Declaration of Commitment adopted by ICLEI's membership

ICLEI Council adopts Declaration of Commitment

The triennial general assembly of local government members, the ICLEI Council meeting held in Cape Town, South Africa on 3 March 2006 ended with the adoption of a Declaration of Commitment (full text below; the document can also be downloaded as a PDF file). The declaration reflects the key content of the Strategic Plan 2007-2012 (Cape Town Plan).

We, Members of the world association ICLEI – Local Governments for Sustainability, by approving the Strategic Plan 2007-2012, endorse the vision for our association as:

• a growing Association of local governments dedicated to sustainable development with worldwide presence, which has challenging positions, whose voice is heard, and which is attractive to be a member of, work for and partner with;
• a high-energy, flexible Movement of local governments working together in networks for performance, supported by campaigns and programs, and strategic alliances;
• an effective sustainability and environmental Agency demonstrating creativity and excellence both in developing cutting-edge solutions and in program design and execution.

We commit to building sustainable communities and cities while protecting global common goods. In particular:

• We commit to address: injustice and conflict by promoting local agendas for peace and security; disaster risk by building more resilient communities and cities; poverty by promoting viable local communities; and the inefficient use of environmental resources through an eco-efficient cities initiative.
• We commit to protect global common goods by engaging in the Cities for Climate Protection Campaign and encouraging municipal leaders to join the World Mayors Council on Climate Change; by engaging in the Water Campaign for better water governance and management; and by joining our new network of local governments for biodiversity action.

We commit to apply participatory governance and sustainability management instruments in order to ensure unwavering implementation. In particular:

• We commit to promote participatory sustainable development planning (Local Agenda 21) and to accelerate implementation through Local Action 21.
• We commit to consider ICLEI’s management instruments such as ecoBudget and Triple Bottom Line reporting to more effectively manage our environmental, social and economic performance.
• We commit to sustainable procurement of goods and services.
• Inspired by the presentations and discussions at the “Out of Africa – Local Solution for Global Challenges” ICLEI World Congress 2006 in Cape Town, South Africa, we will strive to calculate our ecological footprint and to report results at the ICLEI World Congress 2009, to raise awareness of the footprint of ICLEI as a whole.

Click [here] to read more about ICLEI's Strategic Plan

Click [here] to read more about ICLEI's Campaigns & Programs

Click [here] to read more about the “Out of Africa – Local Solution for Global Challenges” ICLEI World Congress 2006