Background and Results of ‘Global Nachhaltige Kommune (GNK) NRW’ (Globally Sustainable Municipalities)
LAG21 Closing Event
Background and Results of ‘Global Nachhaltige Kommune (GNK) NRW’ (Globally Sustainable Municipalities)
As part of LAG21’s Global Sustainable Municipality in NRW (GNK NRW) Closing Event, Annette Turmann (Service Agency Communities in One World) and Dr. Klaus Reuter (LAG21) presented background information and results of the project that began 2016 and ended this year April and saw the participation of 15 model municipalities of 19,000 and up to one million inhabitants. Their commitment to implement Agenda 2030 and realize individual SDGs is reflected in their financial commitment and newly created strategic planning within GNK NRW.
Speaker
- Annette Turmann, SKEW – Service Agency Communities in One World
- Dr. Klaus Reuter, LAG21 NRW
Sustainable Groundwork
In the preceding keynote, given by Jens Marten (Global Policy Forum), four challenges to successfully implement Agenda 2030 and six key areas of activity to realize SDGs on municipal level were given. GNK NRW set out to face those challenges and with two counties, 12 cities and one municipality of 19,000 and up to one million inhabitants, they impact a great proportion of the population in NRW (see fig. 1; picture 2 in Tweet below).
Creating a local network, and establishing situation-tailored guidelines and strategic goals for decision making on the municipal level (see fig. 2; picture 3 in Tweet below) allows to mainstream climate adaptation, especially in administrative bodies responsible for, among other tasks, financial management, and to reach and inform more of the general population. By building long-lasting capacities to localizing SDGs, GNK NRW made the first and important step to implement Agenda 2030 and build a sustainable future.
Money Talks
One of the four challenges to successfully implement Agenda 2030, as identified by Jens Marten (Global Policy Forum), is ‘Securing Long-Term Financing’ (challenge #2), accompanied by the slogan sustainable goals require sustainable budgets. In this regard, local authorities’ distribution of remunerations can indicate which SDGs are most likely to be realized in the future, and possibly, are of particular importance for them.
Model municipalities participating in GNK NRW made various financial contributions to the implementation of the SDGs (n=1352), with a leading group of five goals (see fig. 3; Tweet below). They are, in descending order:
- #11 – Make cities and human settlements inclusive, safe, resilient and sustainable,
- #4 – Ensure inclusive and equitable quality education and promote lifelong learning opportunities for all,
- #8 – Promote sustained, inclusive and sustainable economic growth, full and productive employment and decent work for all,
- #10 – Reduce inequality within and among countries, and with almost equal emphasis
- #12 – Ensure sustainable consumption and production patterns.
The group of remaining SDGs receiving less contributions to their implementation is lead by SDG #9 – Build resilient infrastructure, promote inclusive and sustainable industrialization and foster innovation. The distance of SDG #9 to the next goal, being the least valued goal within the group receiving most financial contributions, is roughly equal to the greatest inter-group goal-difference of last mentioned group.
Click here to check out all SDGs calling for worldwide action among governments, business and civil society to end poverty and create a life of dignity and opportunity for all, within the boundaries of the planet.
Fig. 4: Overview SDGs
Strategic Follow-Up
An extensive web of 1,350 linkages between the developed targets of the model municipalities and the Agenda 2030 shows that GNK NRW picks up the opportunity to work at another challenge to implement Agenda 2030: overcoming the niche-dilemma. Basing targets for political decision-making on the local level on Agenda 2030 creates a political basis upon which, subsequently, an integrated local/ municipal sustainable development strategy can be developed in order to realize the SDGs. This picks up three of the six key areas of activities for municipalities, as identified by Jens Marten.
Service Agency Communities in One World (SKEW)’s Website
