UCLG-MEWA NEWSLETTER - 3

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From UCLG MEWA

Contents:

www.uclg-mewa.org

Owner

Mehmet DUMAN

Coordinator

Cenk TIKIZ

Editor-in Chief

Sema SAK

Contributers

Adrian LİCHA

Aylin KÜLAHÇI

Büşra MÜFTÜOĞLU

Dominique GATTO-KOÇ

Dovile BARTULYTE

Gamze KILIÇ

Hamidullah BAYRAM

Lokman AKGÜN

Süleyman SÜRAT

Sümeyra GÜÇLÜ

Tuğba EKŞİ

Ülkü GÜL

Designed by

Sedrettin KONUK

Pınar KELEŞ

City Councils 4

Interview 9

UCLG World Organization 12

UCLA Africa Section 14

UCLG Europe Section 16

Local Government Systems 18

Alanya Municipality Protects Its Cultural Heritage 21

Çankaya 1000 Children Chorus 23

IMM KUDEP 25

Nilüfer Municipality Anatolian Bazaar Project 27

Beyoğlu Municipality: Urban Transformation 28

Cover: Energy 29

WALD 34

Activities 35

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Dear Members,

In this issue we have approached an important subject for all parts of the

world and primarily for the Middle East and West Asia (MEWA) Region:

‘Increasing Energy Demand and Energy Wars’. We have also included some

epitomic projects from European Cities on ‘Efficient Energy’.

Among the best practices; we are bringing up Alanya Municipality who owns

an important historical and cultural heritage and carries out significant projects

in order to protect this heritage, ‘‘Anatolian Bazaar Project’’ by Nilüfer

Municipality which aims to be owner of disappearing civilization and

traditional values of the lands from Balkans to Caucasus and workshops and

education projects by İstanbul Metropolitan Municipality Directorate for

Inspection of Conservation Implementations.

You will find the general information on the structure and functioning of local

government in Afghanistan, Bahrain and Iran. We have also provided

information on United Cities and Local Governments (UCLG) World

Organization, UCLG Africa Section (UCLGA) and UCLG European Section

(CEMR).

Urban renewal is a topical issue nowadays. We believe you will find the Project

of Beyoğlu Municipality very interesting: ‘Tarlabaşı is Renewing’

Lastly, in the activities part, we aim to inform you about the past and on-going

activities related to UCLG and UCLG-MEWA.

Yours sincerely

Mehmet Duman

UCLG-MEWA Secretary General

www.uclg-mewa.org

From UCLG MEWA

City Councils

From UCLG MEWA

They are democratic structures to identify the

city's development priorities, discuss the

problems and develop solutions based on

common mind. City councils have important

roles to carry the cities to the future. Therefore,

we should think the problems that may occur in

the future and according to this we should

produce projects. “

At the meeting, City Councils National Draft

Report presented to the participants. After

discussions about the draft report, "Best

Practices" presented. After workshops, the

results of studies presented to the participants.

The meeting finished with the presentation of

UCLG-MEWA and the City Council relations.

"Turkey City Councils Meeting" took place at

Troy Hotel on 29 March 2012, hosted by

Canakkale City Council.

The meeting began with speeches by Saim

Yavuz President of Canakkale City Council,

Sedat Yücel President of Turkey City Councils

Association, Leyla Şen Programme Manager of

Democratic Governance at United Nations

Development Programme, Alper Faruk Güngör

Deputy Governor of Canakkale, Mehmet

Duman General Secretary of United Cities and

Local Governments Middle East and West Asia

Section (UCLG-MEWA), Muharrem Erkek

Deputy Mayor of Canakkale.

Mehmet Duman Secretary General of UCLG-

MEWA, underlined the importance of

City Councils in his speech and said

“"City councils work to implement

the principles of, city life, the city's

vision and develop a consciousness of

citizenship, protection of city's rights

and law, sustainable development,

environmental sensitivity, social

c o o p e r a t i o n a n d s o l i d a r i t y ,

t r a nspa r e ncy , a cc oun tab i l i t y ,

participation and decentralization.

