On April 22, 2026, we once again celebrate Earth Day. This is one of the world’s most influential environmental advocacy days, with approximately 1 billion people participating each year in various ways to focus on climate change, ecological protection, and sustainable development.

On April 22, 2008, the International Mayors Communication Centre (IMCC) established the Council of the Global Mayors’ Forum at the Conrad Hong Kong hotel. As the initiating organization, the IMCC is the ex-officio chair unit, and its founder, Jin Lan, was elected vice chair and permanent secretary-general. Let us raise a glass to celebrate the 18th anniversary of the Global Mayors’ Forum!

Earth Day 2026 continues the 2025 theme, “Our Power, Our Planet.” The young board members of the IMCC, which is the initiator of the Global Mayors’ Forum, are promoting the “Protect Our Planet Movement” (POP Movement) around the world with the most vigorous force.

The “Protect Our Planet Movement,” led by Dr. Ash Pachauri, a director of the IMCC, mobilizes Chinese youth to participate in global activities.

In March 2026, the results of the UN-Habitat Call for Housing Practices were unveiled, and the “Shenzhen Shuiwei 3D Community – From urban defects to vibrant affordable housing community” operated by the IMCC was successfully selected as a demonstration project.

This is Shenzhen’s first talent housing community transformed from an “urban village.” The project’s achievements will be showcased globally at the 13th World Urban Forum (WUF13) in Baku, Azerbaijan in May 2026, and will be included in the UN-Habitat online database, providing a reference for the world. This is a model of urban renewal that Shenzhen, as a pioneering demonstration zone in China, offers to the world, and is the best public good for realizing the UN vision of “creating poetic human habitats.”

UN-Habitat notifies the IMCC that the Shuiwei project in Shenzhen has been successfully selected as a global housing practice demonstration project, and that the experience will help inspire action globally and server as a valuable reference for advancing housing solutions.

In 2026, the IMCC will focus on the theme: Transforming cities, making green and low-carbon living a belief for every city, community, and citizen of the earth in protecting our blue planet, and advocating for global unity to build a community with a shared future for the earth!

Volunteer: Zhang Puxuan (Assistant Editor)