Progressing towards Future Sustainability
Participants of the UNACLA Meeting, 24 April 2017, Istanbul, Turkey, posed with Mayor Kadir Topaz of Istanbul.
NEW Urban Agenda was adopted in 2016. One year before, in 2015, leaders agreed on Sustainable Development Goals. Not long afterwards various exchange knowledge forums were held to accelerate the implementation. Entering 2017, there comes a time to identify progress of the implementation and enhancement to improve future efforts. Realizing this need, representatives from local and regional government networks gathered and met in the meeting of United Nations Advisory Committee of Local Authorities (UNACLA) in Istanbul on April 24, 2017. The meeting explored implementation of the New Urban Agenda, the progress made in the localization of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and the crucial role of local and regional governments. Hosting the meeting, Mayor of Istanbul, Kadir Topbas addressed the efforts taken as implementation of SDG Goal 11. He put emphasis on the importance of global agendas
to local governments. Relating to that, Joan Clos, Executive Director of UN-‐Habitat, also highlighted the theme ofHabitat III which justifies urbanization as a tool for development. Addressing from the local government’s point of view, JosepRoig, Secretary General of UCLG, strongly urged local governments to reach out beyond sectoral approaches, embrace diversity, and recall values of the 100-‐year international municipal movement. Specifically, he mentioned local democracy, capacity building, and adequate financial resources as foundation to deal with urbanization issues. Representing UCLG ASPAC, Mayor Stephany Uy-‐Tan of Catbalogan and Secretary General Dr. Bernadia Irawati Tjandradewi highlighted the importance of small and medium-‐size cities, strengthening local governments associations and local leaderships, particularly women in local governments. Secretary General Bernadia added the preliminary findings of enabling environment assessment recently conducted by UCLG ASPAC in 30 countries that many countries lacked national urban strategies and women participation in local governments. The meeting also included discussion on preparation of the 26th Governing Council of UN-‐Habitat, Nairobi, 8-‐12 May 2017.