City Councils

City Councils 3

Interview 8

UCLG World Organization 11

UCLA Africa Section 13

UCLG Europe Section 15

Local Government Systems 17

Alanya Municipality

Protects Its Cultural

Heritage

20

Çankaya 1000 Children

Chorus 22

IMM KUDEP 24

Nilüfer Municipality

Anatolian Bazaar Project 26

Beyoğlu Municipality:

Urban Transformation 27

Cover: Energy 28

WALD 33

Activities 34

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City Councils

In the struggle with the problems, a consistent,

long-term, and sustainable approach should be

followed and solutions to keep the earth more

habitable for next generations must be

produced. City Councils, having the mission of

raising awareness and offering suggestions to the

decision-making bodies, wish for a society that

has sustainable consumption patterns, an

understanding of such a life style, and use the

natural resources reasonably, putting an

emphasis on renewable energy.

There was contribution to the concept of

protecting the environment - at home, at work,

at school, and in each part of life - that more or

less each segment of the society and people

from the ages of seven to seventy can do.

Citizens and decision-makers have to know their

duties and have to protect the environment (air,

water, earth, and climate) in order to have rich

and generous crops from land, to drink clear and

healthy water, to have a balanced and habitable

climate, to breathe fresh air now and for

Study Group on Environment to the City

Council of Gaziantep organized a workshop

titled “Cities of the Future: Human,

Environment, and Build” on July 6th-8th with the

participation of Councils, which have actively

working Environment Assemblies or Study

Groups on Environment in Turkey.

The acts passed by City Councils in their own

cities were introduced and current

environmental issues were discussed during the

presentations of the representatives from

different cities. During the workshop the

emphasis was put on the living space that is

going to be shaped by people who are conscious

about the environment, in order to have access

to the possibility of living in eco-friendly cities.

The information and views produced

throughout the workshop indicated that climate

change we are facing today is the result of

unconscious and rapid consumption, and its

negative results affects almost all peoples,

cutting across all boundaries of the world.

City Councils

Environmental Workshop by City Councils of Turkey

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- A set of studies on the spreading of use of new

and renewable energy sources have to be carried

out by the Ministry of Energy and Natural

Resources of Turkey. Also, it has to contribute

to decreasing the environmental pollution and

emission of greenhouse gasses, encouraging the

use of renewable energy sources, such as solar

and wind power.

- New technologies that have low energy

consumption have to be supported by the

Ministry of Science, Industry and Technology of

Turkey.

- Required studies have to be carried out by

Local Governments on decreasing the emission

of greenhouse gasses in order to decrease the

negative effects of climate changes. As it exists

in the case of Gaziantep, “Climate Action

Programs” have to be prepared in the other

cities as well.

- Municipalities have to start fulfilling their

responsibilities and their fundamental duty in the

sphere of the gathering and usage of recycled

waste.

- The Ministry of Forest and Water Management

of Turkey, and NGOs should speed up plans in

forming forest areas that are one of the most

important elements in the struggle with global

climate change.

City Councils declare, considering

aforementioned views, suggestions and

determinations, and having a mutual

consciousness on environment, to have cities of

the future; to follow what is done by local

governments, to support sustainable energy,

climate, and policies on water, to aim to increase

environmental awareness.

generations to come.

The workshop ‘Cities of the Future: Human,

Environment, and Build’ consists of two main

titles.

Charter of the Result

Forming a mutual consciousness on

environment

- Spreading of consciousness on the

environment, teaching and educating about the

environment should take place at each stage of

formal and informal education, especially pre-

school education, and classes related to the

environment have to comprise of different

researches, practices and fieldwork by means of

the Ministry of National Education (MEB) of

Turkey.

- Establishing a center for technological

education by the Ministry of Environment and

Urbanism of Turkey; teaching materials that

include educational videos, computer software,

and CDs have to be provided for the use by the

whole society.

- Ministry of Environment and Urbanism of

Turkey has to raise awareness about the public

opinion via written and visual media with the

participation of statesmen, scientist, artists, and

opinion leaders, in order to improve the

environmental consciousness.

- Standard and current education programs have

to be formed in cooperation with professional

associations in the sector managed by the

Ministry of Environment and Urbanism of

Turkey, in order to inform businesses about

sustainable climate, environment, and energy.

