From Bogotá to Quito: local and regional governments celebrate the New Urban Agenda and call on UN Member States to #Listen2Cities at Habitat III
On Friday, 14 of October 2016, over 800 hundred locally elected leaders gathered for the World Assembly of Local and Regional Governments in Bogotá in the framework of the World Summit of Local and Regional Leaders to adopt a joint statement to the Habitat III Conference in Quito.
The statement, which has the support of all of the international networks of the Global Taskforce of Local and Regional Governments, starts by celebrating the inclusion of many of the constituency’s key recommendations in the Quito Declaration, including the Right to the City, as well as the official recognition of the World Assembly in the document.
Local and regional governments were highly mobilized throughout the Habitat III process, contributing their on-the-ground experience and policy recommendations developed over years of international exchange and networking. Local and regional leaders, facilitated by the Global Taskforce, advocated for the constituency’s recommendations at the three Habitat PrepComs, in the policy units, regional and thematic dialogues, and at the landmark Habitat Local Authority Hearings in New York on 17 May 2016.
The statement goes on to express the commitment of local and regional governments to contribute to the achievement of the New Urban Agenda, including by linking up the Agenda with the implementation of the SDGs and the Paris Climate Agreement. They also commit to harness strategic planning, participatory governance, culture, transparency and decentralized cooperation to make the New Urban Agenda a reality.
Finally the statement calls on the international community to embark on a new era of partnership in global governance and renew the relationship between local and regional governments and the UN. It calls for dramatic improvements to municipal infrastructure finance by creating an enabling environment at global and national levels, and for the World Assembly of Local and Regional Governments to become a significant and representative mechanism through which local and regional governments can provide political guidance and technical follow-up on the global sustainability agenda.
A delegation of over 400 locally elected leaders will meet again for a further session of the World Assembly of Local and Regional Governments to deliver its statement to the Habitat III Conference on Sunday the 16th of October at 15:00 in the Casa de la Cultura Ecuatoriana, in the presence of UN Secretary General, Ban Ki-moon, President of Ecuador, Rafael Correa, Mayor of Quito, Mauricio Rodas, and Executive Director of UN-Habitat, Joan Clos.
Download the full statement adopted by the World Assembly in Bogota in English, French and Spanish
Participate in the #Listen2Cities social media campaign
Discover what local and regional government’s bring to the global table
Local and regional government programme at Habitat III
