SLoCaT Partnership calls on UNECE Transport Ministers to support the transport sector in implementing Global Agreements
Tuesday, February 22 2017, Geneva-Switzerland
SLoCaT´s Senior Advisor Mark Major presenting to the UNCECE´s Inland Transport Committee´s 79th session on 22nd February 2017
Today transport ministers from United Nations Economic Commission for Europe (UNECE) member countries and others will gather in Geneva, Switzerland to celebrate the 70th Anniversary of the UNECE Inland Transport Committee (ITC). In the Ministerial meeting “Past and Future of the UNECE Inland Transport Committee”, the participants will take stock of ITC’s past contributions and also decide on its future mission until 2030 at a time of profound changes, challenges and opportunities globally. The Ministerial meeting is part of the 79th Annual Session of the Inland Transport Committee which is taking place from February 21st to 24th in Geneva.
2017 marks the start of a new era in the global governance of sustainable transport. Recent years have seen a series of landmark global agreements on global development, urban development and climate change that set clear direction and objectives for action on transport, not only for addressing the environmental impacts of transport – but for maximising its contribution global social and economic development. The implementation of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) which were agreed in September 2015 as part of the 2030 Development Agenda, requires a new, strengthened focus on mobility. Transport features directly in 7 of the 17 SDG´s. At Habitat III, in Quito, Ecuador the world agreed on a “New Urban Agenda” (NUA) (October 2016) which fully recognizes the broad contribution of mobility to sustainable urban development. On the climate side, through the 2015 Paris Agreement on Climate Change, parties agreed to develop and maintain increasingly ambitious Nationally Determined Contributions (NDC).
In preparation of the meeting, the Partnership on Sustainable, Low Carbon Transport (SLoCaT) made a submission to the UNECE ITC, in which SLoCaT recommended 15 key actions to be taken by the UNECE countries divided over four major areas; (i) Tracking of the implementation of Sustainable Development Goals, (ii) Policy Development, (iii) Knowledge Development, and (iv) Stakeholder Coordination. The recommended actions include more effective coordination among different ministries at national level to support monitoring of transport related SDG targets, develop national urban policy frameworks for the development of sustainable urban mobility in support of the agreed NUA, support knowledge development and capacity building and facilitate the engagement of non-State transport actors in tackling Climate Change.
SLoCaT Partnership participated in the 79th Annual Session and presented during the Environment, Climate Change and Transport section of the program which focuses on implementation of the SDG. In the meeting it was agreed that over the next year all the ITC´s Working Parties will review their work program and revise as necessary to reflect the agreed UN 2030 Development Agenda and the Sustainable Development Goals.
SLoCaT looks forward to the opportunity to work together with the UNECE Inland Transport Committee to promote sustainable, low carbon transport in UNECE region and beyond.
Click here for the SLoCaT submission.
Please see the presentation here.