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Institutional contributions
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Emilia Saiz - Secretary General, United Cities and Local Governments, UCLG
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For all humanity, Venice represents resilience, art, creativity and the will to build together. It is also a city that testifies to the great challenges we have to face in order to ensure that our model of development does not become obsolete under the weight, for example, of tourism and mass consumption. This year’s edition of Venice City Solutions 2030 is special because the world is facing a pandemic and we are all committed to overcome it, but at the same time we want to try to do an exercise in creativity and inspiration by trying to visualise the Sustainable Development Goals in cities. The only way to achieve the SDGs is to bring the 2030 Agenda to the local level. This interesting idea comes from AICCRE and is enriched by the UN-Habitat’s capacity to promote cities and local and regional governments and their associations, by UNDP, with its capacity to mobilise communities, and by PLATFORMA, the network to which we all belong and which involves local government associations and other relevant partners. For us, the localisation of the SDGs is not just the implementation of global goals at the local level, it is the political commitment to find solutions that can shape the world. We want to make sure that we learn from each other and we are grateful to the University of Venice for accompanying us once again in this event and to the civil society, which has always responded with interest to our calls. UCLG is promoting the emergence of local experiences to be included in the Local for Action Hubs, within which the priorities of cities and municipalities are related to the Sustainable Development Goals of the 2030 Agenda acquiring an international dimension and inspiring other local governments. Venice City Solutions 2030 will become a hub for Local for Action Hubs around the world and will create a global network firmly anchored to the needs of local areas and citizens.
Local authorities and Agenda 2030 will be protagonists at the next G20
Mariangela Zappia, Permanent Representative of Italy to the United Nations
In many countries, as in the case of Italy, local authorities have been at the forefront of the health emergency caused by COVID19 and are trying to limit its economic and social impact on their territories. Their role will also be crucial in shaping the recovery for a more inclusive, resilient and sustainable future, in line with the 2030 Agenda and the Paris Agreement. The Italian Ministry of Foreign Affairs is convinced of this, which through its diplomatic network has given its full support to local authorities, also through the launch of the campaign “Together for SDGs”, which includes the participation of the cities of Teramo, Prato, Cremona and Bari in the initiative “Cities for SDGs” aimed at inspiring and connecting people through street art projects and murals. Italy will soon take on the important responsibility of chairing the G20, the international forum that brings together the world’s major economies, and our presidency will give particular importance to the role of cities and urban areas, especially in terms of connectivity, sustainable development and reduction of inequalities, recognizing their innovative contribution to the implementation of the SDGs.
The role of the individual, the power of the collective
Marina Ponti, UN SDG Campaign Director
The pandemic is teaching us that the actions of a single individual, for better or worse, can create a global impact. Wearing a mask, respecting physical distances, and reducing contact and movement are true safeguards against ourselves and others. Now more than ever, people are realizing that global problems require global solutions that must be clearly coordinated across different levels of governance. By making the lessons of this particular historical moment our own, we can build a more sustainable, inclusive
society that is attentive to the Sustainable Development Goals of the 2030 Agenda. Because everything seems impossible until it is done.
How to turn a threat into an opportunity?
Frédéric Vallier - CEMR Secretary General, representing Platforma
For many years, we have been alerting the international community to the effects of the climate crisis, and the difficulties in implementing the Paris Agreement have become apparent. The pandemic suddenly showed that in the face of dramatic and unexpected situations we are able to react, and this situation could be an opportunity to rethink our economies and make them more sustainable, green, cohesive and resilient. In this phase of reconstruction, decentralized cooperation is a valuable ally, because it promotes the exchange of best practices and innovative solutions to national governments, European institutions, citizens and stakeholders. PLATFORMA is bringing together a wide range of actors working in the field of decentralized cooperation, such as AICCRE, CEMR, UCLG, FAMSI, IMF, CLGF, as well as regions and cities, in order to start negotiations with European institutions and participate in the programming phase of EU development cooperation policies. That it is necessary to create spaces for co-learning and co-construction is demonstrated by the high number of participants in the initiatives organized online by CEMR and UCLG to support local authorities in the management of the pandemic. In January this year, CEMR will celebrate its 70th anniversary and this anniversary leads us to look ahead to 2051, when CEMR will be 100 years old, and imagine what European local governments will look like. In order to guide them towards a future of sustainability we must build a multi-year strategy and define a development model that considers local authorities and their citizens as the engine of the recovery that Europe needs. This will be our commitment and certainly Venice City Solution 2030 will
Local governments as drivers of recovery
Rafael Tuts, Director, Global Solutions Division, UN-Habitat
Since the pandemic emerged, local governments have been forced to take drastic measures to curb the spread of the virus. Ninety percent of Covid19 cases have been recorded in urban areas, which also account for 80 percent of global GDP. Recovery must start from cities, which together with regions and local authorities must take a leading role in both the design and implementation of the Recovery Fund. The latest UN-HABITAT report analyses the four main challenges that governments around the world are facing: the economic and employment crisis, the widening inequalities among citizens and in particular the impact of the virus on the most vulnerable population, the questioning of traditional models of spatial organization and finally the challenges on the governance front. The report underlines how the crisis can give us the opportunity to do better, starting with a rethinking of urban development in a sustainable key. Visualizing the 2030 Agenda in cities allows us to identify concrete solutions and connect to the daily lives of citizens. The three aspects that we should take into account in this exercise are: the creation of partnerships, because no city can achieve the SDGs and get out of the crisis alone; the fight against climate change, to be considered a real emergency and finally, the support to cities in monitoring their performance against the SDGs, in order to formulate policies that favour local development and progress towards the Sustainable Development Goals.
The Agenda 2030 for exiting the crisis
Hao liang Xu, Director, United Nations Assistant Secretary-General and Director, Bureau of Policy and Programme Support, UNDP 2030 has been an international laboratory for ideas and solutions, and a catalyst for transformative change and sustainable development, helping to translate the 2030 Agenda into local action. This year’s edition is particularly significant because of the challenges we face in our territories, deeply affected by the coronavirus pandemic. Visualizing the 2030 Agenda in cities is a call to action: the Covid19 is not just a health crisis, it is a socio-economic drama that is affecting millions of people around the world. The World Bank estimates that urban poverty will increase, with more than 115 million people sliding into extreme poverty by 2020. UNDP’s latest studies also show that if the pandemic continues and we do not take measures focused on the SDGs there will be over 207 million more people in extreme poverty by 2030. The containment measures that cities have been forced to take have caused business closures and job losses, and this has resulted in decreased revenues for local and regional governments making it difficult to keep essential services intact. We know that the challenges in urban development are extremely complex, and we will need to work together with an open mind to multi-stakeholder collaboration to get out of the crisis while achieving the SDGs. Local governments are already using the 2030 Agenda as their main planning tool and international events such as Venice City Solutions 2030 are helping to disseminate concrete examples of what can be achieved through local action. In turn, UNDP UCLG and UN-Habitat are developing “Learning Modules for Localizing the SDGs” to support local and regional governments in creating local plans and Voluntary Local Review reports. Today, more than ever, the 2030 Agenda must be the compass that leads us out of the crisis towards a more sustainable, inclusive and equitable future.
