Montreal will host a new office of UN-Habitat, a United Nations program aimed at “supporting the sustainable development of human settlements and cities,” it was announced on the sidelines of COP15 on Monday.
Posted at 4:30 p.m
The Metro Quebec team will be responsible for the “global program for green, resilient and sustainable cities,” according to a press release from Montreal International. His task will be to develop “recommendations for policies and concrete measures with regard to sustainable urban development”.
“This office will help Montreal and Canada develop concrete solutions to make cities greener, more resilient and more sustainable and ready to seize the opportunities presented by tomorrow’s economy,” said Federal Minister Pascale St-Onge , responsible for Canadian economic development for the Quebec regions. quoted in the press release.
“Montreal was chosen for its cutting-edge ecosystems in sustainable development and artificial intelligence, as well as its academic facilities and pool of international organizations,” it said. “Areas of Collaboration” have been established with researchers from McGill University, Concordia University and the Quebec Institute of Artificial Intelligence, MILA.
Back in October, UN-Habitat and MILA released a “collaborative white paper” on how artificial intelligence can “support the development of socially and environmentally sustainable cities and human settlements.”
UN-Habitat’s headquarters are in Nairobi, Kenya, and the organization, founded in 1978, is active in 90 countries. The Montreal team will work closely with those in Barcelona, Spain and Hamburg, Germany.
This office is in addition to those of the International Civil Aviation Organization, the Secretariat of the Convention on Biological Diversity, the United Nations Refugee Agency, the UNESCO Institute for Statistics and the Multilateral Fund for the Implementation of the Montreal Protocol.
“This sixth UN office in Montreal will help showcase Montreal’s expertise in housing and exemplary neighborhood development,” said Mayor Valérie Plante, also quoted in the press release. “In Montreal and around the world, we need to intelligently densify urban areas by giving more space to nature,” she argued.
Details, including the exact location of the new office and the number of people who will work there, have yet to be determined.