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Statement by Implementation of the outcome of the United Nations Conference New York, 4 November 2002 Implementation of the outcome of the UN Conference
on Human Settlements Mr. Chairman, We thank the Executive Director of UN-Habitat for her introductory remarks on the Secretary-General’s reports. We also associates ourselves with the statement made by the distinguished Representative of Venezuela on behalf of the Group of 77 and China. Mr. Chairman, As clearly reflected in the Millennium Development Goals and reiterated in the Johannesburg Plan of Implementation adopted at the World Summit on Sustainable Development, the crucial mission of UN-Habitat is to achieve a significant improvement in the lives of at least 100 million slum dwellers by 2020. This is a daunting task, particularly since the global urban population is estimated to reach 60% by the year 2030. However, this can also be an achievable target if the international community honour and implement their commitments. Likewise, rapid urbanization worldwide continues to propel the sprawl of city slums which has reached an estimated level of over 800 million slum dwellers in 2001. Their plight is characterized by the lack of city services, including safe drinking water, basic sanitation services, waste collection, drainage, and affordable access to energy services. In addition, slum dwellers live in substandard dwellings and lack legal ownership or other legal security of tenure instruments. As a result slums tend to perpetuate poverty, spread illnesses and create intense pressures on local resources, ecosystems and the environment often deepening poverty as well as other social problems, including instability. At the present time, almost 48% of the world’s 6.2 billion population benefit from living in cities. Yet matter how good the administrative and financial management of cities become, rapid population growth, failing social conditions will in turn undermine the capacity of the urban environment. Therefore, this should be given special attention. Our challenge in this regard, Mr. Chairman, is
to overcome the major obstacles in the path of effective and concrete
implementation of the various programmes of action, including their
implementation as agreed in this field. This is particularly so
in the numerous commitments contained in the Habitat Agenda, the
Declaration on Cities and Other Human Settlements in the New Millennium,
the MDGs, and the Johannesburg Plan of Implementation, especially
where agreed actions have been achieved. We also attach great importance to the role of partnership as one of the options in our efforts to resolve urban problems. We fully support partnership initiatives between cities, such as City-to-City Cooperation which is also the theme of this year’s World Habitat Day. This could serve as a potentially cost—effective way of actively pursuing the exchange of lessons learned and best practices with the participation of all stakeholders and Habitat Agenda partners. At the same time, it could be important in identifying potential cooperation on specific programmes of the Habitat Agenda. And it could be utilized for improving the management capacity of cities for ensuring sustainable urbanization, bearing in mind the existence of respective national legal frameworks and policies. Also, in this context, the role of civil society and NGO’s in their capacity as Habitat Agenda Partners is crucial for enhancing the implementation of the action plan which is designed to ensure the provision of adequate and affordable shelter for all particularly at the national level. Mr. Chairman, In our efforts to implement the Habitat Agenda and the Istanbul Declaration, we fully recognize that it is Governments that are invested with the primary responsibility for such implementation. We are also aware that little or nothing will be accomplished without the strong support of the international community, particularly in providing adequate financial resources. We agree, as stressed in Declaration, that if the world is to succeed in attaining the Millennium Development Goal for human settlement, there is an urgent necessity for viable house financing instruments that are capable of addressing the needs of the urban poor with regard to shelter. In conclusion, we see the importance of the forthcoming nineteenth session of the Governing Council of UN-Habitat to be held in Nairobi next year. We have no doubt that the session will further strengthen its capacity for moving forward with the implementation of the various commitments already undertaken, particularly for achieving the internationally agreed development goals on human settlement. Thank you
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