Setting the tone : UN-Habitat III: Challenges and Opportunity. ..Part 1.
Introduction:
The forthcoming UN conference on Habitat in Quito – Ecuador will be held from 17th -20th October 2016. A preparatory conference ( Prepconf) will take place in Surabaya Indonesia this month between 25- 27 th July 2016. The ministry of HuPA under hon’ble minister Sh Venkaiah Naidu has the mandate to represent the country at UN. . The outcome document of Habitat III will be the New Urban Agenda (NUA), which will provide guidelines and recommendations for sustainable urban development for the next two decades. (http://ihcglobal.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/04/do_you_know_about_habitat_III.pdf)
After the COP21 most of the countries were signatory for the global emissions norm and NDCs . The UN meet on Habitat takes place after every twenty years and the Habitat II was held in Istanbul 1996 ( the first was held in 1976 in Vancouver) (http://www.un.org/en/development/devagenda/habitat.shtml) . Since than many changes have taken place in many parts of the world, politically, socially, geographically and most important through the environment which now poses a greater danger and challenges to overcome.
Habitat III will of course look into the issues arising out of climate change but also will include a gamut of other issues that are vital to make the world a better place for living.
Background:
United Nations have been at the forefront of issues related to Humanity and tries to address poverty , health, education, gender through various committees and groups. An ambitious project came by the name Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) in September 2000. The Millennium Development Goals and targets come from the Millennium Declaration, signed by 189 countries, including 147 heads of State and Government, in September 2000 (http://www.un.org/millennium/declaration/ares552e.htm) and from further agreement by member states at the 2005 World Summit (Resolution adopted by the General Assembly – A/RES/60/1, http://www.un.org/Docs/journal/asp/ws.asp?m=A/RES/60/1).
The goals and targets are interrelated and should be seen as a whole. They represent a partnership between the developed countries and the developing countries “to create an environment – at the national and global levels alike – which is conducive to development and the elimination of poverty”.
There is widespread agreement that the MDGs have placed broad-based poverty reduction at the center of the development agenda at least in international discussions and policy discourse. More broadly, the MDGs have become a considerable topic of discussion at least in books written in English as suggested by the number of times the phrases “GDP per capita” “Human Development Index” and “Millennium Development Goals” have been mentioned in books published between 1980 and 2006 as scanned by the Google Books project. While the success of MDGs is being measured through such non technical indicators, the real indicators to measure their success do not provide a very positive picture.
The MDG were designed to “encourage sustainable pro-poor development progress and donor support of domestic efforts in this direction”. Thus there is considerable debate and discussion as to how far the MDGs have been successful in fulfilling their goals and objectives.
It is argued that the MDGs may have played a role in increasing aid, that development policies beyond aid quantity have seen limited improvement in rich and poor countries alike, but that there is some evidence of faster progress towards quality of life in developing countries since the Millennium Declaration. (http://www.cgdev.org/sites/default/files/1425806_file_Kenny_Sumner_MDGs_FINAL.pdf).
The MDGs were framed till the year 2015 and a new set of goals were envisaged to take the development goals further.
In September 2015, all 193 Member States of the United Nations adopted a plan for achieving a better future for all – laying out a path over the next 15 years to end extreme poverty, fight inequality and injustice, and protect our planet. At the heart of “Agenda 2030” are the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) which clearly define the world we want – applying to all nations and leaving no one behind. “Agenda 2030” aims to create a more inclusive world with the help of governments, businesses, civil society and ordinary citizens.
In November 2015 MDGs were replaced by another set of goals that were termed as Sustainable Development Goals that set the agenda for the next twenty years. (http://www.un.org/sustainabledevelopment/sustainable-development-goals/) . The SDGs have the most direct relevance for Habitat III due to the inclusion of a stand-alone urban SDG (SDG 11), and the consideration of urban issues in several targets of other goals.
