DAILY TRIBUNE NEWSPAPER, BAHRAIN

World Habitat Day 2017

30-Sep-2017

World Habitat Day (WHD) is observed every year on the first Monday of
October throughout the world. It was established in 1985 by the United
Nations General Assembly through Resolution 40/202 and was first
celebrated in 1986 with the theme Shelter is My Right. The purpose of the
day is to reflect on the state of our urban areas and the basic human right
regarding provision of adequate shelter to all human beings. WHD also
aims to remind the planners and government officials of the collective
responsibility for the habitat of future generations and a day to encourage
grassroots action from civil society organizations to advocate for universal
decent housing.
Each year, World Habitat Day takes on a new theme chosen by the United
Nations based on current issues relevant to the Habitat Agenda. The
themes of WHD are selected to bring attention to UN-Habitats mandate to
promote sustainable development policies that ensure adequate shelter for
all. These themes often promote important subjects such as housing and
social services, a safe and healthy living environment, affordable and
sustainable transport and energy, promotion, protection and restoration of
green urban spaces, safe and clean drinking water and sanitation, healthy
air quality, employment generation, improved urban planning, slum
upgrading and better waste management.
The theme for WHD 2nd October 2017 is Housing Policies: Affordable
Homes. The purpose of WHD is to reflect on the conditions of our cities and
towns and on the basic right of all to acquire an adequate shelter. It is also
intended to remind the world that we all have the power and the
responsibility to shape the future of our cities and towns.
This year WHD will focus on promoting at all levels of decision making on
how to implement concrete initiatives to ensure adequate and affordable
housing for all socio economic groups of people in the context
of implementation of the New Urban Agenda based on Sustainable
Development Goals.
An analysis of housing affordability over the last two decades reveals that
despite increasing demand, owned and rental housing has been largely
unaffordable for the majority of the world population mostly in developing
countries. Around 1.6 billion people globally live in inadequate housing, of
which 1 billion live in slums and informal settlements. While millions of
people lack suitable homes.
Ensuring housing availability and affordability is a complex issue of
strategic importance for development, social peace and equality.
Addressing the housing needs of the poorest and most vulnerable,
especially women, youth and those who live in slums must be a priority in
the development agendas. The WHD is aimed at drawing the peoples
attention towards the basic desire and need of poor people for an adequate
housing.
We need to understand that promoting sound housing policies is also
crucial for climate change, resilience, mobility and energy consumption. For
housing to contribute to national socio-economic development and
achievement of the Sustainable Development Goals, the New Urban
Agenda calls for placing housing policies at the center of national urban
policies along with strategies to fight poverty, improve health and
employment.
The purpose of celebrating the WHD is to pay serious attention towards the
need for better shelter all over the world, to share the priority of affordable
and adequate housing, to bring the positive changes in the systems
including policies and attitudes, to reflect on the states and towns and pay
attention on the basic human rights for adequate shelter and to increase
the awareness worldwide of joint responsibility for the future generations
shelter.
Providing and improving housing is a gigantic task and cannot be dealt only
by the governmental authorities. It require involvement of all stake holders
including communities, NGOs and experienced developers to optimize
urban densities and provide land zoning with efficient services and utilities
that are environmental friendly and have minimum carbon footprint. With
the shortage of urban space, we need to develop in a sustainable manner
to keep room for future growth and accommodate population in the coming
decades.
In the GCC countries including Bahrain, the concerned authorities are
giving due attention to the subject of planning and providing decent housing
to citizens and to avoid any social, health and environmental problems.
Let us whole heartedly support and celebrate the WHD and organize any
activity or event in our own community including an awareness campaign, a
fun activity, area cleanliness and get together in parks and public spaces.

* Head of Waste Disposal Unit, Supreme Council for Environment,

Bahrain, Email: rahmed@sce.gov.bh