On the first Monday of October every year, World Habitat Day is celebrated and the aim of the day is to reflect on the state of human settlements and the basic right to sufficient shelter.
The day is also intended to remind the world that we all have the power and the responsibility to shape the future of our cities and towns.
This year, World Habitat Day is celebrated on October 7. The United Nations had first celebrated World Habitat Day in 1986 and the host city was Nairobi with the theme “Shelter is My Right”.
World Habitat Day Theme
This year the theme for World Habitat Day 2019 is “Frontier technologies as an innovative tool to transform waste to wealth.” The purpose of this year’s theme is supporting the aiding of innovative frontier technologies to sustainable waste management to achieve a sustainable development goal.
UN-Habitat makes plain the need to plan cities in order to avoid the chaotic development of urban sprawls and all the associated problems that are created as a result.
World Habitat Day Significance
World Habitat Day is celebrated in several countries including India, China, Mexico, Poland, Uganda, and the United States. On this day, many activities are organized to review the problems of speedy urbanization and its impact on the environment.
Also, one of the important highlights of this day is the UN-Habitat Scroll of Honor award which was launched by the United Nations Human Settlements Programme in 1989. It is currently the most prestigious human settlement award in the world.
It aims to acknowledge the initiatives which have made outstanding contributions in various fields such as shelter provision, highlighting the plight of the homeless, leadership in post-conflict reconstruction and developing and improving human settlements and the quality of urban life.
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