PLATFORMA58

Our annual report on the Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) goes digital

Available for the first time in an online format, PLATFORMA and CEMR have just published their fifth annual study on the localisation of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). Released on the occasion of the UN High-Level Political Forum on Sustainable Development (HLPF) in New York, discover this innovative publication today at local-sdgs.eu

This study gathers the most recent information on how and to what extent associations and networks of local and regional governments have been involved in the localisation of the SDGs, both in Europe and with their global peers, and in particular during the COVID-19 pandemic. This year’s survey therefore included questions on the SDGs’ implementation since 2015 and the impact of the COVID-19 crisis. In the last two sections, there were also additional questions regarding Voluntary Subnational Reviews (VSR) and decentralised cooperation.

It gathers 63 answers from 28 European countries, 37 associations of local and regional governments and 18 municipalities and regions.

Main recommendations

Six main recommendations came out of this study, targeting EU institutions, national governments and local and regional governments and their national associations:

1. The European Commission should report regularly on any progress made in achieving the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)  at the EU level and indicate how the different levels of governance have contributed to this process.
2. We encourage associations of local and regional governments to actively take part in the Voluntary Subnational Reviews (VSR) process.
3. Local and regional governments (LRGs) are calling for the firm recognition and inclusion by national governments of the role of LRGs and their associations in the monitoring and reporting of progress in the implementation of SDGs at the national level.
4. European states and the EU need to strengthen their dialogue with the subnational levels and include them in any relevant high-level delegation meetings.
5. Strengthen international cooperation to achieve the 2030 Agenda at the local and regional levels.
6. There is still a need to localise and territorialise the SDGs through the deployment of appropriate funds and resources.

This study will be presented by a PLATFORMA-CEMR delegation at different events during the second week of the High-Level Political Forum on Sustainable Development (HLPF) taking place in New York between 5 and 15 July 2022.
This delegation is composed of:

• Fabrizio Rossi, CEMR Secretary General
• José Hila, Mayor of Palma de Mallorca (Spain, FEMP)
• Hannah-Lea Braun, Member of Maichingen Council (Sindelfingen, Germany) and the CEMR Young Elected Officials Committee
• Luis Salaya, Mayor of Cáceres (Spain, FEMP)
• Valérie Dumontet, Vice-President of Aude Region (France, Cités Unies France)
• Pilar Díaz, Mayor of Espluges de Llobregat, Deputy to the Presidency, Delegate for International Relations at the Diputació de Barcelona (Spain, Barcelona Provincial Deputation – DIBA)
• Jan van Zanen, Mayor of The Hague (Netherlands, VNG International)

Directors, advisers and technicians from CEMR, the City of Paris, DIBA, FEMP, the Norwegian Association of Local and Regional Authorities (KS), UCLG and VNG International are also attending HLPF this year.

TONHAUSER Boris

Director – PLATFORMA

Applications are open until 15 July!

Get ready for the third edition of the PLATFORMAwards! This exceptional event rewards excellence in the field of decentralised cooperation.

Local or regional governments have until 15 July to submit their projects and partnerships online. This year our international panel of experts and elected representatives will judge the projects based on their contribution to achieving the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). 

If you win, we’ll make a short film promoting your cooperation partnership!

For more info on how to take part, please visit PLATFORMA‘s website. 

TONHAUSER Boris

Director – PLATFORMA

Training capacity-building for European Capitals of Culture

On 12 & 13 May 2022, the final Academy Camp of the project “Capacity-building for European Capitals of Culture (ECoC)” will take place online, under the moderation of the the UCLG Committee on Culture. The project started in October 2019 with the aim at supporting capacity building and peer-learning activities for ECoC.
This final session of the project will provide the opportunity to review lessons learnt in the previous workshops as well as discussing additional topics and way forward.

The programme and registration link are available here.

TONHAUSER Boris

Director – PLATFORMA

Don’t miss the 3rd edition of the EU-Eastern Partnership Local Leaders’ Forum

The 2021 EU-EaP Local Leaders Forum will focus on the Local Public Administration and Decentralisation Reform as a booster for sustainable and inclusive development.

