Brussels, 11/05/2016 (Agence Europe) - The EU's position for the third United Nations conference on housing and sustainable urban development (HABITAT III), to be held from 17 to 20 October in Quito (Ecuador), is ready. The European development ministers will adopt it without debate in Brussels on Thursday 12 May, in the form of Council conclusions (see EUROPE 11548).
This international conference aims to create considerable dynamic to support Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) 11, which states that “cities and human establishments” must be “open to all, safe, resilient and sustainable”.
The EU expects the final document, which will lay down the new programme for cities, to be concise and to make concrete suggestions as to how to meet challenges related to urbanisation and urban demography by opening up prospects favourable to sustainable development in all its three dimensions - economic, social and environmental.
This new programme must be universal and support transformation, and take account of all human rights, the draft conclusions state.
To do this, it must propose responses and solutions to the new challenges which have emerged since the HABITAT II conference (June 1996), namely: - the extension of certain urban areas at an unprecedented rate, but also the depopulation of other urban areas; - economic concentration in urban areas; - the repercussions of climate change; - increasing pressure brought to bear on human health, natural resources and biodiversity; - the shortage of housing and sustainable buildings; - inequality and processes of exclusion, at a geographical and social level; - increasing insecurity and violence; - the worsening of the environment; - a lack of food security (in the sense of sufficient supplies of foodstuffs); - specific needs of displaced persons and migrants.
The EU considers that the sustainable urban programme at global level must be based around four areas for action: promoting inclusive and safe cities, promoting green and resilient cities, promoting prosperous and innovative cities, and promoting good urban governance.
The Council's conclusions will welcome the Commission's working document on the future European urban programme, which reflects the aims of the EU and its member states for the new programme for cities and also reflects a joint desire to achieve the general objective of sustainable development, in full respect of the principle of subsidiarity. (Original version in French by Aminata Niang)