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Bhopal in Madhya Pradesh has become the first city in India to adopt the localisation of the United Nations-mandated sustainable development goals (SDG). MP’s capital city will now have voluntary local reviews (VLR) demonstrate local government’s capacity and commitments.
Chief Minister Shivraj Chouhan launched an Agenda for Action: Sustainable Urban Transformation in Bhopal on May 12, 2023, the UN said in a press release.
The SDGs localisation is translating the agenda, Transforming our world: the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development (known as Agenda 2030), into local actions and impacts that contribute to the global achievement of the goals.
Bhopal’s VLR is the result of a collaboration between the Bhopal Municipal Corporation, UN-Habitat and a collective of over 23 local stakeholders to measurably demonstrate the city’s aspirations for a sustainable and inclusive urban transformation, the press note said.
It incorporated a mix of quantitative and qualitative approaches to the review of SDGs, with qualitative mapping of 56 developmental projects.
In 2015, all 193 member states of the UN adopted the Agenda 2030, comprising 17 SDGs and 169 targets as a plan of action for people, planet and prosperity.
The member states report their progress towards achieving the goals through a voluntary national review (VNR) to UN’s high-level political forum (HLPF).
Local and regional governments are increasingly engaging in their own subnational reviews, so-called VLRs, which have proven useful for cities and regions, according to the UN.
Unlike the VNRs, local reviews do not directly have an official basis in the 2030 Agenda or other intergovernmental agreements, even though the 2030 Agenda underlines in several places the importance of governments working closely with regional and local authorities on its implementation.
Cities and regions have a pivotal role in achieving Agenda 2030 as at least 60 per cent of the 169 targets could not possibly be achieved, the UN said.
VLRs have emerged as a powerful tool that forefronts local action. New York City became the first city to present its VLR to the HLPF in 2018. By 2021, some 33 countries had made 114 VLRs or similar review documents publicly available.