Climate and resilience

The seventh session of the UN General Assembly's Open Working Group (OWG) came to an end after five days of discussion among member states, UN representatives and partners.

The Group is charged with the definition of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and this session was of particular importance for the agenda of local and international authorities as two days were dedicated to sustainable cities and human settlements as well as other topics strongly related to our work, such as transportation and risk management.

The 2013 Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting (CHOGM), held in Colombo, 15-17 November,  formally recognised the role which developmental local government can play in enhancing the exercise of democratic governance and in the defining and delivery of essential services as well as in promoting economic development. Commonwealth leaders also endorsed local government’s role in the post-2015 Development Agenda as set out in the outcomes of the recent Commonwealth Local Government Forum (CLGF) 

Local and regional government leaders and their organizations have gathered together in the and Global Taskforce of Local and Regional Governments in order to build a joint strategy to contribute to the international policy making debates within the framework of the Post 2015 agenda, Rio+20 follow-up and towards Habitat III.