World Council UCLG

Mitteilungsvorlage
öffentlich
222210
Die Oberbürgermeisterin
Federführung:
02 Amt für Internationals und globale Nachhaltigkeit
Dezernat:
Dez. OB
World Council UCLG
Beratungsfolge
Ausschuss für Europa, Internationales,
Wissenschaft, Wirtschaft und Arbeit
22.11.2022 Kenntnisnahme
Mitteilung:
Vom 10.-14. Oktober 2022 fand in Daejeon/Südkorea der Weltkongress des
Weltverbandes der Kommunen (United Cities and Local Governments - UCLG)
mit rund 3.000 Teilnehmenden aus der ganzen Welt statt. Als Mitglied des
Weltbeirats (World Council) des UCLG hat Frau Melanie Grabowy am
Weltkongress in Daejeon teilgenommen und dort die Stadt Bonn und die
deutsche Sektion des Rates der Gemeinden und Regionen Europas (RGRE)
vertreten. Als weiterer deutscher Vertreter nahm der stellv. Bürgermeister von
Köln, Andreas Wolter, an dem Städtetreffen teil.
Im Mittelpunkt des Weltkongresses standen die Wahlen des neuen Präsidiums
von UCLG. Das World Council hat am 14.10. eine gemeinsame Präsidentschaft
in abwechselnder Reihenfolge aller vier Kandidaten beschlossen. Zu den
neuen Präsidenten von UCLG wurden der Bürgermeister von Den Haag, Jan
Van Zanen, der Bürgermeister der türkischen Stadt Konya, Uğur İbrahim Altay,
Carolina Cosse, Bürgermeisterin aus Montevideo und Jang-Woo Lee,
Bürgermeister aus Daejeon gewählt. Die weiteren Besetzungen finden Sie
unter https://daejeon2022.uclg.org/uclg-leadership/.
Im Rahmen des Kongresses wurde der „Pact for the Future of Humanity“
verabschiedet, in dem die Prioritäten des Verbands für die Jahre 2022-2028
definiert werden (siehe Anlage). Darüber hinaus wurde eine vom europäischen
Verband (Council of European Municipalities and Regions, CEMR)
eingebrachte Erklärung zum Krieg in der Ukraine verabschiedet (siehe Anlage).
Neben ihrer Teilnahme am World Council hat Frau Bürgermeisterin Grabowy
an einer Veranstaltung der Städteplattform „Connective Cities“ teilgenommen,
bei der es um das Thema „Hochwasserrisikomanagement und die Bedeutung
kommunaler Vorsorge“ ging. Dabei stellte Bürgermeister Andreas Wolter aus
Köln die Überschwemmungskatastrophe aus dem Ahrtal aus 2021Seite 1 von 26
Seite 2
internationalen Experten zur Beratung vor. Emmanuel Letebele aus
eTekiwini/Durban aus Südafrika erklärte hochmoderne Warnsysteme zur
Vorhersage von Stürmen und Fluten. Le Tuan Hai aus Vietnam präsentierte
angepasste Flächennutzungsplanungen, bei denen Auswirkungen baulicher
Vorhaben auf Entwässerung und Abwasser im Vorfeld geprüft werden.
Außerdem wurde die Delegation vom deutschen Botschafter Michael
Reifenstühl in Seoul empfangen. Die deutschen Beziehungen zu Südkorea sind
sehr eng und vertrauensvoll. Beide Staaten verbinden Erfahrungen der
nationalen Teilung. Die guten bilateralen Beziehungen sollten auch auf
kommunaler Ebene abgebildet werden.
Der Weltkongress von UCLG findet alle drei Jahre statt. Es ist das weltweit
größte Treffen von Bürgermeister*innen, sowie Vertreter*innen von Kommunen
und Städteverbänden. Zu den Gästen des Weltkongresses zählten u.a. der
ehemalige UN Generalsekretär Ban Ki-Moon, der Generaldirektor der
Weltgesundheitsorganisationen (WHO) Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus und die
Sonderbeauftragte des UN Generalsekretärs für Katastrophenhilfe, Mami
Mizutori.
Anlagen
- UCLG Europe declaration on the escalation of war against Ukraine
- Pact for the Future of Humanity – The Daejeon Political Declaration
Anlage/n
1 Anlage_1_UCLG_Pact_for_the_Future_of_Humanity (öffentlich)
2
Anlage_2_UCLG_Europe_Declaration_on_the_escalation_of_war_against_Ukr
aine (003) (öffentlich)Seite 2 von 26
THE DAEJEON POLITICAL DECLARATIONPEOPLE PLANET GOVERNMENT
The Daejeon Political DeclarationSeite 3 von 26
2
PACT FOR THE FUTURE OF HUMANITY
Mandated and inspired by local and regional
government leaders from around the
world. The Pact has benefited from inputs
from civil society partners active in our
Town Hall process and accompanied by
an international advisory committee that,
together with the World Secretariat policy
team, have held the pen, namely: Billy
Cobbett, Luca Bergamo, Carlos Moreno and
Maria Fernanda Espinosa.Seite 4 von 26
3PACT FOR THE FUTURE OF HUMANITY THE DAEJEON POLITICAL DECLARATION
A CENTURY OLD
MOVEMENT
The World Fair of Ghent opened up in 1913 and with it the first ever
International Congress of Cities. Gathered under the motto “the Art of
Building Cities and Organising Community Life”, the message sent, already
over a century ago, was loud and clear: the planning of our towns and
cities was a realm for creativity and co-creation that had in the adequate
management of the commons a beacon of our life together.
