The 24th Session of the Governing Councilof the UN―Habitat Was Held in Nairobi

On 15th April， 2013， the 24th session of the governing Council of the UN-habitat was held in nairobi， Kenya. A total of 1144 delegates from 107 countries representing national governments， local authorities， private sector， civil society as well as media attended the meeting. The week-long session centered on “Sustainable Development： The role of cities in creating improved economic opportunities for all， with special reference to youth and gender”.

At the opening ceremony， a message from the Secretary-General of the United Nations Mr. BAN Ki-moon was read by Ms. Sahle-Work Zewde， Director-General of UNON. Mr. Ban Ki Moon noted that since 2007， when for the first time the world population living in urban areas passed the 50% mark， the process of urbanization has continued unabated. "The majority of the world's urban growth is taking place in developing countries， where many urban centers already have inadequate infrastructure and where many authorities are looking for ways to respond adequately to the demands of their rapidly expanding urban populations， especially the young and the poor."

In his speech， UN-Habitat Executive Director Dr. Joan Clos reminded the delegates that on 5th April， the Secretary-General of the United Nations called for accelerated action from Governments， international organizations and civil society groups in the next 1，000 days to reach the targets of the Millennium Development Goals （MDGs） by the deadline of the end of 2015. "We have met the quantitative target of improving the lives of at least 100 million slum dwellers out of a total of 760 million in 2000. This is an achievement. But this figure hides a reality. This welcome cut has been dramatically surpassed by the increased number of new arrivals to the slums. The total number of people living in slums has increased from 760 million in 2000 to 863 million in 2012，" he said. He stressed the role of urbanization as a source of development， "How we develop our villages， towns and cities in the near future will have a significant impact on the quality of life of millions of citizens. We need to redouble our efforts to address the need of planning before the urban growth takes place".

Then the speech by the Kenyan President， Uhuru Kenyatta， started the Governing Council. "Today， half of the world's population lives in urban areas； and a third of them are in slums and informal settlements. By the year 2050， over 70% of the world's population will be living in cities. The convening of this gathering， therefore， provides member states with an opportunity to reflect on urbanization challenges and deliberate on the way forward，" he said.

Jiang Mingjun， the President of IESCO， led a delegation to attend the 24th session of the Governing Council of the UN-Habitat at the invitation of Joan Clos， the UN Under-Secretary-General and the Executive Director of the UN-Habitat. The delegation includes Deputy Director-General Shan Fengping， An Xueli， Tee Ching Seng， and Mr. Yao Chongpu， Director of Ecological Agriculture Committee， Mr. Wang Xiaosheng， Chairman of Chinese Academy of Nature and Agriculture， Gao Qinghong， CEO of International Training Center for the Youth， Li Huarong， Ecological Architecture Academy of IESCO， and Wu Chunyou from Dalian Ecological Safety Institute.

During the meeting， Dr. Joan Clos， UN Under-Secretary-General and Executive Director of the United Nations Human Settlements Programme， and Jiang Mingjun， president of IESCO， renewed 4 Memorandums of Cooperation under the “Youth Empowerment and Urban Ecological Safety Project” i.e.， to release annual urban youth survey report； implement eco- skills training programmes on a global scale； implement urban ecological safety index rankings on a global scale and co-establish “UN Youth Innovation Award”. The renewing of the memorandums of cooperation signals that the cooperation between UN-HABITAT and IESCO has come to a new stage of development. The two parties will make new contribution to promoting United Nations Millennium Development Goals and achieving sustainable development.

UN Habitat and International Ecological Safety Collaborative Organization （IESCO） called a press conference on “Youth Empowerment and Urban Ecological Safety Project”. About 100 people， including Asia Kacyira Kirabo， the Deputy Executive Director of UN Habitat， Oyebanji Oyeyinka， the Director of the Monitoring and Research Division at UN-HABITAT， Jiang Mingjun， the President of IESCO， leaders of related UN departments， delegates of member states and media， attended the conference. Ms Asia Kacyira Kirabo， the Deputy Executive Director of UN Habitat， said that even though cities could provide more job opportunities for the youth than rural areas， they also brought challenges， for example， unequal allocation of social resources. Our aim is to create more training projects to help the youth get employed. Jiang Mingjun， the President of IESCO， stated that with the current coexistence of development opportunities and challenges， larger involvement in the youth business serves more strategic importance. “We need to constantly focus on youth issues， listen to their voices， encourage their development and support their entrepreneurship， fostering an aspirant， determined， respectable and intelligent young generation. In this way， we can guarantee the smooth implementation of the UN Millennium Goals and the achievement of the sustainable development of humanity.”

Shan Fengping and Tee Ching Seng， the Deputy Director-Generals of IESCO， also made speeches on women and youth respectively. During the meeting， Dr. Jiang Mingjun， President of IESCO， also met with the delegations of Nigerian Government， Tanzanian Government， and Global Parliamentarians on Habitat， and reached a consensus regarding poverty eradication， development of ecological agriculture， and youth training for employment.