Opening statement by Christine Platt at the Partner's dialogue at the UN-Habitat Meeting, Nairobi April 2011

In plenary dialogue at the 22nd Governing Council of UN-HABITAT, the Chairman of the Habitat Professional Forum (HPF) outlined the purpose of HPF - a network which represents more than 6 million Human Settlement professionals who together constitute a key partner in delivering the Habitat agenda.

Yesterday HPF met again and adopted the Habitat Professionals Forum Charter “The role of human settlement professionals in delivering a sustainable and equitable future”. It has agreed to make the following call to the UN-HABITAT member states and partners.

The theme of this plenary session is “Sustainable and ethic urban development through expanding equitable access to land, housing, basic services and infrastructure”. Never before has the world faced such an urgent need to acknowledge the reality of this statement and for evidence lead policy making to be put in place to deal with the complexities it generates.

Equitable access to land, which has a major gender dimension, housing, basic services and infrastructure are key deliverables in addressing sustainable urbanization. They are each key areas where a practical difference can be made. We welcome the call made by the UN-HABITAT Executive Director to take a new positive view of the way forward. Getting our cities right is the key to social progress, economic development and the reduction of both urban and rural poverty. This plenary dialogue must therefore be seen in the context of a very difficult and complex set of challenges which requires global collective action.

The HPF therefore calls on the UN-HABITAT member states and partners to acknowledge the urgency of addressing the urban agenda and to work with one another, with local governments and with other key Habitat partners, particularly the 6 million human settlements professionals who are specialists in these fields. Together we can produce the evidence-lead policy which can produce the positive responses we need and which is the only hope we have of delivering the sustainable urbanization we so urgently seek. If we fail to act now, the consequences will affect people all over the world and nobody will be immune from the impacts of failure. HPF welcomes proposals to formalize the participation of UN-HABITAT partners, including the professionals, in the governance structure of UN-HABITAT.

The HPF stands ready to play whatever role is asked of us.

Author:

Christine Platt

Publisher:

The Royal Town Planning Institute

Date:

25-May-11

Categories:

 

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