The Second United Nations Habitat Conference Focuses on the Sustainable Future of Cities

This is the venue for the opening ceremony of the Second United Nations Habitat Conference, which was filmed on June 5^th in Nairobi, Kenya. Photographed by Xinhua News Agency reporter Han Xu.

The United Nations Habitat Conference, held every four years, is the highest-level conference of the United Nations on sustainable urban development. On June 5^th, the Second United Nations Habitat Conference opened in Nairobi, Kenya, bringing together more than 80 heads of state or ministers, nearly 5000 representatives of the United Nations and civil society organizations. The theme of this five-day conference is "Building a Sustainable Urban Future through Multilateralism: Achieving the Sustainable Development Goals under the Global Crisis". Several representatives of the Urban Planning Society of China attended the conference and discussed the sustainable development strategy of Global city issues with representatives all over the world.

At the opening ceremony, Maimuna Mohad Sharif, Executive Director of UN-Habitat, highlighted the world's multiple crises, including climate change,environmental pollution, and biodiversity loss, which have exacerbated inequality between countries and regions. Approximately 3 billion people worldwide are facing housing shortages. UN Habitat has identified adequate housing, climate adaptation, localization of Sustainable Development Goals, and better urban crisis management as its priorities. 

In his video address, UN Secretary General Guterres emphasized that while the world has made progress towards achieving the UN Sustainable Development Goals by 2030, it is still in danger, inequality was growing, global temperature rise had a disastrous impact, and the COVID-19 pandemic has hindered the process of poverty reduction. To change this, cities will be the key battleground, and revitalization and more inclusive multilateralism are needed to help cities play a role.

At the plenary session of the conference that afternoon, Chinese Minister of Housing and Urban Rural Development Ni Hong emphasized the importance of global cooperation in tackling the challenges of global crises and creating healthier and safer cities for people. He reassured the audience that China will continue to support UN Habitat's initiatives, collaborate with them to implement the global development initiative and the Shinshiro agenda, and strive for a sustainable urban future.

Minister Ni Hong, representative Zhou Pingjian and Secretary General Shi Nan took a group photo at the meeting.

Edited and Translated by Wang Miao

 with reference to <http://www.planning.org.cn/news/view?id=14054> 

and<http://m.news.cn/2023-06/06/c_1129671656.htm>