Forty years after UNESCO Global Conference on Cultural Policies in Mexico City and towards UNESCO Mondiacult 2022, to be held also in Mexico City in next September 2022, the members of the #culture2030goal campaign have released a Statement.
In the continuity of the 2019 report on “Culture in the implementation of the 2030 Agenda” which analysed the place of culture in the Voluntary National Reviews submitted to the UN High-Level Political Forum – HLPF, the #Culture2030goal campaign elaborated a new report on ‘Culture in the Localization of the SDGs: An Analysis of the Voluntary Local Reviews (VLRs)’.
The main findings of the analysis show that there is great diversity of how local and regional governments (LRGs) address culture in their sustainable development policies and reporting. A good majority of VLRs have included the cultural dimension in their implementation of the 2030 Agenda, through substantive narratives. Cultural topics can be found at any level, as part of high-level policy frameworks and as practical examples of implementation, as separate sectoral headings, where LRGs have dedicated ‘cultural plans’, or supporting aspects of other policy headings, diffused throughout different Goals and Targets.
In September 2019, the campaign published the report “Culture in the implementation of the 2030 Agenda”. It analyzes the national reviews submitted to the High-Level Political Forum – HLPF (the main UN meeting that oversees the implementation of the Sustainable Development Goals – SDG). The report makes evident the (still marginal) presence of cultural factors and actors in the implementation of the SDG.
In the years leading to the adoption of the SDGs, several global networks campaigned, under the banner ‘The Future We Want Includes Culture’, for the inclusion of one specific goal devoted to culture, or for the integration of cultural aspects across the SDGs. This campaign was also known as the #culture2015goal campaign.
Four documents, including a #CultureGoal proposal, a declaration, a proposal of possible indicators for measuring the cultural aspects of the SDGs, and an assessment of the final 2030 Agenda were produced between 2013 and 2015. The declaration released in May 2014 was endorsed by 843 organisations and 2135 individuals.
