Vancouver, BC – Day two of the third session of the United Nations World Urban Forum (WUF3) Our Future: Sustainable cities – Turning Ideas into Action, begins a series of facilitated dialogues that will bring together experts and the public to exchange views on various topics from slum-upgrading and affordable housing to urban safety and security.

Below, find highlights of some of today’s key events including a schedule of announcements.

Please note, the initials (HB) beside an event indicates that it will be covered by the Host Broadcaster pool feed. To maintain the integrity and dignity of this event, no ENG cameras will be permitted into rooms where Host Broadcaster cameras are installed. These events will be available to all broadcasters at the Vancouver Telus TOC 604-663-5439.

Dialogue sessions in Ballroom B will ONLY be available for recording within the Media Centre.

Tuesday's Key Events

8:30 am – 9:30 am
PLENARY SESSION (HB) Theme – Social Inclusion and Cohesion
Location: VCEC – Exhibit Hall A
Marginalization, social exclusion and urban poverty are becoming key challenges facing cities in the urban millennium. Unprecedented urbanization and inadequate urban policies (including insecurity of tenure) are the main causes of the formation of slums. Low-income- and gender-sensitive urban policies and the enabling of legislation at the national and international levels are necessary to help overcome this challenge, while good urban governance and consistent leadership are required to implement effective strategies at the local level.
Moderator: Margaret Catley-Carlson, Chair, Global Water Partnership, Canada
Speakers: Alphonso Jackson, Secretary of the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, Government of the United States of America
Jockin Arputham, National Slum Dwellers Federation of India
Lindiwe Sisulu, Minister of Housing, Government of South Africa.

9:30 am – 10:00 am
DAILY MEDIA BRIEFING
Location: UN Plaza, VCEC -- Exhibition Hall B
Speaker Availability: Former President of Mozambique Joaquim Chissano has been selected by UN-HABITAT as the Youth Ambassador for the Global Partnership Initiative for Urban Youth Development in Africa (GPI). As Youth Ambassador for the GPI, President Chissano will bring issues of young people in Africa to the world’s attention and galvanize support from the public and leading decision makers to raise urgently needed funds for the GPI. His work through the Joaquim Chissano Foundation, and as the Youth Ambassador for the GPI has contributed widely to the peace and stability of the African nation. His focus on peace promotion, socio-economic development, and culture aims to promote the empowerment of vulnerable urban youth groups and improved socio-economic inclusion and development.

10:00 am – 12:00 noon
Dialogue 1 – Achieving the Millennium Development Goals, Slum Upgrading and Affordable Housing (HB)
Location: VCEC – Ballroom C
Building on the conclusions of the World Urban Forum II and the recent MDGs Millennium Summit, this dialogue will address the challenges and opportunities for the achievement of the MDGs target on slums.
Facilitator: Jacques Bensimon, Government Film Commissioner and Chairperson, National Film Board of Canada.
Commentators to include:
Rose Molokoane, South African Homeless People’s Federation, South Africa
Luz Maria Sanchez Hurtado, Executive Director, Estrategia, Peru
Arif Hassan, Chairman Urban Resource Centre (URC), Pakistan
Miloon Kothari, UN Special Rapporteur on the Right of Adequate Housing

10:00 am – 12:00 noon
SPECIAL UN-HABITAT LECTURE
The Wealth of Cities: Towards an Assets-Based Development of Urbanizing Regions
Location: Fairmont Waterfront Hotel – Ballroom C
UBC Professor John Friedmann will give the first annual United Nations Human Settlements Lecture and will be the first to receive the UN-HABITAT Lecture Award. This award seeks to recognize outstanding and sustained contribution to research, thinking, and practice in the human settlements field. The delivery of the lecture is intended to stimulate global debate and provoke new thinking in the field of human settlements.
Award-Winning Presenter: John Friedmann, Honorary Professor, School of Community and Regional Planning, University of British Columbia, Canada.

