Brock Carlton, Federation of Canadian Municipalities, moderated the special session

Anna Tibaijuka, UN-HABITAT, Tibaijuka clarified that UN-HABITAT works for all human settlements

Martin Lilja, Swedish Ministry of Sustainable Development, stressed the need for urban modernization that integrates the economic, social and ecological dimensions of sustainable development

Michael Harcourt, Chair of the External Advisory Committee on Cities and Communities, stressed he centrality of urban governance and participatory approaches to planning

Rose Molokoane, South African Homeless People’s Federation, discussed the need for security of tenure and called for slum dwellers to fully participate in developing government agendas

Janice Perlman, Megacities Project, discussed the changes of favelas of Rio de Janeiro over the past 30 years

Ben Malor, UN Radio, moderated the session on the future of cities

Panel of session on the future of cities. L-R: Xuemei Bai, Institute for Global Environmental Strategies, Kalpana Sharma, The Hindu, David Satterthwaite, International Institute for Environment and Development, Rose Molokoane, Slum Dwellers International, and Clive Harridge, Town Planning Institute

Xuemei Bai, Institute for Global Environmental Strategies, described urban growth in China where there are more than 660 cities with a total population of 500 million, expected to grow to 900 million in twenty years

Ajane Mackin, India's Minister of State for Urban Development, stressed energy efficient growth through subsidized public transport and sustainable urban planning

Clive Harridge, Town Planning Institute, discussed his concerns regarding the car-based Western cities with huge ecological footprint, slum proliferation and poverty

John Kaputin, Secretary General, African, Caribbean and Pacific (ACP) Group, said that ACP represents 79 countries, and that it is working with the EU to reduce and eradicate poverty while contributing to sustainable development of cities

Pierre Sané, Assistant Director-General, UNESCO, on behalf of UNESCO Director-General Koïchiro Matsuura, urged delegates to turn WUF3’s global commitments into local action

John Pombe Magufuli, Tanzania’s Minister for Lands, Housing and Human Settlements Development, WUF3 Co-Chair, presented the WUF3 Report on behalf of his Co-Chair, Diane Finley, Canada’s Minister of Human Resources and Social Development, explaining it as a review of key issues emerging from the dialogues, roundtables and other WUF3 sessions

Youth representative, Mernosh Tajhizadeh, Quebec Youth, presented the Declaration of the World Youth Forum, held immediately prior to WUF3, at which youth from around the world shared strategies for urban development

Your IISD team. Front row (L-R): Xenya Cherny, writer/team leader, Russia, Leila Mead, photographer, United States of America, and Sabrina Shaw, writer, Canada. Back row (L-R): Diego Noguera, digital editor, Colombia, Nancy Williams, logistics coordinator, United States of America, William McPherson, writer, United States of America, Bo-Alex Fredvik, digital editor, Brazil/Canada, Peter Wood, writer, Canada, Sarah Stewart Johnson, writer, United States of America, Leonie Gordon, writer, United Kingdom, and Kunbao Xia, writer, China