Nepal, one of the poorest countries in the world is moving towards haphazard urbanization. With rapid and haphazard urbanization the country is facing many problems indicating to an unsustainable urban future. Yet, Nepal remains one of the least urbanized countries in the world and also in South Asia. Nepal remains one of the vulnerable countries in the world owing to climate change and environmental issues. UN-Habitat’s activities have been focused to target Nepal’s urbanization, climate change issues, environment and sanitation as well as land issues by targeting stakeholders, policy makers and as well as empowering urban poor for securing a better urban future in the country.

UN-Habitat is the United Nations program working towards a better urban future. Its mission is to promote socially and environmentally sustainable human settlements development and the achievement of adequate shelter for all. UN-Habitat is also working for promoting sustainable housing in Nepal with the project of “Green Homes”. Green Homes is three year (2013-1015) project funded by the European Union aims at promoting sustainable housing technologies and services to contribute towards mitigating climate change and reducing poverty through creation of green jobs and moving towards a green economy.

UN-Habitat with support of European Union introduced Green Homes Project in Nepal with aim of promoting sustainable housing concepts in Nepal. The concept of sustainable housing mainly focuses on reducing negative impact on natural resources and carbon emissions in housing system. The eco-friendly practices helps to curb the energy consumption in housing sector and helps to mitigate global climate change effects thus resulting in healthy wellbeing. The Green Homes Project is being implemented by UN-Habitat with its implementing partners (Federation of Nepalese Chamber of Commerce and Industry (FNCCI) (Clean Energy Nepal (CEN), Environment and Public Health Organization (ENPHO), Institute of Housing and Urban Development Studies (IHS) and Shelter and Local Technology Development Center (SLTDC)).

The specific objectives of the project are:

·         Create an enabling policy environment to promote sustainable housing;

·         Strengthen supply chains for sustainable housing and building capacity of Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) to deliver household level green technologies and services

·         Stimulate demand for sustainable housing

Five Components of Green Homes Projects:

·         Green Construction Materials

·         Passive Solar Design

·         Energy Efficiency

·         Waste Management

·         Water Conservation

References:

https://unhabitat.org.np/

https://fncci.org/green-homes-project-133.html