Paris – Urban activists are proposing a new initiative called Local Agenda 2030. It could help anchor the sustainable development goals and Paris Agreement in cities and facilitate implementation of the New Urban Agenda.
2016 was an important year for sustainable urban development when the Habitat III conference on urbanisation adopted a 20-year strategy on sustainable cities called the New Urban Agenda. But while that document promotes cities as positive forces for sustainable development, it falls short on two challenges, argues Teresa Ribera, director of the Institute for Sustainable Development and International Relations (IDDRI). First, it fails to harmonise global agreements such as the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), the Paris Agreement on climate change, and the Addis Ababa Action Agenda on financing for development. Second, it fails to give clear guidelines on how to implement its own aims.
To overcome these deficiencies and move beyond aspiration to focus on specific implementation mechanisms and road maps for action, Ribera is calling for a new initiative, Local Agenda 2030. In addition to putting cities at the core of sustainable development to achieve the SDGs, Local Agenda 2030 could define the role and place of mayors in the international sphere and turn cities into micro-incubators that experiment with new tools and partnerships, which in turn could be replicated and scaled up at the national and even international level.
“Local Agenda 2030 would be a win-win-win situation,” writes Ribera. “The international community would gain in knowledge from ground-level practices, states would gain local contributions to their national strategies, and local authorities would gain in political recognition.”