Decentralisation reforms in Eastern Partnership (EaP) countries (Georgia, Moldova and Ukraine) have increased the role of local governments in key strategic sectors and while significant progress has been made, major challenges remain in terms of political commitment and advancing the fiscal dimension of trends.

Against this backdrop, the Network of Associations of Local Authorities of South-East Europe (NALAS), in cooperation with the Latvian Association of Local and Regional Governments (LALRG), the Association of Local Authorities in Lithuania (ALAL), CEMR and PLATFORMA, organises this 3rd Forum online on 7 December 2021, from 10:00 to 14:00 (CET).

Local leaders from the Eastern Partnership and the European Union countries will hear about the future post 2020 Eastern Partnership priorities and the EU support: how to build a cooperation framework on local level which would promote effective governance and institutional reforms in EaP countries such as public administration and decentralisation processes in order to reinforce local democracy.

Register for the event before 1 December 2021. The working languages are English, Ukrainian, Georgian and Romanian (with simultaneous interpretation).

Follow the conversation on Twitter with #EaPLocal.

TONHAUSER Boris

Director – PLATFORMA

Mayors of Europe and beyond, take part in the Mayors’ Action Platform

Publish your own success stories, read case studies by other municipalities and get directly in touch with other city representatives via the integrated chat of the online Mayors’ Action Platform (MAP).

The Geneva Cities Hub has set up the MAP, under the auspices of UNECE and UN-Habitat, in order to share cities’ innovative practices and track progress on the implementation of the Declaration of Mayors, adopted last year at the first-ever Forum of Mayors.

The objectives of this platform are twofold:

1. showcase concrete actions and solutions devised by cities to address the issues covered by the Declaration of Mayors
2. create a safe space for Mayors and their administration to exchange among peers

Mayors can also let the Geneva Cities Hub know about the success stories in their city by answering this survey.

BIZARRO Pedro

Project Lead – Climate, Energy & Urban Development

Local governments are taking part at the IUCN World Conservation Congress in Marseille

The IUCN World Conservation Congress which will be held in Marseille from 3 to 11 September will be a highlight of the expression and commitment of local authorities in favour of biodiversity, in a context marked by the pandemic and its consequences.

This is a key step for nature conservation and the development of a new global framework for biodiversity at the 15th Conference of the Parties to the Convention on Biological Diversity (COP 15).

On this occasion, it is indeed a question of defining a new global framework for biodiversity after 2020 (following the plan defined at the Nagoya Conference (Japan – 2010), including for the action of local and regional authorities It is a question of ensuring strong recognition of the role of local authorities and of renewing decision X / 22 adopted in Nagoya which defined a specific action plan for sub-national governments, cities and local authorities.

At the initiative of AFCCRE and its spokesperson for climate, environment, sustainable development, Ronan DANTEC, Senator, city councilor of Nantes, and in conjunction with representatives of the IUCN, the French government, together with national and European organisations and global networks of local governments, several sequences devoted to local authorities are scheduled:

• Friday 3 September (12.00-16.00): The IUCN Local Action Summit is organised by and for the members of IUCN. Those interested can consult: iucnlasummit.org.
• Tuesday 7 September (8.30-18.00): thematic session led by the Aix-Marseille-Provence metropolis and France Urbaine which will bring together French urban areas wishing to both affirm their commitment to biodiversity and share their initiatives in this area.
• Wednesday 8 September (10.00-13.00): the networks summit “Local and Regional authorities and their networks on the way to the COP 15” organised by AFCCRE will focus on the contribution of local and regional authorities and their networks to European and international negotiations.
• Wednesday 8 September (15.00-17.30): session devoted to decentralised cooperation, organised by PLATFORMA, AFCCRE, DAECT, the French Committee of IUCN.

Participation is free on Wednesday 8 September but registration mandatory via this form.

Check the detailed program of these different sequences with local and regional governments.

Follow the conversation on Twitter with #IUCNCongress.

TONHAUSER Boris

Director – PLATFORMA