Morocco attends General Assembly session reviewing progress since Istanbul habitat forum
Morocco-Regional, Environment, 6/8/2001

Morocco is taking part in the UN General Assembly's special session held June 6-8 to evaluate the progress made since a 1996 UN conference in Istanbul pledged to ensure adequate shelter for all and to develop safe, healthy, equitable, and productive human settlements.

Known as "Istanbul " 5," the session also seeks to formulate new initiatives to help implement the Habitat Agenda and the plan of action adopted at the 1996 Second UN Conference on Human Settlements.

Minister of territory planning, urbanism, housing and environment, Mohamed El-Yazghi, who is leading the Moroccan delegation, surveyed before the session the measures adopted by Morocco to implement the recommendations adopted in Istanbul and the programs initiated to restructure and rehabilitate poorly equipped-districts.

He recalled that Morocco has drafted a charter on territory planning and development and urbanism, following a nationwide and democratic debate on territory planning, with the participation of all the components of the society.

He explained that the charter seeks to promote decentralization and good governance, rational management of natural resources and of solid and liquid wastes as well as the protection of the environment. Morocco has also pledged to make of good governance an efficient management implement for human settlements and struggle against poverty, he said adding that the kingdom is reforming a number of legal texts for a larger involvement of all the components of the society (women, ngos, associations, civil society activists.) in the endeavor.

In his address before the session, Secretary-General Kofi Annan called rich and poor nations to work together to overcome urban problems, noting that most people were now city-dwellers. Since the Istanbul conference, the international community has learned that public-private partnership is important in tackling urban problems, and that urban governance was a precondition for economic efficiency and effective administration, he said.

"A healthy society is one that gives all its members a chance to participate in decisions that affect their lives."

Secure tenure is another important issue facing tens of millions of urban families, the Secretary-General said. "In some cases, people have houses but lack titles. Others are engaged in business activities but lack licenses to operate them. We must reduce this insecurity."

The three-day session is accompanied by a number of parallel events, among them seminars on participatory urban governance, volunteering, the role of women in city administration, and the contribution of the private sector.

In a related development, the UN Volunteers program (UNV) released on Wednesday a publication drawing attention to the importance of volunteer work in developing cities. Titled "Caring Cities: Volunteerism in Urban Development and the Role of the UNV Program," the publication also outlines UNV's approach to urban development.

Previous Stories:
  Morocco in U.N meeting on human settlements   (6/5/2001)
  Rabat declaration maps common desertification indicators   (3/8/2000)
  Rabat hosts Sahara Sahel Observatory general assembly   (3/7/2000)

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