Newsletter – n°12 – June 2012

Headlines

There’s a long list of disillusions at the end of the UN sustainable development summit, Rio+20: no binding objectives in the final document, no agenda or roadmap, no agreement on a financing system for sustainable development or on the creation of a UN agency for environmental issues.  

However, the local and regional authorities (LRA) mobilised for the event did not leave the Brazilian megalopolis empty handed.

If the issues at stake at the summit were green economy as the driving force behind sustainable development and the eradication of poverty and the creation of an institutional framework for sustainable development, the core issue for LRAs was simply a better recognition of their role in facing global challenges.

Indeed, in an increasingly urbanised world marked by the failure of states that have difficulties acting beyond their own interests, local and regional governments have everything to gain by expressing, in a common voice, their solutions in favour of sustainable development and better governance. From this point of view, real progress has been made.

In a joint statement, UCLG and Regions United / FOGAR, both members of PLATFORMA, welcome the recognition of all government levels as key actors for the different development dimensions. They also call for multi-level governance and larger consultation in defining development objectives.

This is a major step forward and the issue at stake now is to make this recognition durable and to make sure that the proposals elaborated are better taken into account.

For further information: the Rio+20 outcome document “The future we want” and the UCLG – Regions United/FOGAR joint press release.