Highlights for Thursday, 14 November 2019
Carla Rey, Secretary-General, Italian National Association for the European Council of Municipalities and Regions (AICCRE), shows her committment to achieveing the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).
On Thursday, the agenda of the United Cities and Local Governments (UCLG) World Summit of Local and Regional Leaders included a meeting of the organization’s General Assembly and the launch of elections for the presidency. In his introductory remarks during the Assembly, UCLG President, Mpho Parks Tau, recounted activities over the last three years, including on housing, migration, localizing the SDGs and engagement with stakeholders and municipalities around the world. Five UCLG sub-regions then reported on impacts, challenges and key recommendations, to be overseen by the new UCLG governing body, following the conclusion of elections on Friday.Delegates also convened in a second plenary to launch the UCLG’s fifth edition of the Global Report on Local Democracy and Decentralization: How local action is transforming territories and communities (GOLD V). Núria Marín Martínez, Mayor, L’Hospitalet de Llobregat, President of Barcelona Provincial Council, Spain, welcomed the publication, which her council has supported since 2017. Marina Ponti, Global Director, UN SDG Action Campaign, and Carla Montesi, Director for Planet and Prosperity, European Commission, congratulated UCLG on the publication of the report acknowledging that local authorities are on the front line of addressing both old and new global challenges.Throughout the day, delegates met in special sessions on transparency and open government, migration, and the future of resilience. Assembly and Town Hall track sessions continued to prepare recommendations for UCLG’s World Assembly, which convenes Friday.
IISD Reporting Services, through its ENB+ meeting Coverage, provided daily web coverage and daily reports from the #UCLGCongress Durban 2019. In addition, IISD Reporting Services has published a summary report from the Congress, which is now available in HTML and PDF.
Photos by IISD/ENB | Kiara Worth
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General Assembly
Plenary is filled to capacity as participants attend the UCLG General Assembly.
View of the dais during the session.
Corrine Lepage, President, Friends of the Universal Declaration of Humankind Rights' Association
Jean-Pierre Elong Mbassi, Secretary-General, UCLG Africa
Corrine Lepage, President, Friends of the Universal Declaration of Humankind Rights' Association; Mpho Parks Tau, President, UCLG; and Roland Ries, UCLG Co-President, Senator, and Mayor of Strasbourg, France, sign the Universal Declaration of Humankind Rights.
Tri Rismaharini, Mayor of Surabaya, Indonesia
Mpho Parks Tau, President, UCLG
Localizing Sustainable Development: Gearing Up to the Implementation Decade
Panel speakers during the session 'Localizing sustainable development: gearing up to the implementation decade' (L-R): Edgar Pieterse, African Centre for Cities; Clare Short, Cities Alliance; Núria Marín, Barcelona Provincial Council, Spain; Ilsur Metsin, Mayor of Kazan, Russian Federation; Berry Vrbanovic, Mayor of Kitchener, Canada; Carla Montesi, European Commission; Marina Ponti, UN SDG Action Campaign; and Babacar Mbengue, Mayor of Commune de Hann, Senegal.
Edgar Pieterse, African Centre for Cities
Babacar Mbengue, Mayor of Commune de Hann, Senegal
The report 'The Localization of the Global Agendas' was launched during the session.
Tree Planting
Participants attend the launch of the 'Plant Trees Not Bombs' campaign, a Global Peace initiative designed to highlight the need for increased action to reduce and halt the effects of climate change. During the event, Nosiviwe Mapisa-Nqakula, Minister of Defence and Military Veterans, South Africa, commited the South African National Defence Force (SANDF) to plant one million trees, helping to achieve the global target of planting 75 million trees by 25 October 2020 when the UN will celebrate its 75th anniversary.
Nosiviwe Mapisa-Nqakula, Minister of Defence and Military Veterans, South Africa (left), and Graça Machel, Chair, Global Peace (right), plant the 'Tree of Peace' at the Durban ICC.
Members of the South African National Defence Force attend the event.
A participant films the arrival of the 'Tree of Peace,' flown in to the venue by helicopter.
Town Hall Track
The Town Hall Track focused on the 'Right to the City' as its first discussion, highlighting that cities and human settlements must be viewed through a rights-based lens for equity, sustainability, and social justice to be achieved.
