EN Official Journal of the European Union C 139/1

Resolution of the Committee of the Regions on ‘The future global approach to ending poverty and giving the world a sustainable future’

2013/C 139/01

THE COMMITTEE OF THE REGIONS

1. welcomes the Communication ‘A Decent Life for All: Ending Poverty and Giving the World a Sustainable Future’ and fully supports the aim of establishing an overarching framework for future global development policy that integrates socio-economic development and environmental sustainability and also addresses justice, equality and equity, peace and security;

2. points to the benefits of a sustainable pattern of development; it offers a myriad of opportunities to boost growth, create new jobs, green the economy, improve human development services, enhance prosperity, reduce social exclusion and maintain the environment cleaner and healthier;

3. believes that, although considerable progress has been made towards achieving the Millennium Development Goals (MDG), much remains to be done; recalls that even in times of economic downturn 85 % of EU citizens believe that Europe should continue helping developing countries (1); calls for maintaining efforts towards reaching the MDG until 2015 and also supports the related process towards the development of global Sustainable Development Goals (SDG), and reiterates its support to make 2015 the ‘European Year for Development’ to ensure the follow-up to the MDGs;

4. shares the view that the Millennium Declaration remains relevant and has proven that problems can be tackled if efforts are concentrated and coordinated at the appropriate levels; believes that it is crucial to involve all key players, and in particular sub-national authorities both in developing and in donor countries, in the development and implementation of the necessary policies and programmes to improve their delivery and to contribute to sustainable development and inclusive growth;

5. therefore agrees that the future framework should build on the strength of existing goals and targets and remain focused on eliminating the multiple dimensions of extreme poverty, while taking into consideration the shortcomings of the MDG and the crucial changes within the global landscape during the last decade, notably the growing importance of: (i) new stakeholders such as emerging countries, private sector, foundations, civil society organisations and in particular subnational authorities (2), as well as, (ii) increasing global challenges, including, security, environmental degradation, climate change and energy needs;

6. agrees that goals set in the future should be limited in number and global in application, and should ensure ownership at all levels of government. Emphasises that, in order to remain understandable to the widest possible public, they should also be simple, clear and measurable;

7. notes, however, that the nature of the poverty challenges in different countries vary considerably; as a consequence is convinced that shared and common goals do not exclude the need for specific policies and means respecting the specific context of a zone, country, region or sub-national area;

8. believes that one important reason for partly missing the MDG are the social disparities and inequalities within many developing countries due to the lack of democracy and political accountability, as well as due to widespread corruption. The instability and insecurity in some countries hinder reaching the MDG; calls therefore on the EU to actively promote its fundamental values of democracy, human rights and the principles of rule of law through its development policy and recalls the important role of subnational authorities in identifying and addressing short-comings in implementing human rights, promoting democracy and fighting corruption;

9. underlines the need to implement a global partnership for development, which involves all parties, is people-centred and uses a participative and inclusive bottom-up approach; calls on the EU lead by example and adopt a unified and coherent position which reflects the input and participation of all levels of governance;

10. underlines that it is subnational authorities that provide the public with many of the services that are essential to meeting the millennium goals such as the health system, sanitation, education, transport and energy systems and water and waste management and that, consequently, these have a major impact on the future framework's results;

11. with a view to peace and security, recalls that modern diplomacy is not expressed and practiced by national governments alone, and that in view of the need for dialogue, cooperation and coordination, there is a vital and growing role of city diplomacy. With this tool, local authorities can promote social cohesion, environmental sustainability, conflict prevention, conflict resolution and post-conflict reconstruction and rehabilitation;

12. expresses concern that the European Union, according to recently published OECD figures, has reduced its overall development aid in 2012 (by 2.3 billion Euro or 4.3 % compared to the previous year). Even though the EU is still the world's largest donor, and the economic crisis in some member states is partly responsible for this reduction in aid, the CoR calls on the EU and the Member States to continué the efforts for the EU to reach its 2015 UN Commitment of allocating 0.7 % of gross national income to aid – with the recent cuts, the percentage stands at 0.43 % and only a few member states meet the 0.7 % target;

