During a panel discussion held at the UN headquarters during the High Level Political Forum on Sustainable Development (HLPF 2023), select cities from around the world shared their experiences with publishing a Voluntary Local Review (VLR), and the City of Yokohama had the honor of being invited to talk about its knowledge and experience after publishing its first VLR in 2021, including how a VLR has supported Yokohama’s city-to-city collaboration efforts.
For the unaware, a VLR is a report published by a local government reviewing that city’s progress toward accomplishing the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), which are a set of 17 sweeping goals launched by the UN that include social equality, elimination of poverty, sustainability, environmental protection, and more. A VLR has many purposes, and can help citizens understand the steps a city is taking to attempt to achieve the SDGs and how much is still left to accomplish, a valuable insight into the inner workings of a sometimes opaque local government system. However, there are major benefits for the city itself as well.
The City of Yokohama was invited to the “What Happens After the VLR?” panel discussion side event held during the HLPF 2023 to share Yokohama City’s experiences in publishing its first VLR, with Masahiro Nishikawa Director of the Representative Office to the Americas attending as its representative. Other members present and speaking at the event included the cities of Barcelona, Buenos Aires, Kitchener, and the country of Tanzania. The event was hosted by the Institute for Global Environmental Strategies (IGES) and the International Institute for Sustainable Development (IISD) on July 11, 2023.
Yokohama first introduced essential aspects of the VLR, including its benefits to the city through the process of its development, its function as a communication tool between cities, and finally its function as a catalyst to create a global movement of supporting the SDGs.
Yokohama City has been actively supporting other global cities through various partnerships and projects, such as the Asia Smart City Conference it hosts every year, where representatives from various Asian government and representatives can gather to discuss problems and solutions, and its Y-PORT program that focuses on addressing urbanization issues faced by cities in Southeast Asia. The Y-PORT program has helped Yokohama support projects in various fields in emerging countries, such as helping to install a plastic recycling plant in Cebu, Philippines.
Yokohama City recognizes that publishing a VLR has supported those efforts, allowing cities to review city-to-city collaboration projects comprehensively, and increasing avenues for green investment. Da Nang, Vietnam is one of the Y-PORT Partner Cities, and is currently investigating producing its own VLR. Yokohama is currently supporting these efforts and sharing its experience so that Da Nang can also utilize a VLR as a tool for international collaboration and to help solve its urban problems.
Yokohama City has been actively supporting other global cities through various partnerships and projects, such as the Asia Smart City Conference it hosts every year, where representatives from various Asian government and representatives can gather to discuss problems and solutions, and its Y-PORT program that focuses on addressing urbanization issues faced by cities in Southeast Asia. The Y-PORT program has helped Yokohama support projects in various fields in emerging countries, such as helping to install a plastic recycling plant in Cebu, Philippines.
Publishing a VLR has supported those efforts, allowing cities to review city-to-city collaboration projects comprehensively, and increasing avenues for green investment. Da Nang, Vietnam is one of the Y-PORT Partner Cities, and Yokohama is currently supporting their own VLR efforts and sharing its experience so that Da Nang can also utilize a VLR as a tool for international collaboration and to help solve its urban problems.
The collaborative opportunities of the VLR extend beyond urbanization issues. Yokohama has set a goal to achieve carbon neutrality by 2050, with a major milestone goal of reducing emissions to be met in 2030. Yokohama has also assisted in drafting master climate change policy plans in Bangkok, Thailand and Da Nang, Vietnam. These cities have made their own declarations to achieve carbon neutrality by 2050 in collaboration with Yokohama.
Leading up to the 2030 milestone deadline, Yokohama will also be hosting the green Expo 2027 event, a world-class horticultural exhibition, to raise awareness and share a vision of environmental harmony, showcase nature based solutions. Yokohama recognizes it is crucial to sharing practices and experiences of SDGs advancement at the local level with each other for the world so that no one is left behind, and the HLPF side event was a valuable opportunity for Yokohama to share its views and experience. Yokohama is continuing to work with diverse partners and striving to help achieve the SDGs globally.
Recording:
For more information, visit the IISD article about the event.
