17th of April, 2013. Final Statement of Porto 21 World Forum – Rio+20+1 The participants of the World Forum Oporto 21 on Cities and Sustainable Development, as well as the youngsters, called to adapt to swifts of change more intense in a generalized context of collective apathy, who have developed in this Forum the Parallel sessions, declare: The majority of the world population lives today in cities. The process of urbanization will intensify in the future. Sustainable development is actually a problem that is getting more severe in the cities. The challenges that cities face these days, like energy efficiency, the quality of water management, sewage system, transport mobility and atmospheric pollution, are in fact problems of sustainable development. In face of the current crises of the society that we live in, we have to change our patterns of behaviour and think if we want to be capable of managing growth and consumption rigorously. We should consider sustainable development as part of a new paradigm for the global society of the XXI century in terms of ethic and democracy. To promote the idea of considering culture, as a result of historic values, as a pillar for sustainability, implies an on-going dynamic that is build with the human kind history. After the Rio+20 conference, we all have the responsibility of implementing the action plan for sustainability, as referred in several summits, conferences and other international initiatives. These days cities host more than 50% of the world population and 80% of citizens live on it. The globalization, the lack of energy, the use of new technologies and the social mobility, bring together new challenges for which we need to apply solutions based on sustainable development. The Club of Rome underlined that even though there are current difficulties, there are reasons to be hopeful. Specially, if we implement solutions based on creative values inspired by the intelligence of those who continue to apply, on a consistent basis, the ethic and moral values they proclaim. A significant number of institutions, groups and citizens of the western world stressed that there is a bad political management and lack of social responsibility, that might lead our society to poverty, unemployment and lack of perspectives. The civil society is conscious of the effect of the crises. We all want to fight for a better world that demands a new political management and a new social responsibility, as priorities for a new path in sustainability at all levels. The Iberian reality is a key factor for the European culture and society. The Iberians, as Europeans, project themselves through the Atlantic connecting with other oceans and
 enjoying special ties that relate to these regions’ cultural, social, economic and institutional reality. In this context, culture manifests as a transversal pillar of sustainability and as a necessary element for the its adequate conceptualization. Culture is a necessary bridge between sustainability and society through what we can express in a creative way, projects, initiatives, programmes and concrete solutions. The urban areas are the key drive for economic development. They create employment and offer numerous public services like education, health and transports. They are as well associated to environmental degradation, traffic congestions, social and economic marginalization. The improvement of the general urban environment has become an important objective for politicians. The challenge is to keep up with coherent urban policies. The population is decreasing in Europe, but still is a key element for the economy and policy of the future. Three main points will have a fundamental role: the decrease of nativity, the ageing of the population and the international migration. Innovation will have to be a part of the sustainability principle as a technical factor but as well as in the quality of the cultural values that born with the creative act from the innovation. Innovation assumes a special meaning at a local level. Cities are environments naturally gifted for innovation and sustainable solidarity. More competitive cities are those who adopt an holistic approach towards sustainable development in order to attract talent, people, entrepreneurship and investment. Society, urbanism, energy, efficiency, mobility, sewage system and water are key elements of the human basic needs. A society where the State does everything and the civil society does nothing, has no future. It is necessary a new attitude. The educational system needs to be capable of preparing and nurturing the entrepreneurship spirit so that future professionals operate in sectors that allow them to capture more value to their activities. On the other hand, we should be capable of activating our emotional capacities beyond reason. We will recover from the crises with our mind and our heart, they will, both together, organise a new culture that will meet the need of future times. The European Culture, from the Iberian perspective is an essential contribution for the universal principle of sustainability. It requires the creation of concrete instruments like the Iberian Observatory for Culture and Sustainability. We invite, therefore, the authorities and the institutions of the EU to recognise culture as a key factor of the sustainability principle. We invite the authorities of the EU to incorporate this cultural and educational concept in European projects and programmes as a support to sustainable development and a basis for the promotion of good public policies. The EU funds should play an important role to make possible that culture would increase its capacity of creating employment. We invite the authorities and the institutions of the EU to integrate the initiatives that foresee the dependency between culture and sustainability, made by citizens and local authorities, as a main key point of programmes, initiatives and projects of common European interest. We remind about the Lisbon Declaration, presented in Rio + 20 where we suggested the creation of the UN Agency for Sustainable Development and a UN Agency for Water in
 order to promote a sustainable development based on solid principles. The Chart of the Earth, that was created on the Rio 92 Summit, is also an important instrument to that regard as it contemplates the compromise of accepting culture, moral patrimony of society, as the fourth pillar of sustainable development. It’s important to recall that cultural rights are a part of the human and universal rights. To respect them generates social integration and implies the acceptance of the dignity of each individual on an equal basis. That is the most adequate way to improve society, to make it more innovative, more free, more fair and more caring towards the individual. Those are the best values that humanity has built until now. Adopted in Oporto on the 17th of April, 2013. Serralves Foundation