13. recalls that subnational authorities increasingly conduct an autonomous active development cooperation policy and that although their overall contribution is far greater than their financial contribution, some have already set themselves the target of devoting 0.7 % of their resources to cooperation efforts with developing countries, while some have also set up own funding mechanisms to respond to specific needs;

14. welcomes that ‘the role of local authorities in linking citizens with government and in ensuring broad-based and democratic ownership of countries' development agendas’ is internationally recognised in the Busan Declaration and more recently in the Rio+20 Outcome document where they are described as strategy developers, decision-makers and implementors of sustainable development policies;

15. reiterates the message given in its opinion on the contribution of the EU's local and regional authorities to the UN Conference on Sustainable Development 2012 (Rio+20) (CdR 187/2011), namely that it would like to see a development and revival of the Agenda 21 work. The local Agenda 21, which was initiated after the Rio Summit in 1992, is a good example of a grassroots process that has produced good and lasting results in the form of both concrete measures and greater insight into, and increased involvement in, sustainability issues among society's players;

16. recalls the CoR's active contribution to the Rio+20 conference, both in leading towards the Rio summit and as part of the EU delegation, showcasing what can be achieved through initiatives like the Covenant of Mayors and European Green Capitals; draws attention to the Memorandum of Understanding it has signed with the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) on this occasion to further generate synergies between the different levels and improve the implementation of the Rio+20 Declaration; will continue in this regard to participate as an observer in the EU Delegation to the relevant Conferences of the Parties;

17. reiterates its vision that subnational authorities must be fully recognised as relevant governmental actors alongside national governments and UN entities in the institutional framework for sustainable development; calls in this context to create a standing committee for subnational and local governments either within the UNEP or the Intergovernmental High-Level Political Forum on sustainable development (HLPF);

18. recalls that recognising their role, and to reinforce development aid effectiveness, in 2008 the European Commission called for the first time for the development of a holistic approach to local authorities as actors in development at global, European and national level; welcomes the Commission's efforts at EU level in this respect, and its intention to update this strategic shifting of its relationship with the aforementioned authorities through a specific Communication on Local Authorities in Development in Spring 2013;

19. calls for future strategies, in particular in the EU, to take into account the potential of multilateral decentralised cooperation, including instruments such as the Portal of decentralised cooperation to map activities and best practice, and enable information exchange in order to match skills and capacities with needs, and the Assises of Decentralised cooperation for political dialogue, in addition to specific representative political assemblies for neighbourhood countries as ARLEM for the Mediterranean and CORLEAP for the East;

20. commits itself to continued support towards better promotion and integration of European schemes such as the Covenant of Mayors and the European Green Capitals and similar schemes in other parts of the world and global programmes, such as the new UNEP Resource Efficient Cities initiative or the recently launched EU-China partnership for sustainable urbanisation and the Local Agenda 21 at a global level, and in particular in its relations with EU enlargement and neighbourhood countries;

21. welcomes the European Commission's recognition of the goal of ‘moving towards sustainable, resilient cities’ as drivers for inclusive and sustainable growth; recommends that the future SDG include a concrete target for the sustainability of cities; calls on the EU to continue working on the key issue of sustainable urban living and to support cities and subnational authorities in their efforts to adapt to climate change and develop their resilience and disaster response and prevention capacities based on the necessary competencies and resources, since they are often the first line of response to natural or man-made disasters;

22. instructs the President of the Committee of the Regions to submit this resolution to the President of the European Parliament, the President of the European Council, the President of the European Commission, the Irish Presidency of the EU and the forthcoming Lithuanian Presidency of the Council.

Brussels, 12 April 2013. The President of the Committee of the Regions Ramón Luis VALCÁRCEL SISO

(1) Special Eurobarometer 392, October 2012.

(2) The present resolution uses the term ‘subnational governments authorities’, as it is used in the UN context (where regions are rather understood as world regions). Within the context of the EU, this means ‘local and regional authorities’.