Soraya Smaoun is Air Quality Coordinator in UN Environment. In this capacity she provides support to the strategic development of air quality work in UN Environment, identifying opportunities for further work and refine UN Environment’s offer on air pollution while improving coordination, and internal communication within UN Environment and collaboration with other stakeholders, both internally and externally. Part of her work is also to develop and support a new operational programme on air quality together with national and city governments.
Soraya started her career in UN-HABITAT nineteen years ago and joined UNEP in 2008 as task manager for cities and urban environment, the development of UNEP’s strategic direction in the area of urbanization and the environment and the integration of the urban dimension into key global environment issues such as climate change and resource efficiency. The role of cities in transitioning towards resource efficiency and green economy has been a key area of her work.
Through the different positions she held in the United Nations, she supported and worked with a variety of actors (governments, civil society, and private sector) through implementation of projects, advocacy, resource mobilization and capacity-building in several domains: environmental planning, climate change, local development and governance, and poverty reduction.
Soraya holds a Post-Graduate Degree in Political Science with a focus on developing countries, from the Institute of Political Studies of Aix-en-Provence (France).
