Vancouver, 19th – 23rd June 2006

SIRP Programme in Serbia will be present at the third session of the World Urban Forum this year in June in Vancouver, Canada.

The World Urban Forum III will be hosted by the Government of Canada in partnership with UN-HABITAT in Vancouver. For five days, from 19 to 23 June, thousands of participants from more than 150 nations, including governments’ representatives, local authorities, NGOs, intergovernmental organizations, community groups, professionals, academics and students, will discuss, debate and share experiences about how to make our cities a better place to live.

Main focus of the Forum will be to generate new ideas and actions in support of the common quest for cities in the North and South of the world facing the challenge to find solutions and seize opportunities to alleviate poverty in cities, reduce pollution and facilitate sustainable urban growth and development.
Many the opportunities to share ideas and best practices planned for participants over the five days: Plenary sessions, Debates, round tables, meetings, exhibitions and cultural events. WUF III is an inclusive event that wants to hear from people committed to achieving sustainability.
The Third session of the World Urban Forum is of special significance since it will coincide with the 30th anniversary of the first United Nations Conference on Human Settlements in Vancouver in 1976, which let to the founding of the United Nations Human Settlements Programme UN-HABITAT. The ideals that emerged then in Vancouver were reconfirmed by world leaders in the Habitat Agenda – the global plan of action for adequate shelter for all and sustainable human settlements development in an urbanizing world – at the Habitat II Conference in Istanbul, in 1996.