Rio20_nº6_EN_2_ENGLISH 04/03/13 16:23 Página 3
Presentation This document is a summary of the strategy that the Committee on culture of United Cities and Local Governments has developed in recent years on culture and sustainability and which was aiming to influence the process towards the UN Conference on Sustainable Development (Rio+20) which took place in Rio de Janeiro on 20-22 June 2012. The document summarises the conceptual basis of our strategy, and its main outcomes. Our strategy is based on Agenda 21 for culture (approved in Barcelona in May 2004, the founding document of our Committee, a worldwide declaration of cities and local governments for the role of culture in our societies) and the Policy Statement “Culture, Fourth Pillar of Sustainable Development”, unanimously adopted by United Cities and Local Governments (in Mexico in November 2010). As in other dimensions of sustainable development, the strategy to influence Rio+20 obtained very scarce success. There is not yet a critical mass of actors (in the UN System, at a national level, in the civil society) that explicitly advocate for the role of culture in sustainable development. Sadly, there still is a gap between the wide development frameworks and the role of culture. We are optimistic. We feel the gap is becoming narrower, that the struggle in Rio+20 was worthwhile, that more actors are connected, and that the international community has created other opportunities to continue the discussion: the post-2015 Agenda and Habitat III. Let’s understand this document as a stone in this process, but also as a soft stone, as a “working document”. If you have comments, indications or suggestions, please, contact us. We will sincerely appreciate your inputs to this document. I wish you pleasant reading, and encourage you to collaborate with UCLG in the promotion, the dissemination and the implementation of the Agenda 21 for culture, as well as to achieve a better coordination of those actors that fight for culture as a pillar or dimension of sustainability.
Catherine Cullen Councillor for Culture, Lille President of UCLG’s Committee on culture
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