Singapore to host 2nd World Cities Summit next year
Singapore will host the second World Cities Summit in June next year.
National Development Minister Mah Bow Tan says the theme for the World
Cities Summit 2010 is "Liveable and Sustainable Cities for the Future".
Opening an engineering conference in Singapore, Mr Mah said that in
recent years, nations have seen growing evidence of the adverse effects
of climate change, with several extreme weather events in ASEAN and the
rest of Asia.
Besides climate change, there is also the challenge of a rapidly growing population.
The world population is expected to grow from the current 6.8 billion to over 9 billion by 2050.
And by 2050, cities will be home to more than 70 percent of the world's
population putting tremendous pressure on the global demand for food,
energy, water and other resources.
Given these challenges, Mr Mah stressed that sustainable development
had become a necessity requiring governments to play an active role.
Mr Mah also said that the inaugural Lee Kuan Yew World City Prize would be presented at this summit.
--938Live