The 8th UCLG ASPAC Congress: “SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT GOALS AMIDST COVID-19 RECOVERY”

COVID-19 has brought devastating impacts to all countries in the world. The COVID-19 pandemic presented us with unprecedented challenges from health crisis, economic recession and development in general. The global agenda has put concern in gathering strategies to tackle and mitigate the multifaceted impact of the pandemic for the past year.

According to UNESCAP, The Asia-Pacific region is not on track to achieve the 17 Sustainable Development Goals in 2030. On current trajectory, Asia and The Pacific may achieve less than 10% of the SDG targets without immediate and joint-collaboration to tackle this concern.

Therefore, COVID-19 Recovery is the opportunity to accelerate progress toward the 2030 Agenda, and this is achievable only when world leaders address and increase the pace for an integrated, sustainable, and inclusive policy responses and actions towards recovery. By accelerating progress on the SDGs through COVID-19 recovery, the world can strengthen resilience against future shocks.

Meanwhile, this pandemic has sparked a momentum for building back better, particularly as the 2030 achievement of SDGs is on the horizon, which are most impactful at the local level. It has emphasized the role of cities and local governments, as front liners in the journey towards recovery and beyond. We have learnt to be more resilient in every sense of crisis that may be faced in the near future.

UCLG ASPAC as the largest cities and local governments association in Asia Pacific is continuously supporting its members and working with partners around the world to build back stronger in post pandemic era, through advocacy and strengthening cooperation. To address the urgency for actions to accelerate the 2030 Agenda, particularly during the recovery, UCLG ASPAC will serve a platform to conduct knowledge exchange among cities and local governments across Asia and the Pacific for the attainment of SDGs during the 8th UCLG ASPAC Congress under the theme “From Steady Recovery to Sustained Prosperity in Post COVID in Asia Pacific”.

The event will be held from 7 to 9 September 2021 and co-hosted by the Zhengzhou Municipal People’s Government in a virtual format.

It has never been a better time for Asia-Pacific cities to rise to the occasion. The UCLG ASPAC calls for mayors, governors, local governments’ officials, key development actors and people across the Asia Pacific countries to join hands to strengthen cooperation and empower communities to engage in new and effective approaches in driving a sustained recovery, and to continue the path in achieving the Sustainable Development Goals.

There could not be a more critical time than now to reshape the way we live for a recovered world. There could not be a more critical life than the one we sustain for shared prosperity.

Let’s start now, not tomorrow.

Let’s start together, not alone.

Let’s start now, together.

 

By KM Team