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Second UN-Habitat Assembly Kicks Off In Nairobi

June 06, 2023

By Samuel Ouma

William Ruto opening UN Habitat Assembly in Nairobi

The second session of the United Nations Habitat Assembly kicked off in Nairobi, Kenya, on Monday, June 5.

The host, President William Ruto, officially opened the event at the United Nations Complex, Gigiri.

"I'm truly delighted to have the honor to welcoming you to this warm and beautiful land in Kenya and to our capital city of Nairobi, the globally famous Green City in the sun, I hope you have already experienced our peoples legend and that you will find some time to explore and enjoy the attractions which have under the name magical Kenya," said President Ruto.

Ruto said Kenya's ambition to be the home of the United Nations human settlement program UN-Habitat was inspired by a deep commitment to pursue economic development together with sustainable urbanization, urbanization, in harmony with the preservation of its national heritage.

According to Ruto, with half of Kenya's population expected to live in urban areas by 2050, his government has integrated universal housing as a critical pillar of the national bottom-up economic transformation agenda into the housing program.

He said Kenya has further mainstreamed sustainable urban practices of green building green spaces, adoption of low carbon energy use, including low carbon transport solutions, urban agriculture and effective waste management.

He also revealed that they are restoring degraded landscapes and ecosystems through a robust program, which includes increasing Kenya's tree cover from 12 per cent currently to 30 per cent by planting 15 billion trees over the next ten years.

"Our capacity to coherently pursue these vital objectives has been significantly bolstered by the government's policy to mainstream Sustainable Development Goals generally, and more pertinently, number 11," added Ruto.

At the same time, Ruto called for an end to the injustice of the international financial system, which he claims is riddled with discrimination.

He stated that it is good to address this structural injustice for countries to effectively mobilize multilateralism to reach global net zero emissions, avert a climate catastrophe, and accomplish sustainable development goals.

"We must therefore pay due attention to the fact that the prevalent and justness of the international financial architecture and the discriminatory practices inherent in development financing are iniquitous insofar as they directly and indirectly exacerbate the vulnerability of the majority of humanity," said Ruto

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