The whole event, as the International Union of Cities that it sparked, was the
product of the peace movement. Significantly enough, one of the organizers
of the event, Henri La Fontaine, won the Nobel Peace Prize that year. In
Ghent, aware of the growing political unrest at the national level and the
premonitions of war, our incipient municipal movement gathered to seek a
global transformation that, through a new type of government, addressed
the global dimension of the challenges they were about to face. This
transformative initiative came to be known as city diplomacy.
In the post conflict peace building that followed the two World Wars, the
solutions drawn by the international peace movement focused on the same
State relations that had put our societies on the brink of self-destruction.
And yet, the role of our constituency of local and regional governments
was as relevant as underestimated. Technical cooperation and twinning
became important articulators of our space in the international stage,
and an instrument of human culture that brought together populations,
strengthening the bridges between them regardless of political affiliations.
We, local and regional governments and their associations from
around the world, representing communities large and small,
metropolitan, rural and urban, gathered at the 7th UCLG World
Congress in Daejeon, Republic of Korea, from 10 to 14 October
2022, under the theme of Local and Regional Governments Breaking
through as One, adopted the Pact for the Future of humanity as
follows.Seite 5 von 26
4PACT FOR THE FUTURE OF HUMANITY THE DAEJEON POLITICAL DECLARATION
It was a dangerous world. Peace, the ultimate pre-condition for community
life, was not granted anymore, and hence the art of building cities and
organizing community life, as recognized in 1913, took a step forward
to intensify city-to-city links that superseded the conflicts of national
governments.
The spirit of the municipal movement whas been steadily growing stronger
and so did the call for greater recognition of cities, territories and their
networks as political actors in the multilateral system. Our constituency
consolidated its position in the global stage through the UN Habitat
Conferences in Vancouver (1976) and Istanbul (1996), where the first
World Assembly of Cities and Local Authorities took place. The municipal
movement celebrated its centenary in 2013 to see, only three years later,
the historical achievement of the New Urban Agenda. The Quito Outcome
Document enshrined the Right to the City and brought our organized
constituency together within the international system by acknowledging
the World Assembly of Local and Regional Governments as its follow-up
and review mechanism.
In this urban era, we are embracing our origins to deliver a systemic
transformation. Safeguarding local democracy, building peace through
mutual cooperation, and remaining loyal to the values and principles
of decentralization, subsidiarity, gender equality, self-government and
accountability.
But in 2020, the world stopped again, and the way we all relate to each
other radically changed, perhaps forever. The COVID-19 crisis acted as a
magnifying glass that highlighted who and what we were leaving behind.
While the pandemic put us in front of an unprecedent scenario, it also gave
us a renewed sense of purpose to deliver on the transformations we needed
-of our beliefs, of our actions, of our partnerships- to break through as one.
We understood that failing was not an option. To overcome the current
levels of inequality, address an environmental crisis that is reaching a point
of no return, and challenge the widening cultural divide.
However, two years after the breakout of the pandemic, the world does not
seem to live up to that spirit of hope anymore. Innovation and change are
no longer the main drivers of our vision. Solidarity is not leading our action.
The polarization of our world is reaching new heights, and bringing us closer
to the moment in history that, over a century ago, led to our foundation. The
stakes are as high as ever before.
But today we are not in the same dark place. We as municipal movement
are more equipped. We have wider outreach. And there is a multilateral
system committed to strengthen global governance for the sake of present
and coming generations. The UN Summit of the Future will represent the
keystone of this foundational moment, and the Pact for the Future will be the
contribution of UCLG members and our organized constituency, articulated
around the Global Taskforce of Local and Regional Governments.Seite 6 von 26
5PACT FOR THE FUTURE OF HUMANITY THE DAEJEON POLITICAL DECLARATION
For a world that bridges local actions and global trends, bringing the
territorial perspective to the global agendas. For a feminist world that cares
and guarantees equal rights for us all. For world driven by well-informed,
critical and empowered communities. For a world based on solidarity.
United Cities and Local Governments, an equality driven movement, is
committed to facilitating the space for local and regional leaders to make
this world a reality.
