Guidelines on formulation of human settlements policies and their impact on the environment

Habitat: United Nations Conference of Human Settlements, held in Vancouver in 1976, recommended that 'A national policy for human settlements and the environments should be an integral part of any national economic and social development policy. The Conference stated that an integrated human settlement policy should: Be formulated through a truly interdisciplinary approach, concurrently with policies relating to other aspects of social and economic development; Be formulated at the highest political level, in co operation and co-ordination with regional and local levels as appropriate; Be consistent with the preservation, restoration and improvement of the natural and man-made environment, cognizant of the positive role of environment in national economic and social development; Be directed at all settlements, rural and urban, dispersed and concentrated, old and new.