Implementing the use of renewable energy

and recycling

City Councils

City Councils

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City Councils

Urban Transformation and The Future of Cities Workshop

2nd Thematic Meeting of Union of City Councils of Turkey was held in Yalova(Turkey). The workshop

titled as “ Urban Transformation and The Future of Cities” took place on 12-13 October 2012 with the

partnership of Ministry of Environment and Urbanization and Yalova City Council.

The representatives of the sector and city councils discussed thoroughly the Urban Transformation topic

during two day that will largely shape the future of cities as being multi-player and integrated process. On

the occasion of this meeting, the

Presidents and Secretaries General of

the City Councils who came from

different cities, got more detailed

information and presented their

opinions about this subject. At the

end of the workshop, Union of City

Councils of Turkey published a final

declaration containing comments

and suggestions of the Union about

the subject.

Sancaktepe City Council 6th Ordinary General Meeting

Sancaktepe City Council continues its work and uses the opportunity which is allowed together with central

government, local government, public institutes and non-governmental organizations. Sancaktepe City

Council who signed many projects, best practices and case studies, held the 6th Ordinary General Meeting

on 23 September 2012.

At the meeting the studies of the working groups of Sancaktepe City Council and people living in the city

mentioned ,after the speakers the participants were informed about the studies for the next six months

period, the new projects offered to the council and accepted by a large majority.

City Councils

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City Councils

City Councils

The Union of City Councils of Turkey Met in Kahramanmaras, Turkey

City Councils from 47 different

cities of Turkey came together

for the 4th Meeting of Union of

City Councils of Turkey in

Kahramanmaras on 7-8-9

December 2012.

In the meeting it was expressed

that for a functioning democracy

citizens should be involved in the

decision making process and this

can be accomplished with city

councils. The outcome of the

meeting is that the main task of

the City Councils is to provide participation of the citizens into the decisions that will be taken by

local governments. Participants expressed that City Councils play an important role in taking co-

decision for the city, discussing with universities, non-governmental organizations(NGOs), private

sector, and institutions which are related to municipalities and governorships also instead of ‘I do

not get involved’ understanding in the cities ‘for myself, for my city’ understanding should

become widespread.

In the 4th Meeting of Union of City Councils of Turkey the legal entity problem of City Councils

came to the forefront. It was explained that because of legal entity problem, City Councils have

troubles to take in partnership about institutional issues and to make projects so to solve this

problem The Association of Union of City Councils of Turkey was established. Also City Councils

exchanged knowledge about their works in the meeting.

The Meeting was held in the city council of Kahramanmaras Municipality. Mr. Şükrü Kocatepe,

Kahramanmaraş Governor; Mr. Mustafa Poyraz, Mayor of Kahramanmaraş, Mr. Hayrettin

Güngör, Union of Municipalities of

Turkey Secretary General Hayrettin

Güngör attended the meeting.

Saim Yavuz, the Term President of

Union of City Councils of Turkey

handed over the baton to Zeynep

A r ı k a n , t h e P r e s i d e n t o f

Kahramanmaraş City Council. In the 3

-day meeting City of Şanlıurfa was

decided as the venue of the next

meeting of the union.

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INTERVIEW

INTERVIEW

Mr.Josep Roig is one of the founding members of World

Association of Major Metropolises (METROPOLIS) and there he

has gained great experience while working in executive positions

for many years with different organizations, different cultures and

local governments of the world, since from 2011 he is Secretary

General of United Cities and Local Governments (UCLG) and

now guest of us in our 3rd bulletin. The interview was performed

at the UCLG General Secretariat located in Barcelona, Spain and

Mr. Josep Roig answered our questions candidly.

Mr. Roig, how does it feel to be UCLG Secretary General?

As I have been working all my life for and with local and regional governments, it is a great

opportunity to be at UCLG, at the world organization of local and regional governments and try to

bring the influence and the voice of local governments to the international and global institutions.

What do you think is the most important mission of UCLG?

We could probably focus on two main missions of UCLG. One looking outwards: UCLG plays a

critical role on advocacy and representation at the international level and on defending the interests

of local and regional governments at the global level. Globalization has raised a global governance

issue and our mission is to contribute to better global governance where the point of view of local

and regional governments is taken into account. The other mission would be more focused on the

inside, seeing what we can do for our members. We aim at exchanging knowledge, experiences and

ideas among local and regional governments from all over the world. This is both a difficult and

exciting task. Knowledge sharing, peer to peer learning, city to city cooperation are core activities

as well. The members of UCLG share similar problems and being able to talk to someone with

similar responsibilities in another city leads to find new and innovative solutions.

