Habitat III Prepcom II…….? What Happens Now?
One of the conferences I engaged in in the 1990s and have fond memories of is the 1996 Habitat II Conference, which adopted the Habitat Agenda. I remember it in part because it achieved the most progressive stakeholder engagement in a UN Conference ever. I also have very fond memories of it because I made a lifelong friend in the Chair of the Conference Pakistan Ambassador Shafqat Kakakhel who went on to be Deputy Executive Director of UNEP. In Habitat II I was the coordinator of the NGO negotiating team working under the International Facilitating Committee (IFC) a Major Group platform that managed their engagement in the conference. So this was my personal background to attending the second preparatory conference for Habitat III last week. Are there lessons to learn? I think so. Perhaps it is best to start by explaining what happened in Habitat II and you can make your own minds up. Preparatory process The preparatory process for Habitat III similar to H...