We need to do it for our common future. For the people, for the planet, and
for the government.
Over the past two years a global pandemic has simultaneously reinforced
both the interdependence and the vast separation that exists within and
between societies. We are living a change of age, not just a time of changes.
New vulnerabilities have emerged to deepen these divides. As devastating
as COVID has been, it is overshadowed by the three existential but linked
crises that threaten our very survival: the rampant growth of inequalities,
and the ecological crises, including the climate emergency and biodiversity
loss.
The bold and comprehensive Sustainable Development Goals agreed by
national governments in 2015 are already significantly off-track: globally,
national governments are increasingly falling behind agreed targets, with
potentially catastrophic consequences. The Reports of the Intergovernmental
Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) and the Intergovernmental Science-Policy
Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services (IPBES), continue to
signal both the nature and likely consequences of our collective failures in
reducing emissions and achieving the Net Zero target by 2050, to stabilize
our climate, regenerate nature, and avoid the suffering, loss and migration
of millions of people, especially in the most vulnerable countries of the
Global South such as Small Island Developing States.
Early responses to the Covid pandemic provided a glimpse of a more caring,
empathetic impulse in societies around the world. However, it is clear that
post-Covid, the world has not moved to the promised new normal – on the
contrary, not only has there been a return to business as usual, but even
a marked deterioration of our planet and the living conditions of people
around the globe.
Reinforced by dramatic setbacks on peace and democracy and entrenched
racism and sexism, ageism and ableism, universal human rights have been
weakened, removed or denied in too many parts of the world. People have
been discriminated against using race, gender, religion, ethnicity, culture,
sexual orientation, age, class and disability, with a rise in hate speech
and misinformation often amplified through the unregulated power and
anonymity of social media. Continued gender-based inequalities and the
THE NEED FOR
THE PACTSeite 7 von 26
6PACT FOR THE FUTURE OF HUMANITY THE DAEJEON POLITICAL DECLARATION
daily and systemic discrimination against women and girls, older persons
and persons with disabilities, globally continues to demean our humanity
and entrench collective under-achievement and a new distress of the 21st
century affects the youth of the world: the anguish towards the future of
our planet and eco-anxiety.
Confronted with a closing window of opportunity we believe that it is now
time for the local multilateral system to demonstrate that it has come of
age and is ready to join national and international partners in bringing about
truly transformative action. This is the clear and historic commitment that
underlies the Pact for the Future.
The Pact seeks to be part of a global initiative committed with hope,
that demonstrates that another way is possible and that, collectively,
the resources, intellectual capacity, skills and desire are available in the
necessary abundance. What has been in short supply is the courage to
challenge orthodoxies, political will and bold leadership.
Against this backdrop, we, local and regional governments around the
world are firmly committed to contribute to a sustained and profound
transformation of our societies.
Our constituency seeks to deliver real, tangible and constant actions over
time, with individual citizens, households and communities playing an active
and leading role. While cities - of all sizes - have already demonstrated
significant results, reinforcing the notion of systems of cities: the important
relationship between cities and their surrounding regions, both being
mutually dependent on the well-being of the other, we now urgently need to
inspire truly transformational change at scale in all parts of the world. In so
doing, we also seek to reinforce the pressing need to replace division and
conflict with a new imperative in support of peace.
Globally, all local, regional, and national governments need to redouble their
efforts in delivering their commitments to the Sustainable Development
Goals, the 2030 Agenda, the Paris Agreement and the New Urban Agenda
in line with human rights treaties. Progress and success will benefit not
only today’s citizens, but also younger generations and the generations to
come.
Through this Pact for the Future, UCLG members and the organized
constituency of local and regional governments restate their commitment
to the power of collective action, empowerment, shared ownership, co-
creation, and international cooperation and solidarity: the very cornerstones
of harmonious and sustainable societies. Consciously standing on the
shoulders of those people who have built the movement over more than a
century, we celebrate the Power of We, to inspire our vision and deliver our
commitments.
The Power of We encapsulates both the desire and the method of the
municipal movement to contribute to a better, safer, accessible, peaceful
and more equal future through our collective voice and agency.Seite 8 von 26
7PACT FOR THE FUTURE OF HUMANITY THE DAEJEON POLITICAL DECLARATION
Reaffirming our common humanity, we therefore reject greed, prejudice
and division and we choose to place CARE at the heart of our Pact for the
Future. Care for the human rights of all people and care for the integrity of
our planet.
Acknowledge that the search for never-ending economic growth demands
systems of production and consumption that are both destructive and
unsustainable. Despite some short-term material benefits and advances,
it is now abundantly clear that these systems not only deplete our life-
supporting ecosystems but also lead to social exclusion and unprecedented
levels of inequality to such an extent that peace, democracy, security and
our universal wellbeing are all under threat. Indeed, far from providing for
future generations, our current development pathways are concentrating
economic, social and political power in the hands of an ever diminishing
and unaccountable minority of people and organisations.
