The holistic urban revitalisation of the historic Nizamuddin Basti community in New Delhi, India has received the Award of Excellence in this year’s UNESCO Asia-Pacific Awards for Cultural Heritage Conservation. The project also garnered a Special Recognition for Sustainable Development.  Nine projects from six countries – Bangladesh, China, India, Japan, Malaysia, and Thailand – have been honoured by a Jury of heritage experts. Jurors met online in November to review a total of 39 entries from 12 countries across the Asia-Pacific. The Jury applauded the Nizamuddin Basti project for its “outstanding achievement in placing heritage at the heart of the sustainable development agenda” and noted that “through an innovative People-Public-Private Partnership model, the project overcame major socio-economic challenges and improved health, education and well-being, particularly for women and youth”.

The COP26 UN climate conference saw over 40,000 delegates gather in Glasgow over the span of two weeks, from 31 October to 13 November. Representatives from 197 countries gathered to agree rules to implement the 2015 Paris Agreement on climate change, as well as an improved support package for vulnerable countries. World Health Organisation (WHO) representatives joined a record number of health leaders at COP26 with the aim of positively influencing an ambitious outcome with their health argument for climate action. The immediate next steps are to work with partners to provide technical and financial support to the many countries that have signed new commitments to increase the resilience of the health sector, and to reduce carbon emissions from healthcare.  WHO will work with government and NGO partners such as the UKNHS, Healthcare Without Harm and the Aga Khan Foundation to provide technical support, and with national governments, and bilateral and multilateral development partners to remove barriers to access the necessary finance.