The Second Day of the Eurasia Retreat

Learning sessions of the Eurasia Retreat “Eurasia Cities and Global Trends” continued on May 26. The program of the second day included three thematic areas: sessions on “The SDGs and Local Governments. Voluntary Local Reviews” and “International Climate Agendas. Development of Local Climate Plans”; an interactive session “Eurasia Cities: Priorities and Plans”; and an En-Roads business climate game, a simulation game to help participants explore various measures to prevent climate change.

Nikolai Bobylev, Ph.D., Associate Professor, Head of the educational program “Ecological Management” at Saint Petersburg State University, moderated the session “The SDGs and Local Governments. Voluntary Local Reviews”.

Rasikh Sagitov, Secretary General of UGLG-Eurasia, opened this session with an introductory speech, emphasizing the critical importance of local governments’ participation in achieving the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs):

“According to UCLG, 65% of the SDGs cannot be implemented without the participation of local governments. Despite the fact that these goals have been adopted by national governments at the global level, the issues they cover are addressed at the local level - in cities, districts, towns and villages”.

Sara Hoeflich, UCLG Learning Director, presented the fundamental principles of the UN 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development:

-        Leave no one behind

-        multilevel governance

-        integrated approach

-        partnership

-        accountability

The seminar participants did an interactive exercise on public garden planning taking into account the principles of sustainable development to reinforce the information.

The speeches of Azat Kubatbek Uulu, Chief of Staff of Osh Municipality (the Kyrgyz Republic, the Social Contract project), Alena Parfenova, Director of the Center for Social Communication “World Without Borders” (the Svetly tactile public garden, Krasnoyarsk), Evgeny Gavrilov, Head of the Corporate Culture and Youth Policy Development Department, HR Directorate of JSC “TatNeft” (Almetyevsk, the project “TatNeft SDGs Envoys”), Galina Kolesnikova, UN-Habitat Moscow Office (“SDG 11. Sustainable Cities and Communities”), Ruzal Farkhullin, Head of the Department for the Development of the Urban Ecological Framework, Institute for Urban Development (Kazan, Russia), who spoke about the role of public spaces in urban development; Dmitry Bakaldin, Head of Physical Education, Sports and Tourism of Almetyevsk (case study on sustainable transport “Almetyevsk as a Cycling City”); and Junaid Rafiq, Communcations Officer of UCLG-MEWA (Istanbul, Türkiye; waste management project) were devoted to specific urban practices and their correlation with the principles of the SDGs.

The final part of the first session was devoted to Voluntary Local Reviews. The speakers of the session were Rasikh Sagitov who presented the experience of participating in the preparation of the Voluntary National Review of the Russian Federation; Edgardo Bilsky, Director of UCLG for Research, who spoke by a video link about Voluntary Local Reviews; Marina Epifantseva, Deputy Head of the Tatarstan Investment Agency, also by a video link presented the Republic of Tatarstan in the National Set of the SDGs indicators; Njoud Abdeljawad, Manager of International Relations and Technical Support Department (Amman, Jordan), who shared Amman's experience in preparing a Voluntary Local Review.

The work program continued with the session “International Climate Agendas. Development of Local Climate Plans”, where the participants gained knowledge about global climate agendas, learned about recommendations for preparing climate plans and studied the experience of cities and regions in this area. This session was moderated by Evgeny Belov, Director of the “Climate Adaptation” practice, Agency for Strategic Initiatives (Moscow, Russia).

An introduction to climate change was made by Firdaous Oussidhoum, Special Advisor of UCLG on Environment and Climate Change. The focus of the presentation was on the Paris Climate Agreement, Sendai Framework and Sharm-El-Sheikh Adaptation Agenda.

Lyudmila Kozhanova, Head of the program of Climate Adaptation practice, Agency for Strategic Initiatives, EN-Roads Climate Ambassador, expert in sustainable energy development (Moscow, Russia), highlighted the climate-related SDGs and the role of local governments.