Envisage a future based on caring, sharing and solidarity, where the search
for incessant GDP growth and unsustainable production and consumption
is replaced by a universal quest for an ever-improving quality of life for all
where the human rights of all are promoted, protected and realised. This
can only be achieved by regenerating the planet and respecting the living
world that sustains us. A well-informed, critical and empowered citizenship
will be the essential partner in navigating the significant changes to daily
life that are so urgent and essential, challenging many assumptions in
favour of reimagining our common future and realigning local and global
relationships. In summary, we need a complete revision of our value
systems.
Commit to genuinely seek equity and opportunity for all and to foster a new
narrative that reflects these values. This means forging new development
paradigms that protect the local and global commons, measuring progress
through the lives of the poor, excluded and vulnerable populations, and
not the rich and privileged. It also means changing our systems - from
degenerative to regenerative, and from divisive to distributive – by design.
Take stock that in a world that has become predominantly urban, there
is a whole network of cities with different densities and sizes which are
essential elements of globalisation: they concentrate resources and
are attractors of populations, flows, work, creativity, social and cultural
innovations. Previously concentrated in a few megacities, the effects of
globalisation are now redrawing all kinds of cities. Urban and territorial life
is at the heart of social, environmental, and cultural policy issues.
WE, LOCAL
AND REGIONAL
GOVERNMENT
LEADERSSeite 9 von 26
8PACT FOR THE FUTURE OF HUMANITY THE DAEJEON POLITICAL DECLARATION
Assume our responsibilities in contributing to these challenges. As local
and regional governments, we recognise and accept that we have a unique
responsibility through our role in regulating and supporting the daily lives
of citizens, both public and private, and through proximity which offers
direct and daily contact with the lives and concerns of citizens. In co-
creating and implementing bold and transformative actions, it is essential
that the immediate and ongoing needs of local communities are balanced
with achieving the Global Goals. We accept our global responsibilities,
recognising the impact of our actions on ecosystems and communities
around the world.
Consider that enormous and exciting opportunities in developing new
forms of governance and decision-making emerge, and that replacing
outdated hierarchical and siloed working with a holistic approach that
harnesses entire systems is a must. We will harness new technologies to
share information and provide space for innovative solutions, using them
to systematically improve the quality of life for all and protect digital rights
leaving no place and no person behind. For their part, the private sectors
and civil society will have a key role to play in promoting a regenerative and
distributive economy.
Recognize that no actor and no sphere of government can do this alone.
Wherever necessary, we commit to exploring wholly new relationships
and alliances with other spheres of government based on the respect of
the principles of subsidiarity, shared responsibilities and collaborative
implementation, as well with international organizations, building upon our
mutual strengths and competences.
Reaffirm the importance of universal education, especially for all girls,
and a free media, freedom of expression, agency and critical thinking in
ensuring well-informed and empowered citizens. As local and regional
governments, we welcome civil society, the private sector and other
stakeholders as essential partners in ensuring progress and the stability of
our towns, cities and regions.
Pledge to expand and ensure universal access to local and regional
services and equal opportunities for all citizens. We acknowledge that this
will require transformational policies at all levels to deliver a new paradigm
shift on care where collective actions and knowledge are made equally and
universally available to all citizens and that respect the rights of humankind
and the health of our only planet.Seite 10 von 26
9PACT FOR THE FUTURE OF HUMANITY THE DAEJEON POLITICAL DECLARATION
PACT FOR THE FUTURE FOR PEOPLESeite 11 von 26
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THE DAEJEON POLITICAL DECLARATIONPACT FOR THE FUTURE FOR PEOPLE
Our Pact is universal and seeks to deliver equal opportunity, fairness and
justice for everyone and for every place. We will seek to replace the quest
for individual advancement on the back of fellow citizens with the ethos
of public service through reciprocal caring and sharing. The pandemic
has demonstrated the importance of resizing contemporary life, and has
proven how border-centred approaches to human mobility have repeatedly
proved both ineffective and unfair. Free citizens will be the main engine of
the social, political and economic changes that are essential in realising
this Pact – therefore we will continue to stress the importance of a well-
informed and empowered citizenship. The bedrock of this citizenship is
ensuring that all citizens are empowered to achieve their potential, delivered
through universal access to education, culture, and policies informed by a
new feminism driven by people. The global feminist municipal movement
will be central to ensuring that women and girls are not left behind and for
fostering a new way of going about politics. Environments that are healthy,
accessible, and institutions that serve all impartially will restore trust and
boost hope, solidarity and optimism, liberating our collective imaginations,
and instilling a new sense of what is possible at home and for the world.
Human development and emancipation, the enrichment of everyone's
social capital, are our pole stars in leading the age of transition we are in
towards a just and sustainable tomorrow.
