Busy at home, climate minister misses UN habitat conference in Ecuador

The moot is held every 20 years to set the global agenda for sustainable urbanisation

ISLAMABAD: Climate Change Minister Zahid Hamid missed the opportunity to participate in the third UN Conference on Housing and Sustainable Urban Development (UN Habitat-III) in Ecuador despite getting permission from the prime minister. “Local engagements” were cited as the reason by a source at the PM’s office, who added that a representative from the foreign office did attend the moot.

Habitat-III was held in Quito, Ecuador, from October 17 to 20.

The moot is held once every 20 years. The first Habitat-I was held in Vancouver, Canada in 1976, with the Pakistani delegation led by Nusrat Bhutto, while Habitat-II was held in Istanbul, Turkey in 1996 and saw participation from a Pakistani delegation led by then-Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto.



The Ministry of Climate Change is the focal institution for UN Habitat activities in Pakistan.

The ministry, with UN Habitat’s assistance, had conducted meetings with stakeholders to address sustainable urbanisation issues including climate change vulnerability assessment of Islamabad in order to help the country devise an urban development policy for Pakistan. Habitat-III set the agenda for housing and sustainable urbanisation for the coming decades.

It was the first global summit held following the adaptation of the post-2015 agenda of climate change agreement in which governments, local authorities, civil society organisations, the private sector, and academia gathered to review urban and housing polices and frameworks.

Pakistan is the one of the most urbanised nations in South Asia. The urban population has increased tremendously from 23.5 million in 1981 to 43 million in 1998, with the current estimate of urban population being 75 million. The country is expected to become predominantly urbanised by 2025.



Keeping in view the importance of the event, the ministry of foreign affairs had proposed that the Pakistani delegation should be led by Zahid Hamid along with planning secretary, as the country’s Vision 2025 plan also has implications for managing urbanisation in line with new UN Habitat urban agenda. The other names approved by PM Office included the MOCC Environment DG and a representative from the ministry of foreign affairs. Around Rs1.26 million had been budgeted for participation costs.

Published in The Express Tribune, October 22^nd, 2016.