World Habitat Day 2016

01-Oct-2016

World Habitat Day (WHD) is observed every year on the first Monday of
October throughout the world. It was established in 1985 by the United
Nations General Assembly through Resolution 40/202 and was first
celebrated in 1986 with the theme Shelter is My Right. The purpose of the
day is to reflect on the state of our urban areas and the basic human right
regarding provision of adequate shelter to all human beings. WHD also
aims to remind the planners and government officials of the collective
responsibility for the habitat of future generations and a day to encourage
grassroots action from civil society organizations to advocate for universal
decent housing.

Each year, World Habitat Day takes on a new theme chosen by the United
Nations based on current issues relevant to the Habitat Agenda. The
themes of WHD are selected to bring attention to UN-Habitats mandate to
promote sustainable development policies that ensure adequate shelter for
all. These themes often promote important subjects such as housing and
social services, a safe and healthy living environment, affordable and
sustainable transport and energy, promotion, protection and restoration of
green urban spaces, safe and clean drinking water and sanitation, healthy
air quality, employment generation, improved urban planning, slum
upgrading and better waste management.
World Habitat Day 2016 will be celebrated on 3 October 2016 under the
theme Housing at the Centre encouraging that every individual has a right
to a decent housing/ shelter with basic amenities to survive. It will also mark
the official beginning of Urban October month of celebrations, events and
activities. The day is a reminder to everyone to join together as one global
network in communicating the message that every one of us deserves the
opportunity for a better living and future.
The purpose of celebrating the World Habitat Day is to pay serious
attention towards the need for better shelter all over the world, to share the
priority of affordable and adequate housing, to bring the positive changes in
the systems including policies and attitudes, to reflect on the states and
towns and pay attention on the basic human rights for adequate shelter and
to increase the awareness worldwide of joint responsibility for the future
generations shelter.
We need to understand that with a population of over seven billion, there is
an acute global housing crisis, as approximately 1.6 billion people
worldwide are living in the substandard housing/ slums and almost 100
million people are homeless. The WHD aims to draw the people attention
towards the urgent need of adequate housing especially for the poor
people.

Providing and improving housing is a gigantic task and cannot be dealt only
by the governmental authorities. It require involvement of all stake holders
including communities, NGOs and experienced developers to optimize
urban densities and provide land zoning with efficient services and utilities
that are environmental friendly and have minimum carbon footprint. With
the shortage of urban space, we need to develop in a sustainable manner
to keep room for future growth and accommodate population in coming
decades.
In the GCC countries including Bahrain, the concerned authorities are
giving due attention to the subject of planning and providing decent housing
to citizens and to avoid any social, health and environmental problems.
Let us whole heartedly support and celebrate the WHD and organize any
activity or event in our own community including an awareness campaign, a
fun activity, area cleanliness and get together in parks and public spaces.

* Head of Waste Disposal Unit, Supreme Council for Environment,

Bahrain. (rahmed@sce.gov.bh)