How do Nordic and European organisations support Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) implementation at the local level? Which initiatives are relevant for different Nordic countries? Nordregio together with The Norwegian Association of Local and Regional Authorities (KS) has published a new report which provides inspiration and further references to advance the work on Agenda 2030.
The report “Localising the Sustainable Development Goals in Europe: Perspectives for the North” considers localisation efforts and serves as a guide, with the references providing information and background on selected Nordic and European SDG localisation efforts, reflecting important objectives, priorities and key activities of the different institutions, organisations, and programmes. In so doing, the aim has been to help navigate among the available resources and to identify which initiatives, networks, or tools might be most suitable for a given context and available capacities.
“While this report addresses primarily a Norwegian context, it also builds on previous Nordregio work and Nordic Council of Minister’s publications. So in many ways, it is taking stock and consolidating Nordic efforts to localise the 2030 Agenda with a European outlook in mind. SDG initiatives are advancing every day, everywhere. Moving forward, it will be important to (re)consider how the Nordic countries are supporting regional and local level SDG implementation through national policies and action plans. Also – looking at the potential to strengthen policy coherence and/or indicator frameworks not just as it is planned and carried out within each country but across the Nordic Region,” says the author of the report Diana N. Huynh, Junior Research Fellow at Nordregio.
In recent years, there has been a clear global agreement that the sustainability goals cannot be met without local efforts. Since 2015, cities, local and regional governments and their associations alike have actively been advocating for localising the 2030 Agenda, bringing the SDGs closer to the people and communities they serve, and using the framework as a tool for local planning and development.
