Mayor from Burkina Faso addresses UN Commission on Sustainable Development for ICLEI

May 09, 2008

The United Nations Commission for Sustainable Development’s 16^th Session (UN CSD-16) officially was officially opened on 5 May 2008 and will run through to16 May 2008.

ICLEI is the official representative for Local Authorities, one of nine official Major Groups that formally participate in CSD-16. In its role, ICLEI represents a range of local governments’ organisations as well as his own 800+ Members. The Delegation is coordinated by Ms Kobie Brand, Regional Director of ICLEI Africa. It includes the following delegates:

Mayor David Gikaria from the City of Nakuru in Kenya
Mayor Arba Diallo from the City of Dori in Burkina Faso
Mr David Cadman, ICLEI’s President and Councillor for the City of Vancouver
Ms. Hansa Patel, an ICLEI Executive Committee Member from India

Cadman addressed the opening plenary by appealing to National Governments and the International Community to capacitate, resource and support local authorities in addressing sustainability issues they face. He highlighted that more than half of the world’s population now live in cities and over 6 billion people are expected to live in cities by 2050.

During the 6 May “Dialogue with Major Groups”, Mayor Arba Diallo from the City of Dori in Burkina Faso, addressed the plenary: “Environmental sustainability must be addressed at the international, regional and national level, but the reality remains that implementation happens largely at local level”.

On 9 May ICLEI hosted an official side event on Friday, 9 May, entitled: “Dialogue on the Sustainability of African Cities” An Panel included Mayors from both West and South-Eastern Africa. They were joined by the President of the World Federation of Engineering Organisations (an organisation which includes 90 countries and 15 million engineers), Barry Grear who addressed the challenges that developing cities face.

More information

Official site UN CSD-16

UN Convention to Combat Desertification