Dr. Anna Tibaijuka, Executive Director of UN-Habitat, spoke in the Sydney Ideas series on ‘Sustainable Urbanisation, Climate Change and the Global Financial Crisis: The Role of the United Nations Human Settlements Program’ at the University of Sydney, June 18, 2009.
Today we are faced with many challenges in our quest for sustainable human settlements but among the most compelling ones are rapid urbanisation, climate change and the global financial crisis. By 2030, three quarters of the world’s population is projected to be urban. The bulk of this rapid urban population growth will take place in developing countries, countries which are least able to cope resulting in massive growth of slums and squatter settlements. Dr. Anna Tibaijuka’s lecture discussed these issues with reference to the potential for academic and other partnerships to help address them, and outline the role of UN-Habitat as it relates to the implementation of the Habitat Agenda with the twin objectives of shelter for all and sustainable human settlements development
