Future Local and subnational authorities Want

At a moment where half the humanity lives and works in cities around the world, the role of sub-national levels of governments in the global agenda is increasingly important. However it is still to be broadly understood that achieving sustainable cities is about success of humanity.

A High-Level Delegation of subnational government’s representatives will be presenting their messages before the United Nations Secretary General in close partnership with UN Habitat and the Cities Alliance on April 23.

Governance: key to debate

“Sustainable development is fundamentally a question of people’s opportunities to influence their future, claim their rights and voice their concerns. Democratic governance and full respect for human rights are key prerequisites for empowering people to make sustainable choices.”

The report of the United Nations Secretary-General’s High-level Panel on Global Sustainability

• Our world is no longer a world of Nations only but rather a world of citizens who demand to make their own choices regarding the society they want to live in and request to be included in the decision making process.  

• Decisions should be taken in places where citizens can exercise their influence. The special perspective of local and subnational governments’ deriving from their proximity to the citizens is instrumental for the success of sustainability and for the implementation of good governance mechanisms, based on transparency, participation and accountability.

• Local authorities as the closest level of government to the people can play a pivotal role in bringing all actors together and linking up all levels of governance: local, subnational, national and international. International and national strategies for sustainable development should take into account local realities and trends with the active assistance of local governments. 

• Local and subnational governments should be full players in international decision making processes and an integral part of any future mechanism of the international governance of sustainability.  

• Given the necessity to go beyond the clusters and sectoral approaches, local and subnational authorities are calling for an integrated framework to assessing sustainable development and in particular regarding the following areas: 

– Basic services: cities, local and subnational authorities and their associations are ready and willing to support the definition and implementation of the Sustainable development Goals (SDG) developed around basic services. Indeed, it is there that many services such as education, culture, water, energy and waste are provided.  

– Social inclusion and equity, including gender equality, to be implemented through strong and accountable local governance.  

– Acknowledgement, respect and development of culture as an important pillar of sustainable development.  

– Adaptation to climate change, disaster risk reduction and resilience planning will be key for urban areas and at local levels and should be allocated increased attention and resources from local, national and international levels.

For more information on Rio+20 process, its background, the Conference in June, the local and subnational actions in the preparatory process and the way you can get involved, please visit: UCLG towards Rio+20