ICLEI President David Cadman speaking during the closing plenary at the ICLEI World Congress 2006

ICLEI President gives outlook on next six years

At the closing plenary of the ICLEI World Congress 2006 in Cape Town, South Africa ICLEI’s newly elected President David Cadman has given an outlook on ICLEI’s goals and priorities for the years 2007-2012. This is the six-year period of the Strategic Plan 2007-2012, which was adpted by ICLEI’s membership at the Council meeting in Cape Town on 3 March 2006.

(The full text of President Cadman’s speech can be downloaded as PDF file.)

ICLEI President David Cadman emphasized that "we need more examples of courageous leadership and “great” work! We must dare to be ambitious and to elevate our cities and communities on sustainable patterns of life. Ambitious cities are needed in order to demonstrate what can be achieved; at the same time, ambitious investments also require ambitious time spans so that investments of today are not regarded as un-investment in the near future.

We urgently need to connect with and influence the different spheres of government – not only to seek recognition and support to our work but also to avoid that national or international strategies contradict local action.

ICLEI as the world association of local governments for sustainability brings such ambitions together. We therefore must seek to increase our membership and the commitment of our members. In order to inspire change, we must combine our voices and work together through this variety of campaigns, programs and initiatives.

It seems fitting to now remind ourselves of our Mission:

“We, as ICLEI, are here to build and serve a worldwide movement to achieve tangible improvements in global sustainability through local actions”.

This also means reducing our cumulative footprint. To do this, we must first realize what our current state is. I am pleased that our membership agrees to examine the value of an ICLEI’s Footprint initiative. I have this vision that we would meet at our next World Congress with all our footprints in hand. This would be a strong signal of our ambition and commitment to jointly reducing our global impact.

We have shown here that we are a strong movement. I hope that the inspiration and motivation that we received from being here in Cape Town will accompany you in your work around the world."

Click [here] to download President Cadman's speech as a PDF file

Click [here] to read ICLEI's full Mission and Mandate

Click [here] to learn more about the ICLEI World Congress 2006