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.
Through twin consultations on the future for People, Planet and Government, the World Summit of Local and Regional Leaders 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 consultations will frame the political vision of our constituency and build on the aspirations of our national and international partners, under the leadership of UCLG Presidency, represented by the Governing President Mr. Jan Van Zanen, Mayor of the Hague and President of the Association of Dutch Municipalities, alongside 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 Paris, Ms. Anne Hidalgo as the chair of the UCLG Standing Committee on Gender Equality, and Mayor of Kitchener, Mr. Berry Vrbanovic as Treasurer, alongside Ms. Ada Colau, Mayor of Barcelona and Special Envoy to the United Nations, Mr. Carlos Martinez, Mayor of Soria and UCLG Special Envoy for the New Urban Agenda, and hosted by Mr. Lee Jang Woo, Mayor of Daejeon Metropolitan City.
These consultations will further represent a crucial lever to ensure that our constituency plays its part within a renewed multilateral system to achieve 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, or Mr. Carlos Moedas, Mayor of Lisbon.
The aspirations of our partners will be represented, among others, by Dr. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, Director General of the World Health Organization, Ms. Asa Regner, Deputy Executive Director of UN Women Mr. António Vitorino, Director-General, International Organization for Migration, or 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; Ms. Lorena Zárate, founder of the Global Platform on the Right to the City, which lead the UCLG Town Hall on the Global Commons; and the youth constituency represented by youth activist Ms. Elana Wong.
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, Ms. Anne Hidalgo, Mayor of Paris, Mr. Altay Kulginov, Mayor of Nur-Sultan, Ms. Asmaa Rhlalou, Mayor of Rabat, and Mr. Aníbal Gaviria, Governor of Antioquia.
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), or Mr. Nigel Topping, UN Climate Change High-Level Champion, alongside leading voices from civil society organizations, such as Ms. Pefi Kingi, QSM, Pacific Civil Society Leader; the Climate Heritage Network, which lead the UCLG Town Hall on Climate and Culture, represented by 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. Fernando Gray, Mayor of Esteban Echeverría, Mr. Yasutomo Suzuki, Mayor of Hamamatsu, or Ms. Taneen Rudyk, President of the Federation of Canadian Municipalities.
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 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, which has led the UCLG Town Hall on Caring Systems 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.
