Christinne Muschi The Canadian Press Montreal Mayor Valérie Plante will be part of the Advisory Group on sustainable development UN local and regional governments.
Montreal Mayor Valérie Plante will be part of a new United Nations (UN) group that aims to strengthen community participation in the implementation of a sustainable development program.
Ms. Plante will be a member of the Advisory Group on Local and Regional Governments alongside 19 other elected officials. Among them are the mayor of New York, Eric Adams, the mayor of Rabat, Morocco, Asmaa Rhlalou and the mayor of Paris, Anne Hidalgo.
The group, made up of 15 local elected officials from five continents and five national elected officials, has “the mandate to strengthen the participation of local and regional authorities in intergovernmental and national planning processes which will lead to the achievement of the 2030 Sustainable Development Agenda and of the New UN Urban Agenda”, we can read in a press release released Monday by the city of Montreal.
“My participation in the UN Consultative Group for local and regional authorities will allow Montreal to draw inspiration from best practices and support the ambitious decisions that must be taken throughout the world to minimize the impacts of climate change on populations”, affirmed Mayor Plante, in a press release.
The Secretary General of the UN, António Guterres, created the group during a first meeting with the 20 members of the grouping, on October 6.
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“As we consider how to make multilateral institutions more effective and address the current and future challenges facing our societies and the planet, we need the perspectives and engagement of local and regional authorities,” said Mr. Guterres, during this meeting.
The group will work for a year and meet with Mr. Guterres three times, we read in a statement published on the United Nations website. “The United Nations Human Settlements Program (UN-Habitat) will provide administrative support to the group,” it says.
This announcement comes shortly after the Adaptation Futures 2023 conference, focusing on adaptation to climate change, which was held in Montreal from October 2 to 6.
Ms. Plante was also present at the end of September at the climate week in New York, the “Climate Week”, where she notably took part in a round table on the ecological transition at the United Nations headquarters.