What are the main activities of UCLG?

Activities are related to the missions we have mentioned. We have international activities that are

recognised at the level of the United Nations and their agencies: being active at representation,

discussions on the different global dossiers, such as Rio+20, the post 2015 Millennium

Development Goals or Habitat III. The other activities deal with research and knowledge

exchange, such as the GOLD report. The GOLD report is a three year project: every edition has a

new thematic focus and tries to give a global and regional view of a key issue of interest for local or

regional governments. The first report was on decentralisation, the second on local finances and

the third, currently in preparation, focuses on the provision of basic services.

What kind of advantages does UCLG provide to its members? How can UCLG encourage

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INTERVIEW

INTERVIEW

cities to share best practices worldwide? How does UCLG support the collaborations

between cities?

We have two main kinds of collaboration. One is the bilateral and multilateral collaboration going

on among our members by taking advantage of the networks, links and contacts that UCLG is able

to create worldwide. We may not be able to claim direct responsibility for it but UCLG acts as a

key catalyser of cooperation among cities. Our meetings are networking events where cities can

exchange between themselves, where people get in touch with each other and later on, these

exchanges are turned into shared experiences, knowledge, ideas or lessons learnt. Other tools are

more formalized and more specifically organized by UCLG such as the Committees and Working

Groups. In the Committees, a group of members get together because they are interested in one

specific issue and they work together and try to find solutions and exchange policies, as a way of

knowing about best practices. We organize as well many events and meetings every year, which

creates opportunities of learning.

What are the biggest challenges that cities face?

The challenges are social, economic and environmental but lately, when someone mentions

challenges, I prefer to recall that cities are places for serendipity; cities are always places of

unexpected and positive opportunities. The most important challenge that cities face are the

challenges their own citizens face. Local and regional governments are close to them and they are

responsible for creating an environment to foster individual and collective opportunities for all.

In general, what actions need to be carried out at UCLG level? What actions would be

better implemented at national and/or regional level? Is there a need, or a potential

benefit, to integrate or to better coordinate actions carried out at different levels?

This question is a very important one. It’s true that sometimes there’s a tendency to simplify things

and ask for a clear distinction of the core competences between the national, the regional and the

local levels. Every level needs to know what their responsibilities are. But life and political

organization too are far more complicated and complex than expected if we want to solve real

problems. Solutions depend very often on shared and coordinated solutions among different levels

of government. Just to take the example of decent housing, you need to put together the activities

of local government. For instance, in health, urbanization or basic services; at the same time you

need a regional urban planning and environmental policy and the national government has to

develop a good macroeconomic and financial policy and a sound mortgage system. All

governments need to work together and coordinate to attain the objective of decent housing for

all.

What should cities do to think global, act local?

My feeling is that the other way would be good as well, think local and act global. What we are

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UCLG

INTERVIEW

realizing is that both visions work together. Sometimes you have to think locally and then when

you think locally, you may give some advice on how you should act globally and vice versa. We

need to look at any issue as if we were flying a helicopter: to have a bird’s view, a global view of

what’s going on but if you see there’s a fire somewhere then you go down quickly and try to stop

the fire. The global and the local are not separated.

What can be done for the inclusion of more women in politics and governments? How

does UCLG support women?

That is a very important issue and it is not easy to solve in our case because our leadership comes

from the leadership that has been elected or appointed at the local and regional governments. And

what happens is that normally when we look at the list of mayors, presidents or governors are

generally not women. UCLG has a standing committee on gender equality pushing strongly to

reinforce women’s representation. I think that precisely, local governments are a good school for

creating women leadership and l then there’s a work to be done also on regional and national

levels. Local governments should be the key level on having more intense participation of women

in the leadership.

What do you think about the relations between UCLG and its sections?

Regional sections are our main tool to reach different regions worldwide. UCLG is trying to adopt

the structure of what is initially a global institution to the demands and to the realities of the

different regions. This way, the different interests and the different characteristics of the regions

could be better represented at the global political and technical level.