Against this backdrop, the Pact for the Future for People abides
by the following commitments:
1. Guarantee equal rights and opportunities for all and respect and
celebrate diversity.
2. Foster universal and equitable access to public services, including
housing, health, education and participation in cultural and political life.
3. Promote informed and sustained citizen’s participation in public life and
decision-making promoting freedom of speech and conscience and
artistic expression.
4. Focus on human development with culture, peace, creativity & quality of
life at the core.
5. Guarantee decent work and fair pay for all, based on the respect of
the principles of subsidiarity, shared responsibilities and collaborative
implementation, and entrepreneurship.
6. Promote the role of voluntary associations, and facilitate caring through
voluntary activities.
7. Ensure that women and girls are fully empowered to achieve their full
potential as citizens and foster a feminist way of going about politics.Seite 12 von 26
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THE DAEJEON POLITICAL DECLARATIONPACT FOR THE FUTURE FOR PEOPLE
Acknowledge the impact of growing inequalities within and between
cities and regions too often resulting from the commodification of most
aspects of life. The needs of marginalised communities, especially women,
persons with disabilities, older persons and the urban poor, have not been
sufficiently addressed, resulting in a sharp acceleration of social exclusion
and special fragmentation. Specifically, we have witnessed the return of
forced evictions, displacement and dispossession, always focused on the
poor and the vulnerable, a widened gender gap and increasing gender-
based violence.
Understand that to address the roots of inequalities we need to significantly
reduce gaps in income, while enhancing the political participation, address
accessibility barriers and the discrimination facing marginalized groups.
Recognise the universal development agendas and human rights
instruments already provide the framework to ensure access to
services, people’s participation in public life rights, care as an enabler of
inclusive environments, and co-creation with our communities. And that
development pathways should place human rights at the centre as we
reaffirm our commitment to citizenship, suffrage, dignity, decent work and
remuneration, and social identity and freedom.
Pledge to address the roots of inequality placing gender equality, access
to services, and public spaces at the heart of our strategy. We also pledge
to actively promote accessibility as a human right and precondition to
inclusion, universal housing rights, paying particular attention to the needs
of informal settlements by replacing forced evictions with policies that
promote inclusion and participation.
Our vision for the future that we need must facilitate universal access to
basic services and the redefinition of essential services by incorporating
the right to the city as universal citizenship with renewed sets of cultural
rights such as the right to discover, create, share, enjoy and protect the
local community's cultural roots, expressions and resources as a building
block of peace and wellbeing in all cities and regions. Putting people at the
centre in all circumstances and placing science, technologies and artificial
intelligence, and entrepreneurship at the service of humanity. Particular
attention is needed for cross-border localities that impact the lifestyles of
many people in many cities and communities around the world.
WE, LOCAL
AND REGIONAL
GOVERNMENT
LEADERS
8. Contribute to citizens’ living in safe, peaceful and violence-free
environments, including in domestic settings.
9. Foster open, accessible and verifiable information and data to promote
inclusion, education and communication.
10. Respect for planetary health and the well-being of future generations.Seite 13 von 26
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PACT FOR THE FUTURE OF HUMANITYSeite 14 von 26
13PACT FOR THE FUTURE OF HUMANITY THE DAEJEON POLITICAL DECLARATION
PACT FOR THE FUTURE FOR PLANETSeite 15 von 26
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THE DAEJEON POLITICAL DECLARATIONPACT FOR THE FUTURE FOR PLANET
It is a sobering fact that, even as the world exceeds its planetary boundaries,
billions of people still do not have access to even the most basic services.
Such exclusions are a matter of conscious policy choice, and not as a
result of lack of resources. Our current systems of consumption and
production are both unsustainable and destructive, and are driving ever-
increasing injustice and inequality. The Pact for Planet stresses the need
to transform our collective relationship with nature, and for local and
regional governments to spearhead the development of a new vision for
our common future where address climate change, both from a mitigation
and adaptation lens, re-analyse the values that shape our understanding as
beings, where we think global and act local, and where we develop pathways
that are nature-positive and seriously address transactional inequalities.
Where we foster proximity and places of creative bubbling as spaces of all
kinds that allow us to regenerate livelihoods, and local initiatives.
1. Re-engineer urban planning to support more sustainable and just
practices for all citizens.
2. Reflect the real and full costs of production in goods and services, and
not externalise their costs and/or effects.
3. Foster local economic development policies that foster new indicators
based on quality of life and well-being rather than on growth and
economic performance and connect systems of cities with their
surrounding hinterlands.
4. Empower local communities to play a central role in protecting
biodiversity, water, the environment and the planet and recreate local
employment, optimise resources, to increase quality of life and protect
the environment.
5. Transition to renewable energy systems as a pressing priority to a more
sustainable and just future.
6. Foster urban mobility systems that prioritise the effective and affordable
movement of all people while protecting the urban environment.
