United Nations Radio

Representatives of local governments and community organizations as well as diplomats and academics, have gathered in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil on Monday for the fifth session of the World Urban Forum.

Anna Tibaijuka

Organized by UN-Habitat and the government of Brazil, the one-week meeting under the theme "The right to the City-bridging the urban divide," is discussing the challenges of rapid urbanization around the world.

The Executive Director of UN Habitat, Anna Tibaijuka says one of the challenges facing the world today is the urbanization of poverty as the number of slum dwellers continues to increase.

She says the urban divide means that a sizeable proportion of people have not been able to improve their situation which is normally associated with moving to urban areas.

"One in three urban dwellers is really a slum dweller, which means the living conditions are not what they should be. There is no water, sanitation, durable housing material and basically overcrowding. Here when we talk about the right to the city where we say that people really have a right to live in a place of choice but also to improve their situation as they do that."

Ms. Tibaijuka says this is not happening and there is need to make requisite investments and implement the right policies and programmes to improve the lives of slum dwellers.

Dianne Penn, United Nations Radio
(duration:1'24")