The Future Local and Regional Governments Want: High-Level meeting with UN Secretary General, Ban Ki Moon, 23 April 2012 5.06.2012

The Future Local and Regional Governments Want: High-Level meeting with UN Secretary General, Ban Ki Moon, 23 April 2012

A High-level Local and Regional Authorities’ delegation is to meet the United Nations Secretary General, Ban Ki Moon on 23 April at UN Headquarters in New York.

"With half of humanity living in cities today, urbanization is a critical issue for Rio+20 - the United Nations Conference on the Sustainable Development - which takes place on 20-22 June in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. Cities are where the pressures of migration, globalization, economic development, social inequality, environmental pollution and climate change are most directly felt. (...). We expect world leaders to come up with concrete action plans to realize sustainable cities for the future we want."
Sha Zukang, Secretary-General of Rio+20

Local and regional governments are key stakeholders in the development of a sustainable society. Their role is likely to increase in the current urban era. As the closest sphere of government to the citizen, UCLG believes that local and regional authorities are to bring issues such as governance, accountability, inclusion and culture as key to address many of the burning issues.

United Cities and Local Governments and UN-Habitat with the support of Cities Alliance, are calling all local and regional governments networks together to a meeting in New York where they will present the key messages of these groups for Rio+20 to both United Nations officials and representatives of national delegations.

Special role will be played by the Group of Friends of Sustainable Cities, a group of around 25 States formed in the Rio+20 process in support to the key role of local authorities role to achieve a sustainable development.

The session will also provide the opportunity to start examining the road from Rio+20 to the Habitat III Conference.

Local and regional Leaders from all continents have confirmed their participation, including the President of UCLG and Mayor of Istanbul (Turkey), the city host of the Earth Summit Rio de Janeiro (Brazil), Mayor of Lisbon (Portugal) and UCLG Co-President, Mayor of Kazan (Russia) and UCLG Co-President, Mayor of Dakar (Senegal) and UCLG Vice-President, Mayor of Stuttgart (Germany) and UCLG Vice-President, Mayor of Montreal (Canada) and UCLG Vice-President, the Vice President of FOGAR, the President of the Region of Tuscany (Italy), the Ministry of Territory and Sustainability of the Catalonia Region (Spain) and Co-Chair of NRG4SD, as well as Councillor of Vancouver (Canada) and President of ICLEI

Representatives of UN Agencies, World Bank and Cities Alliance will also be in attendance.