CAIRO: Celebrating World Habitat Day, which falls on the first Monday of every October, UN officials highlighted the importance of having a UN Habitat regional office in Cairo in a conference on Oct 3. “Having a regional office in Cairo is an accomplishment,” Muhammad Kadhim, officer-in-charge and regional director for Arab States UN Habitat, said during a press conference. On the one hand, as Kadhim has clarified, an office in Cairo would make the mission of monitoring projects in the Arab world much easier and more efficient. Moreover, due to the office's proximity to the Arab League (AL) headquarters, the new office might facilitate joint collaboration between the AL and the UN Habitat program. The UN Habitat program's theme for this year is “Cities and Climate Change.” “When statistics prove that almost half of the world inhabitants live in cities, then this huge number is directly affected by all city problems worldwide,” Kahdim said. UN Secretary General Ban Ki Moon expressed in a statement released in celebration of World Habitat Day that rising sea levels is one of the major problems currently facing cities worldwide, adding that almost 60 million people inhabit cities threatened by environmental problems. Those cities, which include Cairo, New York and Tokyo, could disappear within 50 years, turning their inhabitants into environmental refugees. Another major problem pinpointed by Kahdim in his statement is the fact that a large number of those cities' inhabitants are poor slum-dwellers. Those people are – according to Joan Clos; executive director of UN Habitat – “most at risk when disaster strikes.” Thus, UN Habitat shall focus this year on finding feasible solutions to this problem while working on relocating city inhabitants who face environmental threats due to climate change. Yet, Kahdim stressed on the importance of the protection of human rights – as stated in the UN charter – while carrying out any UN Habitat projects. Most importantly, UN Habitat is against forced evictions; inhabitants are only relocated upon their consent. Moreover, UN Habitat tends to focus more on developing habitats instead of relocating their inhabitants. UN habitat is the United Nations settlements program, mandated by the General Assembly to promote socially and environmentally sustainable towns and cities with the goal of providing adequate shelter for all. The program is currently working with General Organization for Physical Planning on three projects in Egypt: Strategic planning of 50 small cities, creating a strategic vision for Greater Cairo in 2050 (Cairo 2050 plan) and strategic support for urban development on a national level in order to achieve decentralization.
