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San Francisco is honored to host United Nations World Environment Day 2005. We are delighted to work with the United Nations Environment Programme to make sure that World Environment Day in San Francisco leaves a legacy that will advance environmental wellbeing here at home and around the world.

The theme for World Environment Day 2005 is 'Green Cities'. This is particularly fitting since the 21st century is the first time that most of the world's population will live in cities. As urban populations grow, it becomes more and more vital to balance the needs of the environment, the economy, and social equity if we are going to develop a way of living that can sustain our planet and our people into future generations.

The population shift from rural areas to the cities will have a dramatic impact on the planet's resources. It will also result in significant political changes where city governments will become directly responsible for solving critical environmental issues.

Every city in the world depends on rural territories many times its size to provide food and water for its citizens, to say nothing of the resources required to produce consumer goods. But to date little attention has been paid to developing the tools cities will need to solve these environmental challenges.

World Environment Day 2005 will feature a series of special events focusing on urban environmental issues such as recycling, renewable energy, resource conservation, environmental justice and public health. Mayors from the world's largest cities will share ideas and experiences, establish goals for urban environmental improvement, and identify the means to attain these goals. This will all be compiled into a document called the San Francisco Urban Environmental Accords, a first-ever set of environmental agreements made between municipal governments.

These accords will help all of us to act locally, while thinking globally.