World Habitat Day

Priming cities to become drivers of economic growth and recovery in the aftermath of crises such as conflict and the COVID-19 pandemic is the focus of World Habitat Day, observed on Monday. 

For the UN Secretary-General, the benefits of making cities more environmentally friendly are “enormous”, and include reduced climate risk, more jobs, and better health and well-being. 

A recap of Monday’s stories:  New UN-Habitat campaign converts waste into wealth; refugee agency chief issues alert over  'dangerous nationalism',  UN warns against Syrian civilian displacement; Guterres renews call for full disclosure by States over 1961 Hammarskjöld plane crash; First-ever conference on nuclear power and climate change.

Waste can have a devastating effect on public health, the environment, and the climate, but cutting-edge innovation and technology can provide improved, cheaper solutions to the challenge, and help cities and communities to see waste as a business opportunity. This was the message marking World Habitat Day, on Monday, with a focus on waste management.

With a quarter of the world’s population living in urban slums, a sustainable response to improving the living conditions of the urban poor is becoming increasingly necessary, the United Nations agency tasked with promoting environmentally and socially sustainable cities and towns said today.