World Habitat Day 2022: History, significance and theme; all you need to know

World Habitat Day is celebrated annually on the first Monday of every October. The United Nations recognised day aims to highlight people’s basic right to shelter and remind them that they are also responsible for the habitat of future generations.

It aims to reflect on the condition of towns and cities and focuses on promoting the basic right to adequate shelter and housing for all. In the year 1985 the United Nations designated the first Monday of October every year as World Habitat Day. The observance is also intended to remind us of our collective responsibility for the future of human habitat. This year the day will be celebrated on 3 October.

History

World Habitat Day was first celebrated in 1986 with “Shelter is My Right” as a theme. Nairobi hosted the day that year. Multiple countries celebrate this day by partnering with global and national organisations to focus on how urbanisation has an impact on human habitats and the environment. Four years later, the United Nations agency for urban development, called the United Nations Human Settlements Programme (U.N.-Habitat), launched a special award to recognise outstanding contributions in building human habitats as well as have improved the quality of human life. This award is called The Habitat Scroll of Honour award presented every year during the Global Observance of World Habitat Day.

Significance

The pandemic and recent conflicts have reversed the progress made in the fight against poverty, with many who would have overcome poverty in the absence of the pandemic but now remain poor, and those who have fallen into poverty due to the pandemic. So tackling urban poverty is the need of the hour. Access to shelter is a major problem that has emerged because of the pandemic. This is why the day assumes even greater significance.

Theme

This year, World Habitat Day will be celebrated with the theme “Mind the Gap. Leave No One and Place Behind”. The celebrations will focus on the problem of growing inequality and challenges faced by cities and other human settlements.

World Habitat Day 2022 aims to focus on the growing inequalities and vulnerabilities that have been a result of the triple ‘C’ crises- COVID-19, climate change and conflict.

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