New York, 24 September 2019 – This year’s Global Observance of World Habitat Day will be held in Mexico City on Monday 7 October. The announcement was made by the Executive Director of UN-Habitat, Ms. Maimunah Mohd Sharif, and the Under Secretary for Multilateral Affairs and Human Rights at Mexico’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs, who is also the President of the UN-Habitat Assembly, Ms. Martha Delgado.

The United Nations designated the first Monday in every October as World Habitat Day. Each year, it features a new theme to focus global attention on the key contribution made by cities, towns and communities to sustainable urbanization and to ensuring a better quality of life for all.

The theme for 2019 World Habitat Day is Frontier technologies as an innovative tool to transform waste to wealth which looks at ways that new technologies can turn waste into a resource. This builds on last year’s theme Municipal Solid Waste Management and continues UN-Habitat’s Waste Wise Cities campaign promoting sustainable waste management.

Speaking at a High Level evening event focusing on cities’ leadership in combating climate change, the UN-Habitat Executive Director, Ms. Sharif expressed her appreciation to Mexico City for hosting the Global Observance.

“I am delighted that the Global Observance of this year’s World Habitat Day will take place in Mexico City,” she said. “Mexico has always been a close partner for UN-Habitat. I look forward to listening to the experiences of Ministers and Mayors, sustainable urban planners and circular economy experts who can share best practices with us.”

Mexico’s Under Secretary of Multilateral Affairs and Human Rights, Ms. Martha Delgado said the day would be co-hosted by the Mayor of Mexico City, Ms. Claudia Sheinbaum and called it “a privilege”. She added, “I invite you to join us there if you can, but I encourage you to also join us in your cities to celebrate this day.”

While the Global Observance of World Habitat Day will be in Mexico City, celebrations will be held across the world including in the capital of Cameroon - Yaounde, Nakuru in Kenya and Vancouver, Canada. Last year over 80 cities, towns and communities marked the day. World Habitat Day was first celebrated in 1986 following a United Nations General Assembly resolution in the previous year.

The announcemnet was made in New York.
The announcement was made at an evening event celebrating cities during the UN Climate Summit. (L-R) Ms. Martha Delgado, Mexico’s Under Secretary of Multilateral Affairs and Human Rights, Ms. Maimunah Mohd Sharif, Executive Director of UN-Habitat, and Dr. Shipra Narang Suri, Coordinator of UN-Habitat's Urban Planning & Design Branch.
[UN-Habitat/Naomi Parekh]
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