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World Habitat Day 2000

Nairobi, 7 August 2000: World Habitat Day will be held on Monday 2 October 2000. On this day, Governments, community organisations and individuals will celebrate this year s theme, "Women in Urban Governance". The theme offers the world an opportunity to assess whether women, who make up a large proportion of the urban population and especially of the urban poor, are included in the process of urban governance. The occasion provides the opportunity to explore new ways to include women s concerns in the design and development of our cities.

In this year s World Habitat Day message, Dr. Klaus Toepfer, Ag. Executive Director of United Nations Centre for Human Settlements (Habitat), issued the following challenge: "I am asking the world to reflect and indeed to act on two aspects of this theme: the role of women as decision-makers in our society, and the need to address urban issues which are of particular concern to women. In our urbanizing world, women s needs are different from those of men. For example, women and men use public transport at different times and for different purposes, while zoning regulations often do not take into account women s commercial activities. Insecurity also affects women and men differently. Our policies therefore need to be more gender sensitive"

The global observance of World Habitat Day this year will take place in Kingston, Jamaica, hosted by the Minister of Land and Environment. Among the highlights of the events in Jamaica will be the "Habitat Scroll of Honour" award, an international award for outstanding contributions towards urban governance by individuals, organizations and projects. There will also be the presentation of the "World Habitat Awards" by the Building and Social Housing Foundation, a United Kingdom based non-governmental organization, to recognize innovative, sustainable and replicable human settlements projects throughout the world. Besides regional and country celebrations, other examples of events planned to mark World Habitat Day include a special Regional Seminar in Kingston focusing on innovative approaches to local development in the Caribbean. The Jamaica Institute of Planners will also hold a conference on "Downtown Kingston Urban Revitalization in a Comparative Global Economy".

On the same day, in Dubai, the Municipality of Dubai will host the presentation of the third Dubai International Awards for Best Practices in Improving the Living Environment, a biennial award to raise awareness, by learning from initiatives which have made outstanding contributions to addressing the challenges of an urbanizing world.

For further information please contact:

Sharad Shankardass, Press & Media Relations, UNCHS (Habitat), ); PO Box 30030; Nairobi, Kenya;

Tel: 254-2-623151, 623153, Fax: 254-2-624060; Email: habitat.press@unchs.org, Website: www.unchs.org

Amrik Kalsi, Coordinator World Habitat Day & Special Events; Head: Design & Production; UNCHS (Habitat); PO Box 30030; Nairobi, Kenya; Fax: (254 2) 624060/624266/7; E-mail: amrik.kalsi@unchs.org