Remarks by H.E. Mr. Abdulla Shahid, President of the 76th session of the United Nations General Assembly
12 July 2022
Excellencies,
Distinguished Delegates,
Ladies and Gentlemen,
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I am happy to speak at the Fifth Local and Regional Governments Forum on the 2030 Agenda.
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I commend Ä¢¹½ÊÓƵ DESA, the Global Taskforce of Local and Regional Governments, Ä¢¹½ÊÓƵ-Habitat, Ä¢¹½ÊÓƵDP, and Local 2030, for jointly organizing this important meeting.
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Local and regional governments play a crucial role in providing some of the most essential services and infrastructure, all of which are critical to achieving the Sustainable Development Goals.
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Indeed, all SDGs are in some way related to the daily work of local and regional governments.
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Local and regional governments are not mere implementers of national policies, but they are catalysts of change, and are also best placed to link global goals to local communities, and adapt them to on-the-ground realities.
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Local governments worldwide were at the forefront of COVID-19 pandemic response, providing safety nets, vaccinating people, promoting economic development, and sustaining jobs.
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Cities and mayors must be empowered to fulfill their role as ‘first responders’ and be equipped to respond to future crises.
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Indeed, the entirety of the SDGs can only be tackled effectively if done with the collaboration and alliance of regional agents, companies, unions, universities, research and innovation centers, and especially local governments and administrations.
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Excellencies,
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For SDG4, enabling local participation in educational policy and planning is crucial to challenging existing social norms that perpetuate inequity and exclusion.
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By promoting more inclusive approaches to educational planning and decision-making, which takes into account the views of local and regional authorities, countries can better ensure education’s availability, accessibility, and adaptability to local contexts and needs, while securing greater participation of their population in the democratic process.
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To ensure gender equality – an important SDG goal, and an important priority for me personally and my Presidency – local and regional governments need to mainstream gender issues across all areas of their work. This will support efforts to overcome the multiple barriers to women’s empowerment, and includes ensuring non-discriminatory service provision and fair employment practices.
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Electing more women for public offices is another important step in enhancing their representation and empowerment. Having female leadership challenges gender stereotypes counters gender discrimination, and politically empowers women and girls.
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We have a collective responsibility to ensure women and girls are protected and integrated into all spheres of socio-economic activities, enabling them to contribute to achieving the SDGs.
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Ladies and Gentlemen,
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Like many of you, I have recently returned from Lisbon, from the Ä¢¹½ÊÓƵ Ocean Conference.
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Almost 80 percent of ocean pollution comes from land-based activities; half of the world’s population lives less than 60km from the sea; and 75% of large cities are located on coasts.
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Many coastal cities discharge sewage, industrial effluent, and other untreated wastewater directly into surrounding oceans, lakes or rivers.
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Urban sanitation and solid waste management are therefore essential to reducing coastal zone pollution.
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However, protecting our oceans and shores is not only the responsibility of coastal cities ¨C it requires international, inter-regional, and multilateral cooperation.
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Delivering the 2030 Agenda requires a whole-of-government and whole-of-society approach. Fully addressing the complexity and interconnection of the SDGs primarily entails collaboration between the different levels of governance.
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My friends,
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Sustainable development remains a key tenet of my presidency of hope and I have already convened several high-level events during promoting the centrality of the SDGs to our efforts to rebuild after the pandemic.
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In addition to events on vaccine equity, rebuilding the tourism sector, and commodities markets, next week, my office will organize three high-level events that also look at this theme: one on food security, another on the need for coordinated approaches to environmental action, and a third event on Africa, jointly organized with ECOSOC.
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These events will discuss multiple, cross-cutting, and ongoing socio-political, economic and environmental crises, and will seek solutions to the critical issues impeding the implementation and the realization of the SDGs.
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I thank you again for the opportunity to speak. I wish you a fruitful discussion that generates recommendations ahead of next year¡¯s SDG Summit.
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I thank you.