The members of the United Cities and Local Governments Executive Bureauwill meet in Paris from 15-16 March at the invitation of BertrandDelanoë, Mayor of Paris and Co-President of UCLG. On the agenda are keyissues which will affect how our cities - now home to over half of theworld?s population - are run in the future.

In addition to UCLG?s three co-Presidents, Bertrand Delanoë, Paco Moncayo Gallegos, Mayor of Quito, and Smangaliso Mkhatshwa, Councillor of Tshwane (Pretoria), mayors and local and regional government representatives from around the world will attend, including: Gérald Tremblay, Mayor of Montreal, Abbès Mohsen, Mayor of Tunis, Kadir Topbaþ, Mayor of Istanbul, Wim Deetman, Mayor of The Hague and Nicky Gavron, Deputy Major of London.

Key questions

Cities confronting climate change
On 16 March, the plenary session will focus on the impact of Climate Change on cities and their populations. According to the report by Sir Nicholas Stern on the Economics of Climate Change, 22 of the 55 largest cities in the world are seriously threatened by rising sea levels, whilst others are likely to suffer from serious shortages in clean water. This is the case of Quito, whose Mayor, Paco Moncayo Gallegos, will present a report on the situation at the Paris meeting. This report details the measures being taken by the city to deal with the melting of the glaciers which supply the city with drinking water. With regard to rising sea levels, Nicky Gavron, Deputy Mayor of London, will present the plan that London has developed to confront the flood risk. Many other cities are publishing and rolling out their own climate change strategies, and the Executive Bureau will be the occasion to exchange best practises on local-level initiatives focused on the impact of changing climate.

Reinforcing local democratic governance
In Nairobi next April, the United Nations will take a step towards the adoption of a text which will become the international reference in favour of reinforcing local and regional governments, decentralization and good local democratic governance: the Guidelines on Decentralisation. UCLG members have lobbied in favour of this crucially important text for the world?s local and regional governments. They will decide in Paris on a strategy to ensure the text?s adoption when presented to the United Nations General Assembly.

Development Cooperation
The European Union is reforming its cooperation instruments. In order to advance local democracy in the different regions of the world and to improve developing countries populations? access to basic services, local and regional governments wish to initiate a dialogue with EU institutions on their participation in cooperation strategies. Today, the world?s local and regional authorities manage less than 1% of development aid.

UCLG?s 2nd World Congress, Jeju, Korea, 28-31 October 2007
The Executive Bureau will be the occasion when UCLG members determine the themes for the UCLG World Congress in Jeju, South Korea, from 28 to 31 October 2007. In an urbanized world, the action of local governments and metropolitan areas must be at the heart of the agenda of global development. The Jeju World Congress will be the location for the largest gathering of mayors and local and regional government representatives in the world.
The title of the 2nd UCLG World Congress will be ? Changing cities are driving our world ?.

16.03.2007

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