How do you think UCLG-MEWA as the leading organization of Local Governments in

Middle East and West Asia could support collaboration efforts between member countries

in the future?

UCLG-MEWA is a challenging regional section with very different interests, approaches and

countries. But it has a great opportunity to gather the efforts of collaboration between the

different member countries. Istanbul, as one of the world’s leading metropolitan cities, has good

opportunity of leadership on these areas and a clear possibility of creating a good working

environment for the member countries in the UCLG-MEWA region.

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UCLG

associations of local governments into a single

umbrella organization called United Cities and

Local Governments (UCLG.

UCLG has three principles: ‘Democracy, local

self government and desentralization in the

service provision.’

UCLG’s mission is to be the united voice and

world advocate of democratic local self-

government, promoting its values, objectives

and interests, through cooperation between local

governments, and within the wider international

community. It is the largest local government

organization in the world, with a diverse

membership that includes both individual cities

and national associations of local governments.

UCLG has a decentralized structure, operating

through eight regional sections worldwide.

Seven of the regions are based on a geographical

basis, namely Africa, Asia and the Pacific,

Europe, Eurasia, Middle East and West Asia

(UCLG-MEWA), Latin America and North

America, as well as the Metropolis, the world

organization for mega cities, as the eighth

section. Regional sections set their own policies

and administer their own affairs, with their own

constitution and governing bodies.

While in 1950 the half of the world population

used to live in cities, nowadays cities host more

than half of the world population. It is estimated

that by 2050 this rate will have rised two thirds,

in other words almost 6 billion people will be

living in the cities. The rise of urbanization

means cities in other words local and regional

authorities have more responsibility and

authority. The immigrants from rural ares to

cities do not only requiere housing, job creation,

transportation etc…The citizens also need

culturel diversity and social inclusion. It is quite

challenging for national governments to fulfil

the needs of citizens. The crucial importance of

local and regional governments step in in this

point. United Cities and Local Governments

(UCLG) functions from its headquarters in

Barcelona since 2004 to unite and to be be the

voice of local and regional governments in the

world. UCLG has an important place in our lives

especially after Mayor of İstanbul Kadir Topbas

was chosen as the President of this organization

for three years period.

Following the commitments made at the time of

the UN Habitat II Conference held in Istanbul

in 1996, IULA (International Union of Local

Authorities), UTO (United Towns Organization)

and Metropolis have combined their respective

global networks of cities and national

United Cities and Local Governments (UCLG) World Organization

INTERVIEW

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UCLG

UCLG Regional Sections

Organizations that created UCLG:

International Union of Local Authorities (IULA)

IULA was established in 1913 in the Netherlands with the intention to promote democratic local self-

government. It is the eldest and biggest local government union with a diverse members more that 100.

IULA played and important role in the development and streghtening of decentralization, governance

and local self-government.

United Town Organization (UTO)

Established in 1957, UTO has developed a comunication net including 1100 cities from more than 80

countries. UTO especially focused on local democracy, partnership and twinnings among cities.

METROPOLIS

Created in 1985, the Metropolis Association is represented by more than 120 members from across the

world and operates as an international forum for exploring issues and concerns common to all big cities

and metropolitan regions. Metropolis also manages the Metropolitan Section of United Cities and Local

Governments (UCLG).

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UCLG

building of African Unity through local

governments, to support the setting up and

empowerment of national associations of local

governments, to promote exchange of experiences

and best practices among African local governments

and with local governments from other regions of

the world, the flagship of such platforms of

exchange being the Africities Summit organized on a

triennial basis by the UCLGA.

Structure of UCLGA

UCLGA is composed by four different bodies: the

General Assembly, the Pan African Council of local

government, the Executive Summit and the

Presidency.

General Assembly

The role of General Assembly is to elect the

executive body and it is composed of all members.

Pan-African Council of local governments

The Pan African Council of local governments is the

principal policy making body of the UCLGA, it

meets once a year in ordinary meetings but it can

meet in extraordinary meetings. It is charged with

The UCLGA is the umbrella organization and the

united voice and representative of local governments

in Africa. It results from the unification of the three

pre-existing continental groupings of local

governments, namely the African Union of Local

Authorities (AULA), the Union des Villes Africaines

(UVA) and the Africa Chapter of the Unao dos

Ciudades y Capitaes Lusofono Africana, (UCCLA).It

is an institution that gathers 40 national associations

of local governments from all regions of Africa as

well as the 2000 cities that have more than 100.000

inhabitants. Therefore UCLGA represents nearly

350 million Africans citizens.

