Laos champions resilience at World Urban Forum

Laos unveils urban development plan at UN forum

Baku, Azerbaijan: A high-level delegation from the Lao government is attending the 13th session of the World Urban Forum under the theme “Housing the World: Safe and Resilient Cities and Communities”.
Held from May 17-22, the forum aims to address the global housing crisis and accelerate collective global action to build inclusive, sustainable, and climate-resilient urban systems.
The Lao delegation is attending the opening ceremony and bilateral meetings, and showcasing the nation’s progressive urban development strategy at an exhibition booth.
On the opening day of the forum, the Ministerial Roundtable convened member states to discuss pressing global urbanisation challenges.
Representing Laos, Deputy Minister of Public Works and Transport Mr Detsongkham Thammavong delivered a national statement outlining the country’s urban challenges and its ongoing commitment to sustainable development.
“The theme ‘Housing the world: Safe and resilient cities and communities’ is both timely and urgent,” Mr Detsongkham said.
“For the Lao PDR, it reflects an acute reality we face every year. Our cities and towns are growing steadily, with urban areas now home to nearly half of our population. At the same time, Laos remains highly vulnerable to climate change.”
The Deputy Minister underscored the scale of weather-related events, noting that in 2025 severe floods affected over 170,000 people in multiple provinces, devastating homes, damaging critical infrastructure, and disrupting public services.
“Urban resilience is therefore not a choice. It is a necessity,” Mr Detsongkham said. The Lao PDR is taking decisive steps to build inclusive, secure, and sustainable urban environments, he added.
Key national initiatives highlighted at the forum include factoring climate risk assessments directly into urban designs, driving the National Adaptation Plan forward and contributing to the Nationally Determined Contributions framework and prioritising resilient infrastructure projects specifically in vulnerable small and secondary towns.
The Lao PDR has also positioned itself as a regional leader in urban governance accountability.
The country was the first in the Asia-Pacific region to submit its national report on the implementation of the New Urban Agenda in 2023, and continued to demonstrate this proactive leadership by submitting its second report in 2025. Collaborations with key international bodies, particularly UN-Habitat, are yielding measurable progress on the ground. Recent milestones include the construction of climate-resilient housing, the optimisation of clean water supply networks, and the reinforcement of local governance capacities to prepare for and respond to disasters.
Additionally, Laos is increasingly relying on nature-based solutions. The government recognises that natural ecosystems, such as wetlands, function as critical biological infrastructure indispensable for regional flood management and urban climate defences. Looking ahead, Mr Detsongkham said that expanding local successes into nationwide standards will require sustained global investments, accessible climate finance, and technical capacity building.
These resources are especially vital for least developed countries navigating rapid urbanisation alongside compounding climate risks.
“The choices we make today will determine whether our cities become centres of risk or engines of resilience,” Mr Detsongkham said.
“Laos is choosing resilience, and we invite our global partners to move forward with the exact same urgency and ambition.”
The World Urban Forum was established by the United Nations in 2001 to address one of the most pressing issues facing the modern world: rapid global urbanisation and its impact on communities, economies, and the environment.
This year’s forum is jointly organised by UN-Habitat and the Government of Azerbaijan.
Convened biennially by the United Nations Human Settlements Programme (UN-Habitat), it has grown to become the world’s premier open arena for discussing sustainable urban development.

By Malayvieng Vongchandy
 (Latest Update May 21, 2026)