Tehran 27 June 2007 (UNIC)— The battle to reduce extreme poverty in half by 2015, will be waged in the world’s slums, where one billion people already live, 90 per cent of whom are in developing countries, said Mohamed Abdel Ahad, Representative of the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) in Iran.

Speaking here today at the launch of the State of World Population 2007 report at Tehran University, whose main topic is urbanization, the UN official said that so far little has been done to reduce the harmful consequences of urbanization and maximize its potential benefits.

He said cities have pressing immediate concerns such as poverty, housing, environment and governance while potential benefits of urbanization outweigh its disadvantages.

“To exploit development opportunities of urbanization, we need new and proactive approaches and we need them now,” he said.

He said there are certain misconceptions about urbanization. These are: urbanization is inherently bad; most urban growth occurs in mega cities; rural-urban migration is the main cause of urban growth which can and should be stopped and that cities occupy a huge amount of land area and that hurts the environment. He said none of these statements is true.

Mr. Abdel Ahad pointed out that because of the magnitude and pace of urbanization, it will determine humanity’s social and environmental future.

UNFPA representative said since the ongoing urbanization policies have been ineffective, smart and foresighted policies can unleash the positive potential of urbanization.