Approaching the end of this decade, it is clear that climate change is becoming an increasingly pressing issue worldwide. Local and regional involvement is required to stimulate an effective bottom-up transformation, bearing in mind that the focus must always be on people and the planet. 

As a member of the Global Taskforce of Local and Regional Governments (LRGs), AER’s commitment to strengthen local and regional authorities action toward the successful localisation of the Goals by can have a strategic role in the implementation of the 2030 Agenda. 

We are approaching the implementation decade, therefore accelerated measures are needed as a response to the climate emergency that we are currently facing: the next 10 years will be our last wind of opportunity. 

In the context of the SDG Summit, which took place from 24 to 25 September, the Global Taskforce of LRGs brought its experience and its forecasts as regards concrete actions for the SDGs’ implementation. 

To help address this, it is crucial to enhance dialogue among local and regional governments. Through intergovernmental cooperation, it will be possible to adopt mitigation strategies aimed at tackling climate change. 

Action – Cooperation – Support – these are the elements at the core of the LRGs’ strategy. The Global Taskforce of LRGs promotes the global ‘localisation’ movement, but we must be careful, localisation goes beyond city boundaries, it aims to create synergies and coordination across all levels of government and actors with the purpose to strengthen communities and achieve the 2030 Agenda.  

LRGs are committed to ‘leave no-one, no place and no territory behind’, this awareness led to formalising their expectations and their claims in the Statement of the organized constituency of Local and Regional Governments at the occasion of the SDG Summit.

The key issues arising from the Statement are:

• The creation of new spaces of dialogue among different spheres of governments (such as the Local and Regional Governments Forum, co-organised by the constituency as a critical space for dialogue among LRGs)
• The production of annual reports on the localisation of the SDGs (such as the Voluntary Local Review, a learning and training tool to co-create strategies to fight climate change)

It has become clear that there is a global awareness about our production and consumption habits, about our use of resources and today’s challenges, therefore it is up to us to identify and weight the cost of inaction. 

The 2030 Agenda looks ambitious only if you take a broad perspective, but taking a closer look may help to see how local actions have an effective and real impact on our world.

AER is committed to promoting these principles among its member regions, and advocating for the full engagement of regional authorities in the global, regional and national implementation, follow-up and review of the 2030 Agenda. 

Find here the official Statement of the organized constituency of Local and Regional Governments. 

Photo credits: Canva