Ruto opens 2nd UN-Habitat assembly, drums up support for Housing project

President William Ruto has defended his plans to build affordable housing in the country as part of the government’s commitment towards addressing the challenges of urbanization.

The Head of State, while speaking to delegates during the official opening of the UN-Habitat conference in Nairobi, said that many cities around the world, including in Kenya, were experiencing an influx of residents, despite limited resources to support the growing population. 

The President argued that the result of this growth, had been many urban areas becoming centres of inequality, sometimes pitting the poor against the rich while also pushing those at the bottom of the economic pyramid to abject poverty.

Dr Ruto further argued that the explosion in global urban population, had also caused a serious strain on resources.

“Urbanisation is an economy’s ultimate test of efficiency, inclusivity, resilience and sustainability across all goods and services. Colossal demand for basic goods is always accompanied by tremendous pressure on energy resources and the environment,” Dr Ruto said. 

The President therefore argued that to address these challenges, his administration had identified housing and the provision of decent and affordable houses as part of the solution.

“Recognising this imperative and realizing that more than half of Kenya’s population will live in urban areas by 2050, we have integrated universal housing as a critical pillar of the national bottom-up economic transformation agenda,” the President said.

“Into the housing programme, we have further mainstreamed sustainable urban practices of green building, green spaces, adoption of low-carbon energy use, including low-carbon transport solutions, as well as urban agriculture and effective waste management,” he added. 

Dr Ruto who was speaking at the United Nations Complex in Gigiri, Nairobi also said that the government was in the process of restoring degraded landscapes and ecosystems. 

This he said, was through a robust programme, which includes increasing Kenya’s tree cover from 12.13% currently, to 30% by planting 15 billion trees over the next 10 years.

“Our capacity to coherently pursue these vital objectives has been significantly bolstered by the government’s policy to mainstream sustainable development goals generally, and more pertinently, number 11 on sustainable cities and communities, and number 13 on climate action, into national development planning and implementation,” the President said. 

The President spoke even as new data released by the World Meteorological Organisation shows that extreme weather, climate and water-related events have caused at least two million deaths globally and USD 4.3 trillion in economic losses between 1970 and 2021.

WMO, in its latest report on global weather trends and patterns, shows that in a splan of close to 51 years, about 11, 778 disaster cases have been reported globally, illustrating the continued devastating effects of climate change and global warming on countries and communities across the globe. 

The report argues that as a result of these disasters, death and economic losses have increased with developing countries in Africa as well as Asia, experiencing some of the worst effects of these disasters. 

For instance, over 90% of reported deaths worldwide between the 51-year period, occurred in developing countries, including Africa. The findings are part of WMO’s report on Atlas of Mortality and Economic Losses from Weather, Climate and Water Extremes. 

In Africa, WMO notes, 1, 839 disasters attributed to weather, climate and water extremes were reported between 1970 and 2021.  

These disasters, argues WMO, caused about 733, 585 deaths and USD 43 billion in economic losses in the continent. Droughts accounted for 95% of reported deaths. 

The report adds that of the disasters witnessed in Africa, tropical cyclone Idai of March 2019 was the costliest event that occurred in the continent, resulting in an estimated loss of about USD 2.1 billion.

In terms of economic losses, the United States of America, incurred some of the big losses, accounting for about 39% of economic losses worldwide, at USD 1.7 trillion in the 51-year period. 

“The most vulnerable communities unfortunately bear the brunt of weather, climate and water-related hazards,” said WMO Secretary-General Prof. Petteri Taalas. 

“Extremely severe cyclonic storm Mocha exemplifies this. It caused widespread devastation in Myanmar and Bangladesh, impacting the poorest of the poor. In the past, both Myanmar and Bangladesh suffered death tolls of tens and even hundreds of thousands of people,” he added. 

In other regions such as Asia, about 3,612 disasters were recorded within the 51 years, resulting in about 984, 263 deaths and USD 1.4 trillion in economic losses. 

“Between 1970 and 2021, Asia accounted for 47% of all reported deaths worldwide, with tropical cyclones being the leading cause of reported deaths,” WMO says. 

“Tropical cyclone Nargis in 2008 led to 138, 366 deaths. Bangladesh has the highest death toll in Asia with 520, 758 deaths due to 281 events,” it adds. 

In South America there were 943 disasters attributed to weather, climate and water extremes, with floods accounting for 61% of these. They resulted in 58, 484 deaths and US$ 115.2 billion in economic losses. 

North America, Central America and Caribbean reported 2,107 weather-, climate- and water-related events resulting in 77 454 deaths and USD 2 trillion in economic losses. 

And in Europe, there were 1,784 disasters causing 166 492 deaths and USD 562 billion in economic losses. Between 1970 and 2021, Europe accounted for 8% of reported deaths worldwide.