7. Provide essential services accessible to all in proximities with the least
amount of travel.
8. Promote sustainable and inclusive food systems managed and improved
by all spheres of government promoting access and quality of food, food
security and sovereignty, and resilience.
9. Harness the potential of the doughnut economy to transition from
destructive to restorative models.
10. Identify mechanisms to redress the historically uneven distribution
of environmental benefits and burdens and co-create resilience systems.
Against this backdrop, the Pact for the Future for Planet abides
by the following commitments:Seite 16 von 26
15THE DAEJEON POLITICAL DECLARATION
PACT FOR THE FUTURE FOR PLANET
Acknowledge that local and regional governments urgently need to shift
from the over-consumption of natural resources to protecting biodiversity,
the oceans, land, subsoil and atmosphere. Local and regional governments
will play a decisive role in raising awareness and co-creating new patterns
of production and consumption.
Understand that new approaches are required to balance the needs of the
market and the state, while recognising that informed and empowered
citizens are the most effective vectors of transformation. However, this is
all predicated on the identification and protection of the global commons.
Local and regional governments have a decisive role in formulating new
policy approaches paying particular attention to the role of intermediary
cities within an overall system. To meet address the ecological crises, all
levels of government must be enabled to mobilise appropriate financial
means.
Recognise that current modes of production, consumption are both
destructive and totally unsustainable. Faced with the challenge of the
climate emergency, environmental degradation and biodiversity depletion,
the urgent shift to new forms of production, consumption and daily living
are essential to transform the relationship between society, the economy
and nature. capacity-building on the application of taxonomies and
opportunities of green financial instruments will be key in addressing these
crises.
Pledge to address the climate, water and biodiversity crises and reinvigorate
the economy through sustainable, inclusive, and environmentally-sound
models of production and consumption, and foster a fair and equal
distribution of the benefits of climate action and resilience building and
through proximity as a precious common good to develop another way
of daily life with local ecological, economic and social value creation, in
accordance with the challenges for our cities and territories.
Our vision for the future we need transcends business as usual in the
transition towards a zero carbon and local resilience and fosters radical
change in the building of sustainable, equitable and resilient cities and
communities must be the priority. We are committed to developing a vision
that conceives these actions for our cities and territories both from an
emergency and a long-term perspective considering the rights of nature
as our own. Furthermore, the climate crisis cannot be solved without the
mobilisation of private capital via equity, public private partnerships or
blended financial instruments. To avoid different standards, taxonomies
should define clear criteria to facilitate capital inflows in green financial
products, higher market liquidity and comparability.
WE, LOCAL
AND REGIONAL
GOVERNMENT
LEADERSSeite 17 von 26
16PACT FOR THE FUTURE OF HUMANITY THE DAEJEON POLITICAL DECLARATION
PACT FOR THE FUTURE FOR GOVERNMENTSeite 18 von 26
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THE DAEJEON POLITICAL DECLARATIONPACT FOR THE FUTURE FOR GOVERNMENT
The Pact for Government and Democracy calls for redefining governing in
Partnership. It seeks to place all citizens and communities at the core of
the decision-making. This means promoting a universal quality of life as
the essential metric to replace GDP, building peace and prosperity from
towns, cities and our regions, ensuring a world of well-informed and
empowered citizens that are treated equally and fairly in their diversity
beyond jurisdictions, to build a new notion of citizenship that is the building
block of a life with dignity and rights for all. It acknowledges that security-
first approaches cannot curb the rights and freedoms of our citizens, and
places local and regional governments as the space that can bridge safety
and liberty. The Pact calls for a renewed democracy that delivers on the
needs and rights of citizens. The Pact further calls for a renewed impulse
to well-resourced decentralisation and subsidiarity and for an active and
informed civic participation.
At all levels, building trust between citizens, institutions and communities,
as well as protecting human rights and democratic values are an essential
pre-condition to boost our democracies and build a fairer, more inclusive
and effective international system. The Pact for Government places
local democracy at the heart of action, stressing the importance of
representation and participation; inclusivity and empowerment in decision-
making instances, the urgent need to restore transparency, honesty and
accountability at all levels of government as a means to rebuild a more
representative, inclusive and efficient multilateral system. For this to
happen we need to ensure the necessary resources and capacity-building
to guarantee the meaningful participation of citizens in public life and
decision-making. Co-responsibility and active citizenship should be at
the centre of democratic governance. Governments can make decisive
contributions by enacting clear and consistent policies, ensuring impartial
and detached administration and ensuring the consistent application of
the rule of law, and the certainty of sanction.
Open and transparent data is essential to promote accountability, as
is protecting the space for independent scrutiny of government policies
through public examination, debate and discussio.
Against this backdrop, the Pact for the Future for Government
abides by the following commitments:
1. Promote inclusive, participatory, responsible and accountable multilevel
governance leading to global action.
