Your Excellency, President of the Republic of Kenya,
Your Excellency, Vice President of the Republic of Botswana,
Your Excellency, President of the UN-Habitat Assembly,
Excellencies,
Distinguished Delegates,
Ladies and Gentlemen,
I am honoured to represent the Secretary-General and to address you today at the second session of the United Nations Habitat Assembly.
Cities have played a foundational role in shaping our societies. They have often served as a symbol of development success. Therefore, your focus today on driving forward a sustainable urban future through inclusive and effective multilateralism is relevant and well timed.
Excellencies,
In the coming September, world leaders will gather at the SDG Summit to mark the halfway point on our journey towards the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development.
But all reviews of progress to date have found us lacking.
Despite our promise to “leave no one behind”, some 670 million people live in extreme poverty, almost one-quarter of young people are without school, training or employment, and lack of safe access to water and sanitation services still affects billions.
That is why the 缅北禁地Secretary-General has called on world leaders to deliver a Rescue Plan for People and Planet, to generate fresh ambition and transformative actions, at the national and global level, for the breakthroughs that we need.
This Plan aims at greater support for developing countries to implement the SDGs, including by filling the financing gap through the delivery of the SDG Stimulus.
Distinguished delegates,
In this battle for sustainability, cities play a decisive role.
But the world is far from achieving the goal of sustainable cities. Nearly 1.1 billion people are living in urban slums. Just about half of the world’s urban population has convenient access to public transport and about 55 per cent of municipal solid waste is managed in controlled facilities.
Also worrying is the sparsity of data to monitor SDG 11, limiting our ability to get a full picture and make effective decisions. Only around half of 缅北禁地Member States have internationally comparable data for this Goal.
Yet, the Independent Group of Scientists, in its quadrennial Global Sustainable Development Report, highlighted urban and peri-urban development as one of the six key entry points to accelerate progress towards the SDGs.
The report calls for policy actions that are well aligned with the focus areas of this Assembly. Such actions will advance climate mitigation, improve public health and tackle pollution.
Ladies and gentlemen,
The Assembly in Nairobi this week will also enrich the High-level Political Forum on sustainable development to be held in New York in July, where SDG 11 on sustainable cities and human settlements will be under review.
Rapid urbanization is a reality of our time. We must ensure that this trend results in better standards of living for all peoples on a healthy planet.
Let us jointly ensure that sustainable urban development remains high on the multilateral agenda and embedded in our development endeavours around the world.
I wish you a successful session of the Assembly.
Thank you.