New York, 17 September 2014 - Habitat III PrepCom 1
Excellences,
Distinguished delegates, Ladies and gentlemen,
It is an honour for me to open the first session of the Preparatory Committee of the United Nations Conference on Housing and Sustainable Urban Development (Habitat III).
New York, 17 September 2014—The first session of the Preparatory Committee for the United Nations Conference on Housing and Sustainable Urban Development (Habitat III) opened in New York on Wednesday with calls for urgent action towards achieving sustainable urbanisation.
Colombo, 15 September 2014: UN-Habitat, in partnership with the Municipal Council of Akkaraipattu, Urban Councils of Vavuniya and Mannar and the Pradeshiya Sabha of Maritimepattu (Mullaitivu), officially launched the Disaster Risk Reduction and Preparedness Plan for each City at the Water’s Edge in Battaramulla on Monday. These Plans have been developed with funding from the Government of Australia.
Colombo, 16 September 2014: UN-Habitat and the government of Sri Lanka- through the Urban Development Authority- last week held a workshop on Urban Resilience.
Nairobi, 10 September 2014: The Kingdom of Thailand, through its embassy in Kenya has provided a contribution of USD 32,500 to support UN-Habitat’s Lake Victoria Water and Sanitation Programme (LVWATSAN) which aims to assist small towns in the Lake Victoria in meeting the MDGs for water and sanitation.
Yangon, 10 September, 2014- A landmark dialogue took place in early September in Yangon, Myanmar to enhance discussions between European and Asian partners on climate change and urban resilience. The aim of the Euro-Asia Dialogue organised by the Konrad Adenauer Stiftung (KAS) and UN-Habitat with funding from KAS and the European Union was to enhance cooperation between Europe and Asia.
Nairobi, 8 September 2014: Architecture students from Kenya received comments on their latest designs from a technical team at UN-Habitat.
In the first of three parallel comprehensive design and construction studio courses in Nairobi, Kigali and Kampala, third year students of architecture from Jomo Kenyatta University of Agriculture and Technology (JKUAT) presented their first cycle of studio course design work and received input from the guest critics of representatives of partner institutions.
Erbil, 4 September 2014 – Funding from Saudi Arabia to the UN will allow UN-Habitat to provide shelter options for internally displaced people, commonly referred to as IDPs, in the Kurdistan region of Iraq.
Kericho, Kenya, 3 September 2014: UN-Habitat has conducted a three-day regional workshop in Kericho focused on best practices in faecal sludge management in Africa, including case studies of Dakar, Accra and Kampala. The workshop was attended by 50 senior management and technical personnel drawn from the five East African Countries who are beneficiaries of the Lake Victoria Water supply and sanitation phase II programme; Rwanda, Tanzania, Burundi, Uganda and Kenya.
Jakarta, 2 September 2014: The Government of Indonesia helda workshop for its Habitat III National Report at the end of August. Under the theme "National and Global Recommendations Towards Sustainable Settlements", the Jakarta workshop was convened by the Directorate General of Human Settlements (Ministry of Public Works) and the Habitat Agenda Partners Indonesia. The Minister of Public Works will submit the reportto the Habitat III Preparatory Committee Meeting in New York on 17-18 September. Habitat III itself will be held in 2016.