Cities are home to 3.5 billion people, half of humanity, and this figure is projected to rise to 5 billion by 2030. Government, industry, academia and civil society are working together to accelerate the digital transformation of cities and communities to meet today’s challenges and challenges to come.
A new Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) between the International Telecommunication Union (ITU) and the United Nations Human Settlements Programme (UN-Habitat) highlights their mutual commitment to collaborate in support of the innovation required to achieve the New Urban Agenda and the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).
ITU is the United Nations specialized agency for information and communication technologies (ICTs). UN-Habitat is the United Nations programme for human settlements and sustainable urban development.
The MoU supports the collaboration of ITU and UN-Habitat to advance human rights, promote social inclusion and achieve sustainable urban development. It supports the organizations in encouraging responsible investment and financing for smart city projects as well as inclusive dialogue around the support offered by digital technologies and related standards and guidelines.
The leadership of ITU and UN-Habitat welcomed the new MoU at a Virtual Forum on the Digital Transformation of Cities and Communities, co-organized by ITU and UN-Habitat on 7 December 2020.
“From climate change to the COVID-19 pandemic, ICTs offer new solutions to the challenges facing cities and communities across the world,” said ITU Secretary-General Houlin Zhao.
“With this new collaboration agreement, ITU and UN-Habitat are committed to reducing spatial inequality and poverty in communities ─ as well as strengthening climate action in urban environments ─ to promote social inclusion and achieve sustainable urban development”.
No comments:
Post a Comment