UCLGA is a founding member of the United Cities

and Local Governments (UCLG) world

organization, and its regional section for Africa.

UCLGA is currently headquartered in the City of

Rabat, The Kingdom of Morocco, where it enjoys a

diplomatic status as a Pan-African International

Organization.

As regional section, UCLGA is in charge to defend

UCLG’s goals on the African continent. The

principal goals of UCLGA are: to promote

decentralization in Africa, to contribute to the


United Cities and Local Governments of Africa (UCLGA)

14

With its sixteen members, the Executive Committee is the principal decision-making body of the UCLGA. It is composed of the five members of the Presidency, ten other members who represent equally all five sub-regions of the continent and the Secretary General (with no right to vote). Its decisions are binding to all the members of the organization. The Executive Committee may by resolution delegate powers and authorities to subcommittees established by it, or to the

members of the Presidency or to the Secretary General. Members of the UCLGA Executive Committee represent Africa on the UCLG World Executive Bureau. Presidency

With one president and five vice-presidents, the

Presidency is the principal political representative of

the UCLGA and shall represent the organization at

functions, meetings and events to which it is invited.

The members of the presidency are nominated by the Pan-African Council among the members of the Executive Committee who chair the five sub-regions of the continent which are: North Africa, West Africa, East Africa, Central Africa and Southern Africa. The President is nominated by the Pan-African Council among the members of the Presidency for a period of one year, which is renewable.

translating the policy decided by the General

Assembly into strategies and implementation

programs.

The roles of the Pan-African Council include:

Electing the members of the Executive

Committee from among its members

Electing the members of the Presidency from

among the members of the Executive

Committee

Electing the members and the Chair of the

Financial Management Committee from

among its members

Approving the annual program of activities and

the annual activity report submitted by the

Executive Committee

Approving the annual budget and accounts of

the UCLGA submitted by the Executive

Committee

Making final decision on admission and/or

cancellation of membership proposed by the

Executive Committee

Members of the Pan-African Council represent

Africa on the UCLG World Council

The UCLGA Secretary General is a member of the

Pan-African Council ex-officio (with no voting

right), and serves as the secretary to the Pan-African

Council sessions.

Executive Committee


Khalifa Sall: Mayor of Dakar, UCLG Vice-President

Jean Piere: UCLGA Secretary General


15


consists of an annual grant from the EU Commission in the framework of the "Active European citizenship" programme. CEMR’s activities CEMR works to promote a united Europe that is based on local and regional self government and democracy. To achieve this goal it endeavours to shape the future of Europe by enhancing the local and regional contribution, to influence European law and policy, to exchange experience at local and regional level and to cooperate with partners in other parts of the world. CEMR works in many fields of activity such as regional policy, transport, the environment, equal opportunities, governance... Its committees and working groups seek to influence draft EU legislation to make sure the interests and concerns of local and regional

The Council of European Municipalities was founded in Geneva in 1951 by a group of European mayors; later, it opened its ranks to the regions and became the Council of European Municipalities and Regions. Today, it is the largest organisation of local and regional government in Europe; its members are over 50 national associations of towns, municipalities and regions from 40 countries. Together these associations represent some 150,000 local and regional authorities. At the head of its political structure is its President, the mayor of Stuttgart, Wolfgang Schuster. It has a staff of about 20 headed by its secretary general Frédéric Vallier. CEMR's budget is about €2 million, the main part of which comes from the membership fees of its national associations. The rest (about 10%)


Council of European Municipalities and Regions (CEMR)

16

Local Government Systems in Middle East and

West Asia (MEWA) Countries

CEMR's President, and other members of its Presidency (see below) are elected by the Policy Committee for a three year term. It has nine vice presidents.

CEMR’s President is currently Dr Wolfgang Schuster – former mayor of Stuttgart; President of CEMR’s German section (RGRE), European Vice-President of UCLG – and the two co-presidents are Aina Calvo Sastre – former mayor of Palma de Mallorca; member of the Executive Committee of the Spanish Federation of Municipalities and Provinces (FEMP) – and Annemarie Jorritsma – Mayor of Almere; President of the Association of Netherlands Municipalities (VNG).

