Strategic Plenaries
The greatest challenge, according to Ms Mohammed,
is to be ambitious while at the same setting goals and targets that are realistic and achievable.
The greatest challenge, according to Ms Mohammed, is to be ambitious while at the same setting goals and targets that are realistic and achievable. She called for capacity building and the improvement of institutions and governance at all levels. There was broad agreement amongst the panellists that development responsibilities and commitments for local governments must be backed up by the resources necessary to fulfil them. Kadir Topbaş discussed the case of fast-growing cities in
Turkey, and Adolf Mwesige called for more resource transfers from national to local governments. Ségolène Royal called for climate change to be made a priority. She argued that the challenge of global warming should be seen as an opportunity to change ‘the rules of the game’, including our consumption patterns, housing, agriculture, etc. Ms Royal suggested that we could boost economies and protect the environment by consuming less, and ‘better’.
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