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nCommittee: United Nations Environmental Programme (UNEP) Topic B: Urban Environmental Planning Director: Melissa Correa Moderator: Dariela Mendez History of Committee: UNEP is the United Nations Environmental Program. UNEP was established after the 1972 UN Conference on the Human Environment, held in Stockholm, Sweden, proposed the creation of a global body to act as the environmental conscienceof the UN system. In response, the UN General Assembly adopted Resolution 2997 on 15 December, 1972. UNEP's global base is in Nairobi, Kenya. It is one of the only two UN programs headquartered in the developing world /the other is UNEP's second agency UN-HABITAT, which is also located in Nairobi). Being based in Africa gives UNEP a first-hand understanding of the environmental issues facingdeveloping countries. UNEP staff come from nearly 100 countries and about onethird of it live and work in Nairobi; the majority are located around the world in more than 28 cities in 25 countries. UNEP has a major office in Paris, France, where its Division of Technology, Industry and Economics is headquartered. UNEP's mission and goal is to provide leadership and encourage partnership in caring forthe environment by inspiring, informing, and enabling nations and people to improve their quality of life without compromising that of future generations. UNEP has been responsible for solving many important issues regarding our environment. History of Topic: Cities and urban settlements in general are the face of the future. Today, some 50 percent of the world’s population lives in urban areas. Asuccessful city cannot operate efficiently in isolation from its environment. It must balance social, economic and environmental needs. A successful city must offer investors security, infrastructure and efficiency, and should also put the needs of its citizens at the forefront of all its planning activities. Poor environmental urban planning and management can have very grave results for theurban economy, the environment and society. Poorly managed urban settlements will be unable to keep pace with urban expansion. Environmental hazards are responsible for the most common causes of ill-health and mortality among the urban poor. Environment-related infections and parasitic diseases thrive where there is a lack of clean drinking water, sanitation and drainage, and where air quality ispoor. Not all urban residents are affected by environmental hazards in the same way. But what does all of this mean? Basically, a city or urban settlement that wants to be successful and be able to keep up with the rapid pace of its citizens should have the proper environment, which includes clean air, biodiversity, maybe even clean forests and water bodies, such as lakes and rivers. The naturalenvironment provides cities with countless ecosystem services. Some of these are so fundamental to cities that they may seem invisible to the people living in it: air, water, and open space, between many more.

Current Issues related to topic: Nigerian cities are witnessing high rate of urban environmental planning problems, and their cities are rated with one of the lowest livability in the world.This means that cities in Nigeria are very contaminated and have environment-related infections and diseases, lack of clean drinking water, and many other environmental hazards which are affecting its population. This problem is causing only about 20% of all its population to live a decent and healthy life. The rest is disease-stricken and is suffering from pollution. Illegal waste dumping inUnited States is one of the highest causes of environmental issues, since many industrial wastes can get into clean water and pollute it, causing the people who drink it to be disease-stricken. Poor air quality in Mexico City has contributed to a very large host of health problems, including asthma. For a few months every year, Mexico City’s water is being polluted by sewage because of the improper...