Action Must Start with Housing......Housing has the most direct impact on people’s health and livelihoods. Equitable housing integrated with low-carbon and affordable key services like water, sanitation, energy and accessible transportation is critical to ensuring the least amount of harm from climate change and opportunities for a prosperous future for all. Yet housing is rarely discussed in international climate forums; and informal settlements (slums) located in developing and vulnerable countries are completely ignored. In low-income countries, 64% of urban dwellerslive in slums. By 2050, over 200 million climate migrantsare expected to move to urban areas, who often settle in informal settlements, while seeking jobs. Adequate housing and urban services may be a fiscal challenge, but it also provides opportunities for a just, climate-friendly transition that can help achieve sustainable development goals when done right. The 2023 UN Climate Change Conference (COP28) made strides in the right direction by setting the Loss and Damage Fund in motion, holding the first of its kind Local Climate Action Summit and hosting the first ever Health Day. Additionally, the first Buildings and Climate Global Form, held in March 2024, released adeclaration, which acknowledges that climate change is impacting access to basic urban services and housing for those living in informal settlements. But this isn’t enough. Disasters and extreme weather events that are increased by climate change can exacerbate existing vulnerabilities due to overcrowding, unsafe housing, inadequate infrastructure and poor healthcare facilities. At 1.5 degrees C (2.7 degrees F) warming, without adaptation, an additional 350 million people living in cities and urban areas will experience the effects of severe drought, including water scarcity. At 2 degrees C (3.6 degrees F) warming, that number grows to around 410 million. With climate impacts escalating every day, research shows we need transformative adaption policies in cities to reduce impacts on the most vulnerable communities. Solutions are possible. WRI and its partners are working with communities through the REHOUSE (Resilient, Equitable Housing Opportunities and Urban Services) partnership to find scalable ways in which equitable housing and urban services make cities more climate resilient.Here are four innovative approaches we learned by working with vulnerable communities throughout Asia and Africa......

1) Address Challenges Posed by Rapid Urbanization ........Ninety percent of urban growth by 2050 is projected to occur in Asia and Africa, where vulnerability to climate risks is also the highest.Improving access to adequate housing and urban services can simultaneously address the compounded challenges of rapid urbanization, the urban services divide and vulnerability to climate risks. A participatory housing project in Iloilo City, Philippines and a water access expansion project in Tanzania illustrate how to foster inclusive and climate-resilient development......read on    
2) Reduce Vulnerability and Engage Communities in Disaster Preparedness..... Building and retrofitting housing and infrastructure to be climate-resilient — as projects in Bangladesh have done — and engaging communities in disaster preparedness efforts — as a program in Indonesia did— can save money and lives as climate change intensifies natural disasters. Connected infrastructure is vital for people to evacuate in the event of a flood, an urban development initiative by BRAC, an organization focused on people and poverty, collaborated across cities to construct 3.1 miles of roads and 118.9 miles of elevated sidewalks using sturdy materials at the highest flood level in low-income communities.......read on             

3) Implement Local Solutions for Increased Resilience to Heat and Floods......Excessive heat and increased flooding from worsening climate change will hit the urban poor the hardest, causing health, financial and water-related challenges. Local solutions addressing cooling and flooding already exist but need to be expanded. For example, in Ahmedabad, India, women community leaders who live in informal settlements are being trained on climate resilience measures to combat extreme heat, while in Surat, an early-warning alarm system was put into place......read on      

4) Improve Access to Clean and Sustainable Energy through Community Participation.......Housing is the integrator of many urban services such as energy, water and sanitation. Improving access to these services improves health, raises productivity and saves time and money. For example, in Africa, an energy program was designed to improve access to clean renewable energy through community participation......read on                                            

Experiences From an Energy Justice Program in Africa.......The Energy Justice Programme (EJP) and the Know Your City (KYC) data collection program, led by Slum Dwellers International (SDI) are helping to improve energy access within slum areas by engaging the community in energy planning. Lack of access to sustainable energy is a significant obstacle to slum development, and financial and practical barriers to extending the grid can often leave low-income communities without service for decades......read on......                      

Housing is a crucial entry point to advance climate goals and sustainable development. It has the most direct impact on people’s lives and livelihoods, the ability to pull along other core urban services and can serve as the foundation for climate mitigation and adaption policies, programs and peer learning across cities and countries. National and urban decision makers and stakeholders need to prioritize access to climate-resilient basic services and urban housing within informal settlements, positioning them prominently on the political, developmental and climate.....read on         https://www.wri.org/insights/climate-resilient-housing-urban-services