1st Eurasia Local Governments Congress - “Development of Cooperation Strategies”
Istanbul, 15–17 November 2008
6th Session: Environmental Management and Urban Transformation
Speech by Gaye DOĞANOĞLU, Chair of the Committee on Sustainable Development of the Congress of Local and Regional Authorities of the Council of Europe
Ladies and Gentlemen,
It is a pleasure and a privilege to address you today; as Chair of the Committee on Sustainable Development of the Congress of Local and Regional Authorities of the Council of Europe and as Member of the Municipal Council of Muratpasa in Antalya, I am only too aware of the need to put sustainable development and environmental management to the top of our agendas, no matter where we live on our fragile and damaged planet.
Sustainable development is essential to the future of our urban and rural areas. The inhabitants of our towns, cities and regions are no longer prepared to suffer the consequences of the global economic development that threatens our environment. They are no longer willing to accept climate change and its impacts, the destruction of natural resources or the effects of pollution on human health. Instead, they want a form of controlled development that will establish the basis for sustainable growth and ensure a good quality of life, employment and a reasonable future for their children. This is the challenge that all of us, and in particular local and regional authorities, face.
This conference, which brings together, for the first time, local government representatives from European and Asian municipalities, provides an excellent opportunity to share experiences on the ways to put into practice the guiding principles of sustainability: environmental, economic and ethical. For the Congress, sustainable development means taking an integrated approach; it means working in a multi-partnership, multi-disciplinary and participative manner.
I see numerous friends from the Congress here today so I know that many of you are aware of the Congress’ focus on dialogue, networking, partnerships and trans-frontier cooperation. We believe that these approaches provide an opportunity to build bridges and to construct an integrated continent without dividing lines, and, importantly, a continent of territorial communities. It is only through such co-operation and exchange that we will be able to tackle the challenges facing us today, including growing environmental threats. We, in the Congress are convinced that local authorities have a special role to play in addressing the environmental challenges to build a healthier and more cohesive society.
Ladies and Gentlemen,
The city is central to the preoccupations in the Congress. As from this year, more than half of the Earth’s population lives in urban areas. This rapid growth in urbanisation, which is particularly marked in developing countries, is unprecedented and will structure our lives for this century.
We are seeing our cities become the centre of economic, political and cultural life and gain importance as motors for successful economic development in this crucial period of globalisation. Towns and cities are crucibles for new forms of democracy, they are places of solidarity, of freedom and empowerment, but they are also a breeding-ground for division, discrimination and exclusion.
If our towns and cities are to prosper, we need transparent and coherent decision-making processes, we need to encourage public involvement in policy making, we need to guarantee the accountability of public institutions and we need to respect the principle of subsidiarity.
It is in this spirit that the Congress adopted, at its plenary session in May this year, the new European Urban Charter: Manifesto for a new urbanity. The Manifesto lays down principles for building and managing an urban environment adapted to the modern needs of communities and covers the various aspects of urban life.
Our prime ambition, reflected in the new Charter, is to build towns and cities which are citizen-oriented, which seek optimum proximity and citizen participation and which foster transparency, clarity of responsibilities and strong democratic processes.
Our second ambition for urban areas is to make them sustainable and environmentally friendly. Towns and cities have a major role to perform in creating a lasting, more livable planet because they are the points of concentration for populations and activities. They are also places where changes in practices and behaviour are hugely influential.
Our third ambition is for supportive towns and cities which actively combat division, exclusion and discrimination. The new Charter urges territorial authorities to foster a more inclusive, cohesive and diversified society which places people, with all their multiple identities and cultures, at the heart of preoccupations in urban planning and development, paying particular attention to the needs of the most vulnerable.
Finally, our fourth ambition for cities is that they should be a setting of modernity, catalysing knowledge and creativity, hosting learning and culture of all kinds.
Ladies and Gentlemen,
It is clear that local and regional authorities are already contributing a great deal to sustainable development and they are places of innovation in the implementation of environmentally-sound policies. Examples of this recently addressed by the Congress include recommendations on adaptation to climate change and for a new energy culture; on giving urban biodiversity the central place it deserves in our towns and cities and on underlining the importance of territorial cohesion of our regions.
Since existing economic tools and systems fail to take account of the environment, the Congress have also made recommendations on environmental accounting as a tool which can enable territorial authorities undertake quantitative and qualitative assessments of environmental costs and of the impacts and contributions of their policies on the natural heritage. Although these tools are still in their early stages they can help local authorities improve their environmental policies.
The Congress is also convinced that territorial equity is essential for sustainable development. We believe that the needs of our urban communities and the needs of our rural communities are not in opposition; on the contrary, they are interlinked and complementary. For all our citizens to thrive, our societies must be based on the values of equity, sustainability and quality of life for all. Thus, it is vital that our territorial and spatial planning policies address the needs of all our citizens, no matter where they live. Our policies must limit urban sprawl and counter the growing urban-rural divide. One major asset for the harmonious development of territories is to reinforce the quality and accessibility of services of general interest
Ladies and Gentlemen,
We must not forget that the consequences of human activities such as pollution and environmental destruction do not respect administrative or national borders. We need to reinforce regional and trans-frontier cooperation. Local and regional authorities need to build partnerships and networks, not only within their wider localities, but also beyond as we know that it is often the most vulnerable countries which suffer the impacts of damaging behavior taking place in more prosperous areas.
It is in this context that the Council of Europe Congress of Local and Regional Authorities, which represents more than 200,000 communities in 47 countries, from Reykjavik to Antalya, and from Lisbon to Vladivostok, offers a truly pan-European platform for cooperation and best practice exchanges among territorial authorities. Our activities are aimed at setting a normative framework for democratic practices, human rights and sustainable development.
Trans-frontier co-operation is also a way to improve relations between neighbouring countries and regions and to achieve greater cohesion and a reduction in regional disparities. In our culturally diverse Europe and Asia, it is an important tool for tackling common problems such as climate change and the subsequent problems such as rising sea levels, droughts and floods, resource scarcities and the emergence of ecological migrants.
It is in this spirit that the Congress has set up a new generation of Euroregions around Europe’s semi-closed seas which bring together local and regional communities from both member and non-member countries of the European Union, one around the Adriatic Sea and the most recent one around the Black Sea.
The main areas of cooperation for the Black Sea Euroregion are the protection of the environment, management of migration flows, transport energy and exchanges of good governance practices, to name just a few. We hope that Turkish regions and municipalities will join in this important cooperation platform.
Ladies and Gentlemen,
In the era of globalization in which we are living, with much of our common planet marked by different traditions, policies and religions, dialogue and mutual understanding between our people must be reinforced. We need to work together to redress economic and social unbalance, to reinforce democracy, to protect the environment and to settle conflicts.
We have to foster synergies between our cities and regions, synergies based on shared humanist values in order to promote sustainable development for the benefit our citizens throughout the Eurasian world.