Ensure transparent budgeting to facilitate balanced revenue generation
and equitable pricing for all services and ensure that government policy
balances the long-term needs of citizens and planet.Seite 19 von 26
18THE DAEJEON POLITICAL DECLARATION
PACT FOR THE FUTURE FOR GOVERNMENT
3. Protect and promote all public institutions, ensure the integrity of the
justice system, and ensure equal access for all citizens.
4. Strengthen public institutions to enhance the protection of our global
commons and provision of public goods.
5. Involve the scientific-community, civil society and local communities in
the process of policy and decision making.
6. Promote truthful independent and accountable information sources to
combat the spread of misinformation which fuels polarization and a
widening cultural divide, notably in the digital sphere and counter hate
speech, threats and violence.
7. Call for a feminist leadership and power sharing at all levels of
government.
8. Strengthen local finance and rethink fiscal architecture to ensure secure
revenue streams for improved planning and investment at the local level.
9. Contribute to the strengthening of multilateralism through a meaningful
engagement in global agendas and representation in decision-making
bodies.
10. Pivot the role of local and regional governments in regards to the future
of work, beyond legislation and job provision, acknowledging the notion of
time as a currency and its lack of availability as a form of exclusion that
must be addressed.
Acknowledge the lack of trust between citizens and institutions called
to serve them and guarantee their rights, which negatively impacts both
governance and mainstream institutions alike. That there is a profound
need to creatively renew democratic practices, systems and institutions
to foster co-responsibility, social control over public decisions, so they
are better equipped to respond to the needs and aspirations of citizens.
That, in this foundational moment, renewing democracy and citizenship
largely depends on the impartial and consistent application of the rule of
law. A reformed multilevel governance will need to be created, reflecting a
different set of priorities that respond to the aspirations of communities
and the needs of the planet.
Understand that local and regional levels of government have a critical role
to play in shaping more participatory, accountable and transparent systems
of governance, mixing participatory mechanisms according to the different
needs and aspirations of local communities, to sustain a systemic, place-
based and long-term democratic approach.
WE, LOCAL
AND REGIONAL
GOVERNMENT
LEADERSSeite 20 von 26
19THE DAEJEON POLITICAL DECLARATION
PACT FOR THE FUTURE FOR GOVERNMENT
Recognise that the process of renewing our democratic institutions needs
to be purposefully co-created with citizens, social movements, civil society
and the private sectors as partners.
Pledge that we will endeavour to strengthen and retool democracies and
citizenship, and contribute to the much-needed reform of the international
governance architecture. We commit to make local and regional
institutions more efficient, responsive and caring to meet the needs and
reassert the rights of its citizens through the crafting of a new value-based
and rights-driven social contract. We further pledge to pursue an open,
constructive and sustained structural dialogue with national governments
to ensure joined-up delivery for all citizens, and communities. We commit
to the development of an interurban system of small, intermediary and
large cities and metropolises, strengthening the urban-rural continuum
and granting that this system integrates globalization while enhancing
connections with the respective local and territorial areas, to ensure that
the next generations benefit from placing local democracy at the centre of
sustainable development. We further commit to actively contribute to the
revitalisation of the multilateral system by having a creative, constructive
and influential voice in the United Nations’ reform process and by providing
a substantive contribution to key international summits and fora, including
the 2023 SDG Summit, the Summit of the Future in 2024 and the World
Social Summit in 2025.
Our vision for the future we need includes people, rights and care-centred
democracies built on the power of citizens that allow for constructive
and mutually beneficial cooperation and solidarity among all spheres of
government. A central role of local and regional governments for a renewed,
networked and efficient multilateral system. A multilateralist system that
accepts the fact that global challenges can only be dealt with by dealing
with local challenges and that in turn local challenges depend on global
challenges. An inclusive system that takes into account the multitude of
systems of cities and governance that exist to ensure all voices and all
spheres of government are included within decision-making processes.Seite 21 von 26
20
PACT FOR THE FUTURE OF HUMANITYSeite 22 von 26
21PACT FOR THE FUTURE OF HUMANITY THE DAEJEON POLITICAL DECLARATION
ASPIRATIONS
OF THE PACT
Throughout history, towns, cities and regions have always thrived through
the creativity, energy and ingenuity of all people shaping our streets, culture
and society. History shows the important links between the ongoing consent
of the governed and the legitimacy and strength of the government.
Through this Pact for the Future we affirm that local and regional governments
embrace their critical role and responsibility to promote a more equitable
and sustainable quality of life for citizens and communities alike, protecting
their rights to global and local common goods while protecting the planet
for future generations.
