The United Nations Environment Programme
The United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) was founded as a result of the United Nations Conference on the Human Environment in June 1972 and is headquartered in Nairobi, Kenya.
Its mission is to provide leadership and encourage partnership in caring for the environment by inspiring, informing and enabling nations and people to improve their quality of life without compromising that of future generations.
UNEP started its work on sport and the environment in 1994 through a cooperative agreement signed with the IOC. UNEP's Sport and the Environment Unit supports the International Olympic Committee in organizing world conferences and regional seminars on sport and the environment.
Also, UNEP has been actively working with Organizing Committees of Olympic Games (OCOGs). UNEP and the Beijing Organizing Committee for the Games of the XXIX Olympiad (BOCOG) signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) in November 2005 aimed at making the summer Olympics of 2008 environmentally-friendly. Similarly, UNEP and the Vancouver Organizing Committee for the 2010 Olympic and Paralympic Winter Games (VANOC) signed a Memorandum of Understanding in 2007; and, UNEP is exploring the possibilities of developing a cooperative agreement with the London 2012 Organizing Committee of the Olympic and Paralympic Games (LOCOG).