Our world is at a foundational moment. The pandemic put us in front of an unprecedented scenario, but also gave us a renewed sense of purpose to deliver truly transformative action, to overcome the current levels of inequality, address the environmental crisis, and challenge the widening cultural divide. We understood that failing was not an option.
Confronted with a closing window of opportunity, it is now time for the local multilateral system to demonstrate it is ready to join national and international partners in bringing about change. With the Pact for the Future, UCLG members and the organized constituency of local and regional governments acknowledge this foundational moment. The World Summit of Local and Regional Leaders and UCLG Congress will be the stage to ensure that the Pact for the Future speaks to the UN Summit of the Future and the SDG Summit of 2023.
The Congress will be officially inaugurated in-person on October 12 by the President of of the Republic of Korea Mr. Yoon Suk-yeol and Mr. Lee Jang Woo, Mayor of Daejeon Metropolitan City, with a special keynote of former UN Secretary General Mr. Ban Ki-moon. UCLG Governing President Mr. Jan Van Zanen, Mayor of the Hague and President of the Association of Dutch Municipalities will present the ambition of the World Organization for the Summit, in presence of the UCLG Co-Presidency, constituted by the Mayor of Konya, Mr. Uğur İbrahim Altay, the Mayor of San José, Mr. Johnny Araya, the Mayor of Xi’an, Mr. Li Mingyuan, the Mayor of Kitchener, Mr. Berry Vrbanovic, Mr. Carlos Martinez, Mayor of Soria and UCLG Special Envoy for the New Urban Agenda.
Later that day, the Opening Plenary of Local and Regional Governments Breaking Through as One will present a general view of the Pact for the Future, introducing the context that brought us here and the need to action a transformation that places care at the heart of our common action. Twin high-level consultations on the future for People, Planet and Government will follow on the coming days to frame the political vision of our constituencyand build on the aspirations of our national and international partners, which will further represent a crucial lever to ensure that our constituency plays its part within a renewed multilateral system to achieve the the gloal development agendas, such as the 2030 Agenda, the Paris Agreement and the New Urban Agenda. To meet the expectations of current and future generations and break through as one.
The Future for People: Equality and Care
The Pact for the Future for People places people at the center, deepening the needs of current generations and expanding the rights of future ones by guaranteeing access to public services and the commons. As we acknowledge the impact of growing inequalities within and between cities, the Pact will seek to deliver fairness and intersectional justice for everyone and for every place.
The consultation “The Pact for the Future for People: Equality and Care”, to be held on 12 October at 17:30 KST, will outline the political vision of our constituency, as closest level of government to the people, towards ways of living that place equality and care as indispensable building blocks of any sustainable and thriving society. It will include voices such as those from Ms. Rohey Malick Lowe, Mayor of Banjul, Ms. Carolina Cosse, Mayor of Montevideo, Mr. Philippe Rio, Mayor of Grigny, Mr. Yousef Al-Shawarbeh, Mayor of Amman, Ms. Núria Marín, President of the Barcelona Provincial Council and Mayor of l’Hospitalet de Llobregat, Mr. Altai Kulginov, Mayor of Nur-Sultan, Mr. Carlos Moedas, Mayor of Lisbon, and Mr. Aníbal Gaviria, Governor of Antioquia.
The aspirations of our partners will be represented, among others, by Dr. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, Director General of the World Health Organization, Mr. António Vitorino, Director-General of the International Organization for Migration, Ms. Anita Bhatia, Deputy Executive Director of UN Women, Ms. Reem Alsalem, United Nations Special Rapporteur on violence against women and girls, alongside leading voices from civil society organizations, such as Ms. Vandana Shiva, Climate change activist and writer, the youth constituency represented by youth activist Ms. Elana Wong, and Ms. Lorena Zárate, founder of the Global Platform on the Right to the City.
The Future for the Planet: Transforming our Relationship with Nature and our Ecosystems
Promoting systems and ways of living in harmony with our planet while building resilience and sustainability through policies that renature our production and consumption models will be crucial cornerstones of the Pact for the Future – and an endeavor that no actor nor level of government can achieve alone.
In the consultation “The Future of the Planet: Transforming our Relationship with Nature and our Ecosystems”, to be held on 13 October at 17:30 KST, our constituency will define its political vision to achieve an ecological transformation of scale at the global level. Some of its representatives will include Ms. Fatimetou Abdel Malick, President of Nouakchott region, Ms. Irací Hassler, Mayor of Santiago de Chile, Mr Fernando Gray, Mayor of Esteban Echevarría, Ms. Anne Hidalgo, Mayor of Paris, Ms. Fozia Khalid Warraich, Chairperson of Toba Tek Singh District, or Ms. Noraini Roslan, Council President of Klang.
The voice of our partners will be represented among other by Ms. Mami Mizutori, Special Representative of the UN Secretary-General for Disaster Risk Reduction; Mr. Hisham Amna, Egypt’s Minister for Local Development, whose government will host the 27th Conference of the Parties of the UNFCCC (COP 27), alongside leading voices from civil society organizations, such as Ms. Pefi Kingi, QSM, Pacific Civil Society Leader; Mr. Andrew Potts, coordinator of the International Council on Monuments and Sites’ Climate Change and Heritage Working Group; and the input by the youth constituency represented by climate activist Mr. Daniel Akinjise.
The Future for Government: Governing local and global realities as one
Our communities are increasingly calling for the transformation of governing systems. We are in a once-in-a-generation opportunity to review and improve our tools to respond to the challenges we face, to ensure we drive a profound transformation of our societies and our systems.
The consultation “Governing local and global realities as one: The Future of Government”, to be held on 14 October at 13:30 KST, will see how our constituency present their political vision to ensure that commitments of the Pact with regards to critical issues like multilateralism, decentralised cooperation, municipal finance or emergency governance speaks to the upcoming renewal of the global agendas. Among the representatives of local and regional governments, speakers will include Ms. Claudia López, Mayor of Bogotá, Mr. Barthélémy Dias, Mayor of Dakar, Ms. Souad Abderrahim, Mayor of Tunis, Mr Emilio Jatón, Mayor of Santa Fe, Mr. Fernando Gray, Mayor of Esteban Echeverría, Ms. Taneen Rudyk, President of the Federation of Canadian Municipalities, or Mr. Yasutomo Suzuki, Mayor of Hamamatsu.
As a multi-level and multi-stakeholder discussion that concerns all people, the consultation will further build on the aspirations of friends and allies of the movement that have inspired and accompanied the UCLG Pact for the Future process, such as Ms. María Fernanda Espinosa, President of the 73rd General Assembly, Ms. Marina Ponti, Director of the UN SDG Action Campaign, and Ms. Lucy Slack, Secretary General of the Commonwealth Local Government Forum (CGLF), as well as representatives from the youth and organised civil society such as Mr. Greg Munro, Director of the Cities Alliance and Ms. Genie Birch, President of the Global Alliance of Partners, or Mr. Florencio Venté, from the UN Major Group on Children and youth.
Altogether, the three twin consultation sessions will result in a municipal pledge for the Future of People, Planet and Government that will set the ground of the future advocacy of the constituency of Local and Regional governments and its partners for inclusive, just and equal societies.