We particularly highlight the central importance of a transformed
relationship with nature and the planet, in which well-informed and
empowered citizens are supported by responsive and accountable
governments, and where humans and nature thrive in balance, including by
integrating nature into urban ecosystems and breaking the binary between
urban and natural settings. These relationships will prosper to the extent
that they are built on mutual respect and trust. Such respect and trust will
allow cities to capitalise on local realities, relationships and proximities that
are simultaneously geographical, temporal, social, emotional, cultural and
digital, while allowing for the peaceful resolution of differences, competing
priorities and conflicts. This Pact provides a pathway to realise the
universal Right to the City for all. This right welcomes and builds upon the
diversity that is the very strength of communities, promoting open dialogue,
education and a culture of caring and sharing.
Driven by this Pact, we reaffirm the commitment of our constituency of
local and regional governments to multilateralism and the centrality of
international cooperation and solidarity and our commitment to equality,
empathy and solidarity. At the centre is the recognition that citizenship
contains both rights and responsibilities, based on the principles of
responsibility, equity, transgenerational and intergenerational solidarity,
dignity, generational non-discrimination and sustainability of life.
We will strive to become a Global Feminist Municipal Movement to play a
decisive role in placing care at the centre, not only in our programme, but
also provide inspiration and leadership for the implementation of the United
Nations Our Common Agenda. Furthermore, it is upon the solid ground of
gender equality and democracy that we will build our future.
To pursue these goals, during the last few years, UCLG has purposefully
constructed an inclusive and global platform, galvanising its membership
to establish strategic partnerships that play a central role in driving the
Pact for the Future. We will therefore pursue the objectives of this Pact
with our partners in the Global Task Force, through which the unified and
global voice of local and regional government networks is most effectively
mobilised.
We will endeavour for this Pact to speak directly to the international
development agendas beyond 2030, providing the contribution of our
organised constituency to the UN Summit of the Future.Seite 23 von 26
Seite 24 von 26
Council of European Municipalities and Regions
European Section of United Cities and Local Governments
CEMR / CCRE
+32 2 511 74 77
Square de Meeûs 1, B-1000 Brussels | www.cemr.eu
UCLG Europe declaration on the escalation of war
against Ukraine
Daejeon, 13 October 2022
We, European local and regional elected representatives, gathered on the occasion of the
7th UCLG World Congress and Summit of Local and Regional Leaders, express our utmost
indignation about the recent escalation of war by the Russian Federation against Ukraine. The
inhuman and dreadful war on our European continent, launched by the Russian army in
February this year, still brings death and suffering to civilian populations in Ukraine, and
destruction to Ukrainian municipalities.
We strongly condemn renewed targeting of civilian populations by the Russian army, including
women and children, in breach of the Geneva Conventions protecting civilians in, and around
war zones.
We equally condemn destruction by the Russian army of urban infrastructure in Ukrainian
municipalities, which is required to provide basic local public services to civilian populations.
We recall our condemnation of attacks and violation of the territorial integrity and full
sovereignty of Ukraine, adopted by the European section of UCLG on 24 February 2022.
We recall and reaffirm our declaration of full support for and solidarity with Ukrainian people,
and with democratically elected mayors and councillors in the entire territory of Ukraine.
We reiterate our continuous support to associations of local and regional governments in
Ukraine, who assist local and regional leaders in their work for local populations under wartime
conditions.
We wish to recall values, upon which Europe is built, including peace, democracy, justice,
equality and inclusion, and non-violent dialogue amongst European nations and populations.
We remain firm in our commitment to support and promote the respect of international law
and human rights all over Europe, and universally.
We call upon European local and regional leaders to reaffirm their solidarity with Ukrainian
cities, districts and regions, support their peers in Ukraine, develop and deepen friendship links
with Ukrainian local and regional governments and promote the reconstruction of cities
destroyed by the unjust and unprovoked violence.Seite 25 von 26
Council of European Municipalities and Regions
European Section of United Cities and Local Governments
CEMR / CCRE
+32 2 511 74 77
Square de Meeûs 1, B-1000 Brussels | www.cemr.eu
We call upon local and regional leaders around the world, united in the spirit of dialogue and
co-operation in our global network UCLG, to support our declaration, and to condemn this
war the Russian Federation wages against Ukraine, all military attacks by the Russian army
against civilian populations, and against civilian urban infrastructure, which are both always
unjustified.
We call in particular upon our peers in the Russian Federation, members of the Eurasian
Section of UCLG, to condemn the war against Ukraine by endorsing this declaration. The
European municipal movement will be ready to support those that stand in solidarity with
Ukraine, and act in favour of peace, democracy and human rights.
We call upon European institutions to support our efforts to rebuild local infrastructure in
Ukraine, through city-to-city partnerships, as suggested by the Fast Recovery Plan proposed
by the Office of the President of Ukraine.
We reiterate our own commitment to help Ukrainian cities in confronting the atrocities of the
unjust war, and declare our readiness to work with our Ukrainian friends towards post-war
reconstruction.Seite 26 von 26