🇲🇺MauritiusEast Africa
Shakeel Mohamed urges action over promises at UN meeting on New Urban Agenda
via Le Mauricien2 min read
Shakeel Mohamed, Minister of Housing and Land, represented Mauritius at a high-level United Nations meeting in New York on July 16, focusing on the mid-term review of the New Urban Agenda. He called for measurable commitments from the international community regarding housing, climate resilience, and small island states. The meeting, held ten years after the agenda's adoption in Quito, aimed to assess progress towards inclusive, safe, and sustainable cities. Concerns remain, with 1.16 billion people living in slums or informal settlements, an increase of 170 million since 2016, and nearly three billion lacking adequate housing. Mohamed stated, "We are not just behind: we are moving in the wrong direction," emphasizing the vulnerability of small island states to climate change, which they have contributed little to. He described the New Urban Agenda as a "survival document" for these nations, where rising sea levels threaten homes, infrastructure, economic activities, and even the existence of some villages. The Minister also highlighted displaced populations due to conflicts, asserting that the right to adequate housing cannot be defended while ignoring the destruction of entire neighborhoods. Mauritius proposed three demands: quantified international objectives with precise deadlines, faster and concessional access to climate financing, and recognition of the global nature of the housing crisis. The meeting concluded with a political declaration calling for accelerated affor
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This summary was AI-generated from a story originally published by Le Mauricien.
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