The official logo for the World Urban Campaign was unveiled on Friday as UN-HABITAT launched a compact signing ceremony with people who committed themselves to drive the initiative. The logo was the result of an intensive worldwide competition launched early this year. People from all walks of life including business people, civic leaders, government officials and members of the public signed the compact undertaking to be partners of the campaign in their respective neighbourhoods.  | WUC signing ceremony, Dr Anna Tibaijuka, Mr Harrie Noy-Arcadis, Mr Angus McGovern-Press Group and Mr Ron Dembo- Zerofootprint |
UN-HABITAT Executive Director Mrs. Anna Tibaijuka said the campaign was for everybody who wanted to do something for their neighbourhood. “This campaign is not for the elite. It is for all of us who want to be partners,” she said. “UN-HABITAT have been working towards this campaign since the Istanbul Declaration on Human Settlements in 1996, where we reaffirmed the Habitat Agenda,” said Mrs. Tibaijuka. “The challenge has been transferring the knowledge from Istanbul into an active, forceful initiative but with the World Urban Campaign we believe we now have the platform. The Campaign is going to help us move forward and onto the next step and with international companies such as Siemens and Veolia joining us, the future looks bright.” Germany’s Siemens, a worldwide leader in electronics and electrical engineering, became a partner of the World Urban Campaign, in an agreement that will run for an initial three years. As part of its commitment, Siemens will provide the campaign with experts in the field relating to infrastructure. “Today more than 50 percent of the world’s population lives in urban areas and we believe Siemens can make a sizeable contribution in dealing with the issues of rapid urbanization,” said Adilson Primo, Director of Siemens Brazil. “We are already implementing projects around the world, for example, Siemens street cars which could reduce carbon dioxide emissions by 7.5 tonnes a year.” ARCADIS, a company headquartered in the Netherlands, which provides consultancy, design, engineering and management services, will commit its staff members and expertise to UN-HABITAT’s mission, including recovery programmes in Haiti. “Our mission at ARCADIS is to contribute to the quality of the human habitat, which is extremely close to UN-HABITAT’s mandate,” said Harrie Noy, CEO of ARCADIS. “We are very excited about this agreement to be a partner of the World Urban Campaign and hope that our knowledge and experience will make a significant difference.” French group Veolia Environment also joined the list of World Urban Campaign partners in signing the Memorandum of Understanding with UN-HABITAT, with Vice President for Partnerships, Dominique Heron, committed to tackling the urban challenges that the world currently faces. “We are very proud to be joining the World Urban Campaign and to be working with UN-HABITAT,” said Mr. Heron. “It is key for us to be involved in urban challenges and this is a great opportunity to promote public/private partnerships. We manage urban projects in over 60 countries around the world with prominent initiatives in Rabat, Morocco, and Mumbai, India.” Mrs. Tibaijuka signed Memorandum of Understanding with six other entities during a packed press conference. The next phase of the World Urban Campaign will take place on Friday 26th March with the unveiling of the official logo and presentation of the campaign film. |
