On 15 December, 1972, the 27th session of the UN General Assembly officially adopted Nairobi as UNEP’s home base, making it the first UN headquarters in the Global South. This decision responded to a strong call from countries in the Global South to locate the fledgling agency in the developing world, which would have a crucial role to play in the environmental movement to follow.
Kenya’s first President, Jomo Kenyatta, inaugurated UNEP's headquarters at the Kenyatta International Convention Centre on 2 October, 1973. Two years later, UNEP moved to a new location on the site of an old coffee farm on the outskirts of Nairobi, where it remains to this day.