Eugenie Birch, University of Pennsylvania, US
Steve Weir, Habitat for Humanity International (HFHI)
Participants share ideas on 'Sustainable Urban Development' where tools and methods to include local and regional governments into the framework of achieving sustainable urban development at the global level were discussed.
Family photo of the Town Hall Track participants.
Beth Chitekwe, Depuy Director, Slum Dwellers International (SDI)
Gyyongu Shin, Human Rights Special Adviser to the Mayor of Gwangju, South Korea
Participants during the session 'addressing informalities' that focused on how cities and regions need to adopt innovative visions and include city dwellers in decision-making processes to design accessible and inclusive schemes for people in poverty.
Assembly Track
Panel speakers during the 'Assembly on multilevel governance and national/continental advocacy,' led by the
Americas.
Johnny Araya Monge, Mayor of San José, Costa Rica
Musa Hadid, Mayor of Ramallah, Palestine
Panel speakers during the 'Assembly on migration management and peacebuilding,' led by the Middle East and West Asia.
Panel speakers during the 'Assembly on public space and demographic challenges,' led by Metropolis.
David Makhura, Premier of Gauteng Province, South Africa
Liu Mei, President, Guangzhou's Women Federation
Special Sessions
Panel speakers during the session on 'The future of transparency and open government' (L-R): Hubert Julien-Laferrière, French Partnership for Cities and Territories (PFVT); Carlos Martínez Mínguez, Mayor of Soria, Spain; Sofia Moschin, Italian Youth Delegate; María Julia Reyna, UCLG Forum of the Regions; Mohamed Saadieh, President, UCLG MEWA; and Mukelani Dimba, Open Government Partnership.
Panel speakers during the session 'The future of resilience' (L-R): Debra Roberts, Working Group II Co-Chair, Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC); Juan Mari Abyurto, Mayor of Bilbao, Spain; Madelaine Yorobe, Mayor of Iriga, the Philippines; Zhasur Azimov, Vice Mayor of Osh, Kyrgyzstan; Olcay Ünver, Vice-Chair, UN-Water; Pablo Jurado, Governor of Imbabura Province, Ecuador; Sarah Kupka, Regions4; Corrine Lepage, President, Friends of the Universal Declaration of Humankind Rights' Association; and Sanjaya Bhatia, UN Office for Disaster Risk Reduction (UNDRR).
Debra Roberts, Working Group II Co-Chair, IPCC
Michael Spindelegger, ICMPD
Panel speakers during the session on 'The future of migration' (L-R): Mohamed Boussraqui, UCLG; Yvonne Aky-Sawyerr, Mayor of Freetown, Sierra Leone; Michael Spindelegger, International Centre for Migration Policy Development (ICMPD); Jill Helke, International Organization for Migration (IOM); Souad Abderrahim, Mayor of Tunis, Tunisia; Omar Hejira, Mayor of Oujda, Morocco; Pablo Jurado, Consortium of Provincial Autonomous Governments of Ecuador (CONGOPE); Hüseyin Keskin, Mayor of Sultanbeyli, Turkey; and Nkulwa Kabila, Youth Delegate.
Local4Action Track
Panel speakers during the session 'Children uprooted: what can local governments do?'
Participants during the session 'Local 2030 Hubs - a global network to localize Agenda 2030.'
Panel speakers during the session 'Making cities resilient beyond 2020.'
Local4Action Hub
Panel speakers during the session 'Cities facing crisis' (L-R): Genevieve Sevrin, Director General of Cités Unies, France; Rob Metz, Mayor of Soest, the Netherlands; Bassel Al Houjairy, Mayor of Arsal, Lebanon; and Fatimetou Abdel Malick, Chair, Nouakchott Regional Council, Mauritania
Panel speakers during the session 'Creative mobilities' (L-R): Valeria Marcolin, Creative Mobilities; Jordi Pascual, UCLG World Secretariat; Dionisio González, Global Director, Advocacy and Outreach, International Association of Public Transport (UITP); Roland Ries, Mayor of Strasbourg, France; Marc Villarubias, Director, Mission on Cultural Cooperation, Lyon, France; and Cecilio Cerdán Carbonero, General Directorate, Global Cooperation and Citizenship, Madrid, Spain.
Around the Venue
Participants meet informally to consult throughout the day.
A participant reads the International Institute for Sustainable Development (IISD) UCLG Bulletin to keep track of the conference proceedings.
South African Police around the venue.