10:45 am – 11:15 am
Press Conference: Habitat for Humanity Greater Vancouver “Operation Home Delivery” Build Location: Front Plaza of Van. Convention & Exhibition Centre
A one-day building event to assemble components of a pre- fabricated house kit that will be disassembled and packed for shipping to the Gulf Region of the United States to provide housing in the aftermath of 2005’s hurricane disasters.
Speakers: Sam Sullivan, Mayor, City of Vancouver, Canada
Anneke Rees, Representative, Habitat for Humanity Greater Vancouver
David Hughes, Representative, Habitat for Humanity Canada
Nic Retsinas, Representative, Habitat for Humanity International

12:15 pm – 1:00 pm
Press Conference: Launch of “Toward Sustainable Urbanization: Canada/UN-HABITAT Initiatives, 1976-2006.”
Location: UN Plaza, VCEC -- Exhibition Hall B
Speakers: Maureen O'Neil, President of IDRC
H. Peter Oberlander, Professor Emeritus, UBC (author)
Anna Tibaijuka, Under Secretary-General of the UN, Executive Director of UN-HABITAT

1:00 pm – 2:00 pm
Post-Dialogue Press Conference featuring Miloon Kothari
Location: UN Plaza, VCEC -- Exhibition Hall B
Miloon Kothari was appointed in September 2000 by the UN Commission on Human Rights as Special Rapporteur on Adequate Housing. The UN Housing Rights Programme (UNHRP) was launched in April 2002 as a joint initiative by UN-HABITAT and the Office of the UN High Commissioner on Human Rights. In his capacity as the Special Rapporteur, Kothari’s mandate involves reporting annually on the worldwide status of the rights related to adequate housing and identifying practical solutions and good practices to this end. The development objective of the UNHRP is to assist States and other stakeholders with their implementation of the full and progressive realization of the right to adequate housing.

1:30 pm – 2:00 pm
Press Conference: UN HABITAT & National Film Board of Canada
Location: UN Plaza, VCEC -- Exhibition Hall B
Announcement of the alliance between UN HABITAT and the NFB who are joining forces with communities who value and promote the use of media for positive social change.
Hosts: UN Habitat - Sharad Shankardass, Spokesperson, Press & Media Relations Office of the Executive Director
Anna Tibaijuka, Under Secretary-General of the UN, Executive Director of UN-HABITAT
Tom Perlmutter, Director General, English Program Branch, National Film Board of Canada
Jacques Bensimon, Government Film Commissioner and Chairperson, National Film Board of Canada

Networking Sessions

1:30 pm – 3:30 pm
Community-Driven Tsumani Rehabilitation Process
Location: VCEC – Meeting Room 9
Teams of community leaders and supporters from tsunami-hit areas of India, Indonesia, Sri Lanka, and Thailand will share their unconventional strategies and experiences in rebuilding their lives, communities, livelihoods and environments.
Speakers: Samsook Boonyabanch, ACHR/CODI, Thailand
Wardah Hafidz, Urban Poor Link
Sandeep Virmani, India
KA Jayaratne, SEVANATHA, Sri Lanka

1:30 pm - 3:30 pm
Social Cohesion—Ensuring the Inclusion of Immigrants and other Newcomers
Location: Pan Pacific Hotel Oceanview Suite 2 This networking session is an opportunity to explore the impact of international migration on urbanization and the pursuit of social cohesion in our cities.
Speakers: Mayor Sam Sullivan, Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada
Eduardo Guimaraes, Secretary of International Relations Curitiba, Brazil
Mayor Adam Kimbisa of Dar Es Salaam, Tanzania

4:30 pm – 6:30 pm
Localising the Millennium Development Goals: Building Competencies in Africa Local Governments to Mainstream Gender and Empower Women
Location: VCEC MR9
This session will address how to strengthen Local Government Authorities (LGAs) to fully recognize women's rights, achieve women's and men's full and equal participation in local decision making and ensure equity in access to services and resources.
Speakers:
Jane Edna Nyame, Councillor
Esther Offei Aboagye, Director, Institute of Local Government Studies


WUF3 Media Centre Contact Numbers

• 604-647-7460
• 604-647-7459
• 604-647-7458