Key role of local and regional governments at Habitat III 

Dr Greg Munro, CLGF Secretary-General

28 October 2016

With over 36,000 participants from 167 countries, and high levels of security given the presence of the UN Secretary-General, Ban Ki Moon, and other global leaders, the start of Habitat III was always going to be a little chaotic. Umbrella sellers did a brisk business as participants queued for hours in the hot Ecuadorian sun to register for the conference. In the end the detailed preparation, the large teams of enthusiastic young volunteers and the warm welcome from the city and people of Quito meant that the conference was a great success.

The United Nations Conference on Housing and Sustainable Urban Development (Habitat conference) is held once every twenty years, the first being held in 1976, and the second being held in Istanbul in 1996. The purpose is to elicit an international commitment to the sustainable development of towns, cities and other human settlements. This commitment, together with pledges for action, sets a new strategy to guide sustainable urbanisation over the next 20 years. These commitments are represented in the “New Urban Agenda”, a global politically endorsed document which guides the future of urban development. Given the fact that an estimated two-thirds of the population will be urbanised by the middle of the century, the New Urban Agenda is a very important process, especially when aligned to the 17 Sustainable Development Goals. 

There was a new exciting energy at the conference from local government. At first, it was feared in the lead up to the conference, that local and regional governments would be relegated to observer status at Habitat III. Ada Colau, the first woman Mayor of Barcelona summed up our bold position that innovative and agile cities are better placed to solve major global challenges than national governments, but “the fight must start now” for this to be translated into tangible and real actions. The hashtag #Listen2Cities and “Nothing about us without us” reverberated across the conference. 

In the end local and regional governments played a significant and meaningful role in Habitat III. Ban Ki Moon chaired the World Assembly of Local and Regional governments which was also addressed by over 50 Mayors and local government leaders, who argued not only for political commitment and dedicated resources for local government to implement the New Urban Agenda, but also for meaningful inclusion of local government at the global table for development. Local government presented to the Plenary UN assembly at Quito and was also recognised in five different sections in the finally accepted New Urban Agenda document. 

Quito was the birthplace of the world famous painter and sculptor Oswaldo Guayasamín.  With a strong “struggle history” especially for the rights of and inclusion of indigenous people in society, his artistic work is striking as he represented that struggle on canvas and in stone. In one quiet corner of Habitat III, away from the bustle of the daily crowds, seven of his most famous original pieces of art work hung on the wall in a mini-exhibition. It was a quiet artistic corner where I stood and reflected on the struggle for inclusion.

Local government argued for inclusion at Habitat III and was successful. As it now continues the struggle to ensure that its inclusion in the global development arena is not only maintained, but also meaningful, I would like to challenge local government to make sure, that it in turn, openly embraces the communities, civil society, women’s groups and others we serve – that we may meaningfully partner with them in developing a broad coalition for development. It is only if we do this together that we can even begin to achieve the extensive mandate of achieving the Sustainable Development Goals and the New Urban Agenda.

CLGF SG Dr Greg Munro can be contacted on greg.munro@clgf.org.uk. You can also follow him on Twitter @CLGFSG_GMunro