Habitat lll to set 20-year goals

QUITO. — The United Nations Conference on Housing and Sustainable Urban Development, to be held in Quito from today to October 20, will set global standards of achievement in sustainable urban development for the next 20 years.

The meeting, also known as Habitat III, will attract 45 000 participants from around the world, including UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, according to Ecuador’s Minister of Security Cesar Navas.

Habitat III is expected to see the signing of the Quito Declaration on Sustainable Cities and Human Settlements for All, and the adoption of a new Urban Agenda.

“The Conference is a unique opportunity for . . . governments . . . to integrate all facets of sustainable development to promote equity, welfare and shared prosperity,” said Dr Joan Clos, the executive director of the United Nations Human Settlements Programme (UN-Habitat).

The migration from rural to urban areas after World War II rapidly accelerated through the 1960s and 1970s.

Inequality between countryside and cities made millions across the world flock into cities in pursuit of economic opportunities, leading to the expansion of slums and other illegal settlements in the periphery of major communities, as well as increasing crimes, diseases and chaos.

However, many nations’ responses to such chaos were uncoordinated and scattered, which is why the United Nations decided to launch a common dialogue concerning urbanisation.

The first UN Conference on Human Settlements, known as Habitat I, was held in Vancouver, Canada in 1976.

Its declaration enshrined the concept that “adequate shelter and services are a basic human right.”

It also led to the creation in 1978 of UN-Habitat, the UN’s department for human settlements and sustainable urban development.

In 1996, Habitat II took place in Turkey’s Istanbul in a far more inclusive manner. — Xinhua.