World Habitat Day 2022: Mind the Gap. Leave No One and Place Behind

World Habitat Day is observed in many countries across the world to underline the complications of expeditious urbanization and its impact on the environment and human poverty.

According to the United Nations, around 1.8 billion people were already living in slums and informal settlements, insufficient housing, or in homelessness in cities across the world before the eruption of the coronavirus pandemic.

In 2022, the World Habitat Day, under the theme of “Mind the Gap. Leave No One and Place Behind”. The theme is focusing on growing inequalities and vulnerabilities that have been exacerbated by the triple ‘C’ crises – COVID-19, climate, and conflict.

The UN’s World Habitat Day was first celebrated in 1986 with the theme “Shelter is My Right”. Nairobi was allocated as the host city for the observance that year. This annual event is held on the first Monday of October with a new theme each year.

The Sustainable Development Goals agenda advocates inclusive, safe, resilient, and sustainable cities. An upsurge in income dissimilarity has also turned house buying into a luxury practice in the life of most people on earth. Every year thousands of people die because they don’t have adequate shelter to live in.

On World Habitat Day, we must all commit to advocating for healthy and safe habitats for all from shielding our natural world, to ensuring frontline communities most impacted by climate change are safe.