Ministerial Meeting
The ‘ECE
Strategy for Sustainable Quality of Life in Human
Settlements in the 21st Century’ together
with a
Ministerial Declaration was adopted at the Ministerial meeting
on Human Settlements, which took place in Geneva
on 19 September 2000, in conjunction with the
61st Session of the ECE Committee on
Human Settlements.
The aim of the meeting was to foster
discussion and crystallize thinking on both the
vision and direction of future work to improve
housing and urban conditions in the ECE region.
The Ministerial meeting was also an opportunity
to review and appraise the implementation of the
Habitat Agenda as a contribution to the special
session of the General Assembly in 2001 (Istanbul
+5). (See the Report
on the Ministerial Meeting.)
The ECE Strategy constitutes
a guide for the Committee's program of work.
It identifies the following major trends
and developments affecting human settlements at
the beginning of the new Century: globalization,
the challenge of sustainable development,
European integration and market economy
reforms and finally the demographic trends.
The Strategy puts forward the main goals
for the ECE Committee on Human Settlements:
to promote the sustainable development of human
settlements, foster economic and social prosperity,
support democratic governance and improve the
quality of life for the whole population in the
ECE region. Finally, specific challenges
are identified as:
-
Promoting a system of meaningful
and democratic governance that responds to
the needs of local communities;
-
Improving urban environmental
performance;
-
Facilitating social cohesion
and security;
-
Promoting market reform in
the housing and urban sector;
-
Improving the land and real
estate market and securing private rights
in land.
Which strategies are developed to
encourage investments in the housing sector enabling
markets to work more efficiently and at the same
time assist marginalized groups gain access to
housing? How can social housing policy be sustained
in a climate of economic depression? What are
the main challenges to re-orient housing and urban
policies developments? How can a modern land administration
system serve as a basis for economic activities,
respond to market needs and at the same time control
the physical development of land and property?
These are just some of the concerns raised in
the ECE Strategy. The enormous scale of the challenge
is obvious. Only long term consistent work and
cooperation between stakeholders can provide solutions.
In this work the guidance by the highest political
level is indispensable.