KARACHI, Oct 3: The World Habitat Day will be observed on Monday to reflect on the state of human settlements, basic right to adequate shelter and to renew commitment for safe human habitat in the future.

The day was designated by the United Nations' General Assembly in 1985. Its theme for the year will be 'Cities- engines of rural development'. Deputy director-general, World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF-Pakistan), Dr Ejaz Ahmed, told APP that sustainable urbanization had become the most pressing challenge for the world in the 21st century, as towns and cities were growing at unprecedented rate, setting the social, political, cultural and environmental trends for the world.

In 1950, one-third of the world's people lived in cities, he said, adding that just 50 years later, this proportion had risen to one-half and would continue to grow to two-thirds of the world population (six billion people) by 2050. Cities were now home to half of the humankind, he said.

He said the day underlined the importance of mutually beneficial linkages that were essential for the development of both cities and rural areas. In this reciprocal relationship, urban markets provided a powerful incentive for increased rural production and income, while expanding rural markets created increased demand for production of goods manufactured in urban areas, he elaborated, saying that in the long run, cities derived secondary and tertiary investment of capital from primary production in rural areas.

This time, he informed, the global ceremonies would be coordinated from the Kenyan capital, Nairobi, on Oct 4. The choice of Nairobi, Kenya, for the global celebrations this year, was made to highlight the phenomenal growth and socio-economic significance of urbanization in the developing world, represented by Kenya.

This year's theme speaks of the importance to treat urban and rural issues holistically to maximize the positive impacts of rural-to-urban migration. It was based on the best practices of the highly industrialized cities of Europe and North America where 80 per cent of the total population now lived in urban areas, he said.

He said the theme also sought to generate ideas on integrated approaches which reinforced beneficial relationship between rural and urban areas. "Through considering cities and urban areas a part of a continuous dynamic system, we can truly create sustainable development in the both," he added.

Highlighting the UN's contribution towards the uplift of human settlements, the environment expert informed that UN-HABITAT, a UN Human Settlements Programme, was working to promote socially and environmentally sustainable towns and cities with the goal of providing adequate shelter for all.

It was aimed to prevent and ameliorate problems stemming from massive urban growth, especially in the developing world. He said in 1996, the UN held a second conference on cities, Habitat-II in Istanbul, Turkey, to assess two decades of progress, since Vancouver declaration on the subject, and set fresh goals for the new millennium. It harvested over 100 commitments and 600 recommendations, he said.

On Jan 1, 2002, the agency's mandate was strengthened and its status elevated to that of a full-fledged programme of the UN system in a UN General Assembly Resolution.

He said the UN Millennium Declaration recognized the plight of the world's urban poor. It articulated the commitment of member states to improve the lives of at least 100 million slum dwellers by the year 2020, he added, saying that the challenge was made more daunting by the fact that, according to the UN-HABITAT's own research, the world's slum population had already grown by 75 million in barely three years since the declaration. -APP