Le Monde acknowledges Cities and Local Governments as actors in the fight against climate change

In its special edition « Bilan Planète 2009 Les temps forts et les acteurs de l’année » (‘State of the Planet 2009: Key moments and actors of the year’), Le Monde names UCLG (featuring a profile of its Secretary General Elisabeth Gateau), as one of 50 principal actors in the fight against climate change in 2009.

Local and regional authorities around the world are mobilizing this week asking for far reaching agreements to be sealed in Copenhagen. “The recognition of Le Monde, is recognition of all local governments and of all their associations, we hope it will reflect increasing acknowledgment of the role that all spheres of government will need to play in dealing with Climate Change” says Elisabeth Gateau

Over 1200 local government representatives will be in Copenhagen, pour porter leur message : Local governments are ready to take up their responsibilities and to act, and they agree to: 1. Support the definition of transparent and far-reaching agreements, which include ambitious, clear and legally binding objectives. 2. Follow principles of justice, equality and solidarity ; 3. Link their climate change action to development strategies.

Elisabeth Gateau: The voice of cities in the fight against climate change. Based in Barcelona, Elisabeth Gateau, Secretary General of the United Cities and Local Governments organization (UCLG) is the spokesperson for municipalities on the international stage. (...) she represents more than 1000 cities and 112 associations of local governments from 127 countries.

At a time when more than half of the world population is urban and the States negotiate the climate future of the planet, cities are taking a stand on the diplomatic front: they consume 75% of the world’s energy and are responsible for 80% of greenhouse gases. ‘It is time for States to consult their locally-elected officials,’ emphasizes Elisabeth Gateau. ‘Cities have been systematically kept away from the UN meetings on climate change. Nevertheless, it will be cities that shall have to apply the objectives decided upon by the States and it is cities that are often way ahead on these matters.’

Brought together by UCLG, local government associations held their own summit on climate change in Copenhagen, resulting, on the 4th of June, in a series of resolutions: local governments want to see their role in the climate struggle recognized, to be involved in the implementation of national ‘climate plans’ and to have direct access to international funding.

The struggle is beginning to pay off. From the European Union to the World Bank, the majority of the international institutions now recognize that the climate battle will be played out in the cities. For UCLG however, this is only the beginning: ‘When the Millennium Development Goals- in particular the goal to reduce extreme poverty by half by 2015- were set at the Unite Nations in 2000, not one mayor was consulted,’ informs Elisabeth Gateau. ‘These objectives shall not be reached, simply because the people who are supposed to implement them have not been included in the initiative.’

This is why UCLG, which promotes local democracy, decentralization and a ‘positive vision of urbanization’ around the world, is looking to obtain from the United Nations ‘a status which will enable us to directly address the General Assembly’. Today we have a badge which more or less equates us with NGOs, this doesn’t get us much further than the cafeteria’, says with dismay the Secretary General.

Grégoire Allix