Background
With a growing awareness of the gravity of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), local or regional governments are finding that the key to achieving the global agenda lies in their political will and commitment. The City of Kitakyushu set out strong local initiatives to promote many good practices in implementing SDGs, and published a Voluntary Local Review on SDGs in cooperation with IGES. This VLR was announced at the High-level Political Forum in 2018 as one of the world’s first local review reports on the SDGs. In 2019, UN DESA complied 295 good practices in implementing the SDGs as outcomes of the 1st open call, and the case study of City of Kitakyushu was featured as one of them. As global recognition of initiatives by Kitakyushu increases, there is more demand for ways to learn from the city’s experiences.
The Institute for Global Environmental Strategies (IGES) is a Public Interest Incorporated Foundation established in 1998. The aim of the Institute is to achieve a new paradigm for civilization and conduct innovative policy development and strategic research for environmental measures, reflecting the results of research into political decisions for realizing sustainable development both in the Asia-Pacific region and globally. For our brochure, please download from here.
The Kitakyushu Urban Centre (KUC) is one of the research units within IGES. Aiming at mainstreaming sustainable city development policies and practices in Asian cities, KUC’s research and activities are enhanced by close links with local stakeholders, working on the sustainable city agenda.
KUC webpage