Evgeny Belov focused his attention around recommendations for the preparation of urban climate plans.

The final part of the session was dedicated to city climate cases, where Abdurahmon Abdurahmonzoda, Deputy Chairman of Dushanbe, spoke about the experience in preparing the climate plan “The Green City of Dushanbe”, Ravi Ranjan, Deputy Director General of the All-India Institute of Local Self-Government (New Delhi, India) shared the experience of Indian cities in preparing climate plans, and Polina Zakharova, Director of the Budgetary Environmental Protection Institution “MosEcoMonitoring” (Moscow, Russia), presented Moscow’s experience in developing a climate strategy.

The day continued with the En-Roads climate game. As a result, the participants tested various solutions to the game's main goal of keeping global warming within 1.5°C (introducing a carbon tax, increasing energy efficiency, subsidizing renewable energy, electrifying transportation, planting forests) and explored how these measures help cope with climate change.

The last scheduled session of the day was the interactive session “Eurasia Cities: Priorities and Plans”. It was moderated by Rasikh Sagitov. At the first session, the participants were introduced to the up-to-date projects, contests and events. The speakers of the session included Emilia Saiz, Secretary General of UCLG (Barcelona, Spain), Mehmet Duman, Secretary General of UCLG-MEWA (Istanbul, Türkiye), Jordi Pascual, Coordinator, UCLG Culture Committee (Barcelona, Spain), Galina Kolesnikova, UN-Habitat Office in Moscow, Maksim Bulatov, Director General of LLC “Top-Time” (“Топ-Тайм”), founder of the offline school Skillbox in Kazan, Hamidreza Gholamzadeh Natanzi, Deputy Mayor for International Affairs at Tehran Municipality(Tehran, Iran), Secretary General of Asian Mayors Forum.

During the second part of the Eurasia Retreat, the participants were presented events planned in their cities.

Presentations of international events by UCLG’s member cities were made by Mikhail Leonov, Deputy Director General of Directorate of Sports and Social Projects (Kazan, Russia), Bekturgan Orozbaev, Director of Union of Local Self-Governments of the Kyrgyz Republic (Bishkek, the Kyrgyz Republic), Alim Temirbulatov, Chairman of Association “Council of Municipalities of the Republic of Dagestan”, Head of Kaytagsky District (Russia), Tatyana Shestakova, CEO of the Association “Healthy Cities, Districts and Villages” (Russia), Anastasia Sibileva, Head of the International Relations Division of the Department for External Economic and International Relations of Moscow (Moscow, Russia), Svetlana Strugaleva, Chief Specialist of International Relations Department, Municipality of Yaroslavl (Yaroslavl, Russia), Azat Kubatbek Uulu, Chief of Staff of the Municipality of Osh (the Kyrgyz Republic).

At the end of the day, the moderator took stock of the Eurasia Retreat and awarded certificates for participation in the training.

Thus, the participants learned about modern trends determining key directions of urban development and inter-municipal cooperation, as well as about global agendas, a climate agenda in particular, the SDGs’ implementation in general, and recommendations on the preparation of climate plans. They studied the experience of cities and regions related to this matter, and considered the addressing of urgent for local governments issues of practical nature, such the establishment of cooperation with mass media.

Equally important is that the participants were able to find the combination of a balance between business and pleasure. During the Eurasia Retreat, guests of the capital immersed into the local culture – visited historical sights of Kazan and tasted the Tatar cuisine known all over Russia, had a trip to the ancient city of Bolgar – a UNESCO World Heritage Site, the capital of Volga Bulgaria – the state once existed in the territory of contemporary Moscow.

Thanks to the feedback received from the participants, it could be noted that the Eurasia Retreat “Eurasia Cities and Global Trends” was a great success. The organizers of the event strived to hold the training as best as possible and are glad that guests’ high expectations were met. We hope that the experience gained by the participants in Kazan will find the worthy practical application, and fond memories will remain long in hearts of our dear guests!

30.05.2023

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