It is the UN programme working towards a better urban future. Its mission is to promote socially and environmentally sustainable human settlements development and the achievement of adequate shelter for all. It reports to the United Nations General Assembly. United Nations Conference on Housing and Sustainable Urban Development (Habitat conference) is held once in bi-decennial cycle (1976, 1996 & 2016). Habitat III took place in Quito, Ecuador in 2016 to ratify the “New Urban Agenda”, building on the Habitat Agenda of Istanbul in 1996. Habitat III was one of the first UN global summits after the adoption of the Post-2015 Development Agenda and the Paris Climate Change Agreement. India has been unanimously elected as the President of the UN-Habitat in the year 2017. Accordingly, India will preside over the governing council meeting for 2 years (2017-2019). Since the UN-Habitat came into being in 1978,
it is only the third time that India is elected to lead this important organization, after 1988 and 2007.