The United Nations Human Settlements Programme, UN Habitat, organizes the World Urban Forum (WUF) every two years as a global meeting and exchange platform for cities and municipalities worldwide. This time, the participants of the World Urban Forum will meet in Egypt's capital Cairo. Deputy Mayor Dr. Sautter will make several active contributions during the conference.
For example, she will present Bonn's path to climate neutrality and the Bonn Climate Plan at a panel event of the Global Covenant of Mayors on November 5, 2024. At the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), she will discuss the importance of data and indicators for SDG work and in particular the format of the Voluntary Local Review - the 2030 Agenda's reporting format adapted for the local level - in light of Bonn's participation in a pioneering pilot project.
In the afternoon, she will close a high-level discussion on synergies in the implementation of the three Rio Conventions on climate, nature and land organized by ONE UN, advocating in particular for better cooperation between national and local levels. On this occasion, she will meet with the new Executive Secretary of the Convention on Biological Diversity, Astrid Schomaker, and the Deputy Executive Secretary of the Convention to Combat Desertification, Andrea Meza Murillo.
On 6 November 2024, at a high-level event organized by the OECD and UN Habitat, the Deputy Mayor will describe the experience gained in Bonn with the active implementation of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) since the adoption of the 2030 Agenda in 2015. She will also meet the new Executive Director of UN Habitat, Anacláudia Rossbach, who has been in charge of the UN Human Settlements Programme since August 2024. Dr. Ursula Sautter will also take part in a panel discussion hosted by the Bonn-based UN organization UNDRR, where she will present Bonn's commitment as a resilience hub in the UNDRR programme “Making Cities Resilient”. Disaster risk reduction and resilience are also topics at an event organized by the Federal Foreign Office at the Goethe Institute in Cairo, which Sautter will attend in the evening.
At a Connective Cities event on November 8, 2024, Sautter will present Bonn's ideas and approaches to creating affordable housing, including the Bonn Building Land Model and a study on settlement densification across city boundaries. She will also report on the interdepartmental working group that is to prepare the development of a housing action plan.
Bonn - internationally and sustainably committed
In recent decades, Bonn has not only established itself as the German location of the United Nations, but also as a globally recognized center for sustainable development. The Bonn UN Campus comprises 26 United Nations organizations. In addition to the World Climate Secretariat, the largest of these include the Secretariat to Combat Desertification and the Volunteer Programme. The focus of the individual organizations ranges from species protection and water supply to disaster risk management.
The motto “Shaping a sustainable future” unites them all under a common thematic umbrella. They see it as their responsibility to use their specific work to contribute to the implementation of the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) by supporting governments and people in finding answers and ways for a sustainable future. The City of Bonn sees itself not only as a host to UN organizations, but also as a key player in actively supporting the work of the United Nations in Bonn and making it visible.
The City of Bonn is also committed to sustainability and the SDGs at an international level: through participation in international networks, as a Europe-active municipality and through municipal development cooperation via project partnerships around the world. The city also lives the guiding theme of sustainability for its own citizens. In 2016, the City of Bonn was one of the first municipalities in the Federal Republic of Germany to adopt a resolution to implement the 2030 Agenda at local level. It then developed its own municipal sustainability strategy in collaboration with local stakeholders in order to take action in the areas of social participation and gender equality; mobility, climate and energy; natural resources and the environment; work and the economy as well as global responsibility and One World.