Local and regional elected representatives from Cités Unies France live from the HLPF in New York
Several French elected representatives, members of Cités Unies France (CUF), took part in the numerous events organised during the UN High Level Political Forum (HLPF) in New York. They accompanied Roland Ries, Mayor of Strasbourg, President of Cités Unies France (CUF) and Vice President of United Cities and Local Governments (UCLG).
For the first time, a Local and Regional Governments Forum was organised by the Global Task Force (led by UCLG), UN-Habitat and UN DESA on 16 July 2018 at UN Headquarters. Elected officials emphasised the need to rethink subnational funding systems to accelerate the implementation of global agendas. In this regard, they pointed out that the localisation of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) is essential. The issue of monitoring and the need to put in place a monitoring system that works at the local level were collectively discussed. The sustainability reports prepared each year can be considered as “voluntary local journals”. Finally, the coherent and interdependent nature of implementing multiple global agendas on the ground was also analysed.
The delegation of French local governments also took part in the LOCAL 2030 Forum, organised by UCLG Global Task Force and Local 2030: “Local Actions for Global Commitments”. This session focused on the localisation of finance, capacity building of local governments and the collection of local data to enable the emergence of concrete solutions.
During a side event organised by the French representation at the United Nations on the proposal for a global environmental pact, the importance of including local players in the consultation was recalled.
The presentation of the second report of the Global Task Force on the 18th of July entitled “Localizing the SDGs: Presentation of the 2nd Global Report”, was an opportunity to invite participants to leave no territory aside, especially the rural and peri-urban areas which must be integrated into the consultation. Finally, this day ended with a French intervention at the side event of the Global Alliance for Urban Crises, concerning the implementation of the urban agenda in cities hit by disasters or conflicts. It was proposed to develop better synergies between local governments and humanitarian aid operators.
This 2018 edition of the High-Level Political Forum ended up with an intervention by the UN Secretary-General, mentioning inter alia the role of local goveernments in the implementation of the SDGs and the 2030 Agenda, as well as by the solemn vote of a ministerial declaration at the final session of the Economic and Social Committee.
At the occasion of the HLPF2018, PLATFORMA and CEMR published a study entitled “Sustainable Development Goals – How Europe’s town and regions are taking the lead”.
