Even countries with a particular declared commitment to the goal of gender equality (such as Portugal, Sweden or Venezuela) neglected to reach out to local government associations to seek this data. At the same time, it is notable that just 19 countries provide data on women’s representation in national parliaments, even though this kind of information is generally publicly and widely available. This lack of attention to data on women’s participation and representation in public life is a cause for concern, particularly given the political commitment that will be required to develop data sources on women in local government for indicator 5.5.1.
Some model initiatives for women and girl empowerment at local level.
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“For the family and life” – Government of the State of Minas Gerais (Brazil) – This initiative created a standard procedure for the protection of women victims of violence, permanent care of their families and surveillance of aggressors. The initiative was extended to another 18 municipalities of Minas Gerais, reaching a population of approximately 260,000 inhabitants covered by the programme. Gender Vision – eThekwini Municipality (South Africa) – The initiative focuses on the empowerment of women and the involvement of men. It has five focal areas: occupational and community capacity building; targeting men and women young and old; gender machinery (monitoring and evaluation); institutional development; community action support and social integration projects. GoWomenLG 2016 – Victorian Local Governance Association (VLGA, Australia) – The initiative was launched to increase the representation of women at the 2016 local elections in the Australian state of Victoria through outreach and awareness-raising (e.g. #ask1woman social media campaign), regional forums, and providing resources and support for candidates. Thanks to this initiative, women now make up 38% of elected councilors (up from 34% in 2012). Department of Gender Mainstreaming – City of Barcelona (Spain) – In 2015, the city of Barcelona set up a department responsible for introducing a gender perspective into the work of all departments and district offices of the city council through a combination of technical and policy support, staff training and research, monitoring and evaluation of the gender impact of all municipal departments.
5.4.4 Goal 14: Conserve and sustainably use the oceans, seas and marine resources for sustainable development Half of the world’s inhabitants live less than 60km from the sea, and 75% of large cities are located on the coast. In human history, coastal territories have been among the most productive and populated settlement areas. However, this concentration of population and human activities (e.g. tourism, industries, etc.) is putting significant pressure on coastal ecosystems, mostly through habitat destruction, biodiversity loss, and pollution. Coastal ecosystems are also vulnerable to rising sea levels worldwide. Coastal metropolitan areas, intermediary cities and their hinterlands have been observing and suffering from the deterioration of mangroves and other lowland coastal environments, which threatens their often unique biodiversity, and the exhaustion of fishery resources and activities in a vast number of coastal areas around the world.
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