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Global Mayors’ Forum Successfully Held the Six-Part Forum

 

19 November 2011

 

As one of the series of GMF activities, the Six-Party Forum was held in Zhuhai on the morning of 19th November 2011. The six parties were including representatives from government departments, social organizations, academic institutions, enterprises, media as well as students from universities. With the theme on “Developing a Green Economy and Leading a Low-carbon Life”, the representatives actively shared their opinions and insights with each other, and talked about their expectations to the Rio+20 Summit.

 

To make the Advocacy of GMF’s “Road to Rio+20” admitted and concerned, the Six-Party Forum was not only a platform for representatives to speak, but also a channel to convey the messages to the UN Rio+20 Summit next year. Invited by GMF, Mr. Sha Zukang, Under Secretary General of the United Nations and Secretary General of the UN Conference on Sustainable Development (A.K.A. Rio+20), was presented at the Six-Party Forum and interacting with the representatives from time to time. GMF also invited Dr. Gerd Schwandner, Mayor of Oldenburg, who had contributed to the industries of new energies and sustainable development, and Mr. David Downey, President of International Downtown Association, who had been devoting himself in sustainable urban environment.

 

Representatives were sharing their opinions with each other.

 

In addition, USG Sha delivered a speech at the opening ceremony of the Chinese Sustainable Development Forum 2011 as a special guest. Another important speaker presented at the conference was Ms. Deng Nan, President of the Chinese Society for Sustainable Development and Deputy Director of the Education, Science, Culture and Sports Committee of the CPPCC National Committee.

 

President Deng Nan, Under Secretary General Sha Zukang and Secretary General Jin Lan at the exhibition

 

The opening ceremony of the Chinese Sustainable Development Forum 2011

 

USG Sha emphasized that, there was no finish line for sustainable development. The three norms to measure urban sustainability, which were economic development, social development and environmental protection, were connected to one another. Their increasement and harmony should be reflected during the cause of urban development. As one of the most essential conferences in the future ten years, the Rio+20 Summit would carry out further discussions on the subjects such as green employment, poverty eradication, foods security, natural disaster reduction and so on, so as to seek solutions through the means of sustainable development.

 

USG Sha was giving a speech at the Forum.

 

The city of Oldenburg won a big German award on sustainable development in 2009. In the past 30 years, Oldenburg possessed unique technologies on the aspects of new energies and sustainable life styles and built up a sustainable production chain that included fund raising, energy producing, energy storage and wind prediction for weather forecast.

 

“We have to ask ourselves: How do we want to travel?” said Dr. Schwandner, Mayor of Oldenburg. “The best solution would probably be if all people would just ride their bikes – like they do in Oldenburg and in China. But let’s be honest: that won’t happen. So, we have to work further on effective yet practicable solutions…The savings will be massive, if we could optimize both, mass transportation and individual traffic.” Dr. Schwandner continued, “We’re always striving to do better. We expect decentralised energy production to be the next big thing. In the future, there won’t be huge power plants; there will be millions of virtual power plants in private households.”

 

Dr. Gerd Schwandner, Mayor of Oldenburg

 

The International Downtown Association (IDA) is a not for profit association - an NGO - based in Washington DC. “It was established in 1956 as a means of sharing information and experiences among several locally based like-minded business organizations formed to help revitalize historic centers within their cities”, said Mr. David Downey, President of IDA. “some of the activities of our members have included: providing a unified voice to advocate on behalf of the downtown area; organizing coordinated advertising and marketing programs to promote the downtown; commissioning planning and feasibility studies for new growth; and providing varied forms of financial and professional support.”

 

Mr. Downey suggested that, building up a successful downtown and liveable city was the substantial foundation for sustainability and green economy. “Management of a downtown is usually accomplished through business improvement districts (BIDS). These are special districts whereby businesses and property owners within a defined geographic area agree to pay an additional amount of money. In return, they receive a level of public services over and above those provided by the municipality”, said Mr. Downey. “The first such BID was establish in Toronto, Canada over thirty years ago and today in North America alone there are more than 1,000.”

 

Mr. David Downey, President of IDA was giving his professional suggestions.

 

Ms. Zhang Ruoning, Director of the European Department of Chinese People's Association for Friendship with Foreign Countries participated in the Six-Party Forum as a special representative of the United Cities and Local Governments Asia Pacific. She said that sustainable urban development could be in various means and contents. Different cities could make use of its local advantages and distinguished features to form its own sustainability.

 

Ms. Zhang Ruoning was sharing her opinion.

 

With the goal to push forward urban green economy, Global Mayors’ Forum is an international non-governmental organization founded by Chinese. The organization has had 3,461 city members from across the globe since its establishment five years ago. Secretary General Ms. Jin Lan introduced that the organization had always been the advocator and practitioner of the idea of leading a low-carbon life. “Take the brochure that is distributed to the conference participants for example, it was made of recycled paper and environmental-friendly materials. The staff of our organization are carrying out a green and low-carbon means to deal with daily work.”

 

Dr. Carl Men Ky Ching, President of Global Mayors’ Forum

 

Ms. Jin Lan, Secretary General of Global Mayors’ Forum, was giving a speech on carrying out a low-carbon means to work.