Human Settlements Commission approves Habitat's 1986-1987 work programme.

Human Settlements Commission approves Habitat's 1986-1987 work programme

The Commission on Human Settlements, at its eighth annual session in Kingston, Jamaica, approved the 1986-1987 work programme of the United Nations Centre for Human Settlements (Habitat).

The Commission requested Habitat's Executive Director, in implementing the work programme, to take due account of the Commission's comments "concerning such programme elements that ought to have a relatively higher priority in the studies, information and training, and in particular: land policies and practices; development of a local construction industry and appropriate technology; low-cost infrastructure, with special emphasis on sanitation; planning and management of a rational settlements pattern, with appropriate emphasis on small and intermediate centres; and development of alternate financial modules or systems that can reduce dependence on Government budgetary allocations or borrowing".

The Commission, comprising 58 Member States, met from 29 April to 10 May to review the human settlements situation around the world and the activities of the Nairobi-based Habitat.

The Commission adopted 26 resolutions and decisions. By resolution 8/1, the Commission decided that, on an experimental basis, its sessions would be held only during odd-numbered years as of 1987. In 1988 however, a special session would be held, devoted exclusively to the follow-up to the 1987 International Year of Shelter for the Homeless (IYSH). In connection with the IYSH, the Commission, by resolution 8/2, made a strong appeal to all Governments--especially those of developed countries--and to international financial institutions and intergovernmental and non-governmental organizations (NGOs), to provide financial and other support to the programme for the IYSH.

As a joint contribution to the IYSH, the USSR and the United States announced their intention to co-operate in preparing a document presenting their respective experiences in addressing the problems and issues of small and intermediate-size cities.

In some of the other resolutions, the Commission:

* Requested Habitat's Executive Director to circulate the proposal for setting up a financial and advisory institution for human settlements in Asia and the Pacific (resolution 8/5);

* Requested the Executive Director to intensify his efforts to provide increased technical and other assistance to Namibian refugee settlements (resolution 8/6); and

* Requested countries to pay attention to creating, expanding and strengthening the role of the small and intermediate settlements, when preparing and executing demonstration projects and national shelter strategies for the IYSH (resolution 8/23).

Secretary-General's message

In his message to the Commission, Secretary-General Javier Perez de Cuellar referred to the heavy debt burdens of several Latin American and Caribbean countries, who were trapped "in a vicious circle where debt-servicing is effectively cancelling out any gains in the field of development." He said the developing countries of Africa and Asia also were experiencing "the stultifying effect of the debt burden on their capacity to improve the lot of their people . . ." For the Commission, whose focus was on the improvement of living conditions, particularly of the poor and disadvantaged, those were genuine grounds for concern.

"The human settlements sector, typically neglected in national development plans even in the best of times, will suffer even greater neglect under these difficult circumstances", he stated. That would be a tragic error, for it had been shown that investments in human settlements activities could pave the way to economic recovery. He urged Governments to adopt the same emphasis which the Commission had placed in its work on promoting the maximum use of indigenous resources, human and material, in human settlements development.

Inaugurating the session, the Prime Minister of Jamaica, Edward Seaga, emphasized the need to integrate physical planning strategies into national development planning. He also emphasized the urgent need to mobilize financial resources for human settlement development at lower than conventional commercial rates. He urged the World Bank and the Regional Development Banks to give serious and urgent consideration to the provision of funds for secondary mortgage financing from the long-term low interest a more flexible approach to lending in that area.

Arcot Ramachandran, Executive Director of Habitat, said that by the year 2010, for the first time in history the majority of the world's population would be living in the settlements classified as urban. Since the urban population in developing countries would double in the next 15 years, those countries would have to double their capacity to produce and manage shelter, infrastructure and services in conditions of diminishing resources and rising expectations.

The session was also addressed by the Prime Minister of Ski Lanka, R. Premadasa and Jamaica's Minister of Construction, Bruce Golding, who was also the session's Chairman. Attending the session were representatives of 81 Governments, 17 United Nations organs, six intergovernmental organizations, three liberation movements and 29 NGOs.