Notes from the Field: Prosperity, People and Planet in the Cities

Casino Pio, Vatican City – July 22, 2015: Organized by the Pontifical Academy of Sciences and the UN Sustainable Development Solutions Network, “Prosperity, People and Planet in the Cities” was held at the Vatican with the goal of translating the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals to work at the city level.

The “Prosperity, People and Planet in the Cities” event was inspired by a belief that “an SDG-based urban development strategy will address social disparities, violence, crime and inequality concentrated in cities. The SDGs, taken together, work to curb resource depletion, human deprivation and economic discrimination. They also work to ensure and restore human dignity and well-being. If prioritized, an integrated-SDG agenda, can lead to previously – unimagined progress, such as the eradication of extreme poverty in less than one generation.”

The conference was opened by the mayors of Rome and New York, Ignazio Marino and Bill De Blasio, after an introduction by us economist Jeffrey Sachs, with speeches from the mayors of, among others, Seoul, South Korea; Bogotá, Colombia; Gaborone, Botswana; Stockholm, Sweden; Johannesburg, South Africa; San Francisco; New Orleans; and Porto Alegre, Brazil.

These municipal leaders all described grave environmental and social problems that are occurring around the globe. According to Park Won-soon, Mayor of Seoul, in 2014 almost 20 million people were forced to flee their homes because of natural disasters. Earthquakes and volcanic eruptions have displaced 1.7 million people. On Thursday, Kagiso Thutlwe, Mayor of Gaborone, said that the likelihood of a person being displaced is 60 percent higher than it was in 1970. He also described how climate change will cause ever more extreme events.

Here’s an excerpt from “A Declaration on the Occasion of the Special Symposium of the Pontifical Academy of Science and the UN Sustainable Development Solutions Network,” released at the event’s conclusion:

We are gratified that the upcoming Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), to be adopted by the UN member states at the United Nations on September 25, 2015, a day to be opened by Pope Francis, can help the world to formulate a “common plan” and a “global consensus.” We, the mayors and other participants, pledge to work towards the success of the SDGs in our own cities and respective areas of endeavor, and to partner with others across the globe to help all cities achieve the new SDGs with success.

To this end, we pledge today to work together cooperatively and actively across cities and sectors to coalesce in an Urban SDG Alliance. The SDG Urban Alliance will be open, voluntary, participatory, and eager to engage all urban stakeholders that are committed to sustainable development and the SDGs. In joining together in a new SDG alliance, we recognize and applaud the enormous efforts of world-leading urban networks including UCLG, ICLEI, C-40, the Cities Alliance, Slum Dwellers International, and WEIGO, as well as other members of the UrbanSDG Campaign, to promote the prioritization of urban sustainability within the new SDG framework.

The UN Sustainable Development Solutions Network, UCLG, ICLEI, C-40 and members of the UrbanSDG Campaign, will work together with universities, city and regional governments, social movements, UN agencies, the Pontifical Academy of Sciences and the Pontifical Academy of Social Sciences, and others to establish the SDG Urban Alliance, with the following objectives:

• To help cities to achieve the SDGs, including to end extreme poverty and hunger; ensure gender equality and gender-sensitive solutions; and guarantee universal access to health, education, and other vital services;
• Urge national and state governments to empower cities to fulfill their SDG responsibilities, including through appropriate devolution of powers and finances; Help citizens and businesses everywhere to understand the SDGs; Help cities to create SDG-based plans;
• Cut corruption and impunity that undermine sustainable development;
• Identify pathways to decarbonize the energy system in order to keep global warming below 2-degrees C;
• Promote and strengthen universities to be innovation hubs for sustainable development;
• Create new channels for urban sustainable financing and long-term planning;
• Create decent and sustainable jobs, ensure human rights, and help to end homelessness;
• End human trafficking and all forms of modern slavery, including through strong commitments to these goals within the SDGs;
• Work with UN-Habitat and other partners for the great success of Habitat III in Quito in 2016.