CEMR has also four Executive Presidents who are Anders Knape – Member of the City Council of Karlstad; President of the Swedish Association of Local Authorities and Regions; Vice-President of the Congress of Local and Regional Authorities of the Council of Europe; António Costa – Mayor of Lisbon, Co-president of UCLG; Cllr Albert Bore – Member of Birmingham City Council, former President of the Committee of the Regions; Oldrich Vlasak – Member of the European Parliament; member of Hradec Kralové City Council; President of the Union of Towns and Communities of the Czech Republic (SMO-CR). Former President of French Republic, Valéry Giscard d'Estaing, was apointed as Emeritus President.

authorities are taken into account from the earliest stages of the EU legislative process. They contribute to CEMR's calendar of activities by organising seminars and conferences on a wide range of issues to promote the exchange and dissemination of experience at the local and regional level. CEMR is particulary proud of its unique town twinning network. Today, there are over 26,000 twinning projects linking towns from all over Europe. On this issue, CEMR works closely with the DG Education and Culture of the European Commission. Lastly, CEMR is the European section of the new worldwide organisation United Cities and Local Governments (UCLG). The statutes of the Council of European Municipalities and Regions were adopted by the Policy Committee in Sevilla, on 23 October 2006. CEMR has two governing bodies – the Policy Committee and the Executive Bureau. The Policy Committee meets generally twice per year; it is for most purposes the main governing organ. It is based on national representation, ranging from two places for states of less than 5 million, to 6 places for states of more than 60 million population. The Executive Bureau is a smaller body; it takes decisions between Policy Committee meetings. It also meets normally twice a year.


Dr. Wolfgang Schuster

CEMR President Frédéric Vallier

CEMR Secretary General 17

http://ec.europa.eu/dgs/education_culture/index_en.html

http://ec.europa.eu/dgs/education_culture/index_en.html

http://www.cities-localgovernments.org/uclg/

http://www.uclg-mewa.org/frdric-vallier




AFGHANISTAN As United Cities and Local Governments Middle East and West Asia section, we undertook a study

for gathering information on the local government legislation in the 15 countries (Afghanistan,

Bahrain, Iran, Iraq, Jordan, Kuwait, Lebanon, Oman, Palestine, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Syria, Turkey,

United Arab Emirates and Yemen) located in the MEWA region. In our newsletter we will inform

about the local government stytems in above-cited countries. We hope you will find this informa-

tion usefull. We approach Afghanistan, Bahrain and Iran.

Local Government Systems in Iran

Land Area : 647,5

Population : 29.8 million

Gross Nat. Income per capita : 1419 (HDI-2010)

Human Development Index (HDI) Status (UNDP-2010)

Ranked 155th out of 169 countries & grouped under countries with “Low Human Development”

Political Regime

The Constitution defines Afghanistan as an “Islamic Republic.” It is stipulated that the religion of the state is

Islam. The powers are vested in the legislature, the executive and the judiciary, these powers being

independent of each other.

Constitution & Provisions on Local Authorities

The new Constitution of Afghanistan, drawn up by a consultative process, was adopted in 2004. Specific

provisions in the Constitution concerning local authorities are provided in Article 84, as well as Articles 137-

140.

Laws on Local Authorities

Municipalities are regulated predominantly by the Municipal Law of 2000 (issued under the Taliban), which

replaced the previous Law of 1957. Although the ongoing efforts toward its revision, the Law of 2000

continues to be essentially intact.

Other Legislation Concerning Local Authorities

Through new legislation introduced in 2007, the Independent Directorate of Local Governance was

established, with the responsibility for supervising the Provincial and District Governors, Provincial Councils

and Municipalities.

Administrative Divisions

Afghanistan is administratively divided into 34 provinces, each headed by a Governor. The provinces are

further subdivided into districts, headed by District Governors. Districts are the lowest level of formal

administration.

Types of Local Authorities

The basic types of local authorities are municipalities and villages. Municipalities are spread over 34 provinces,

wherein one of them serves as the center of each respective province. Larger municipalities are divided into

urban districts.

Electoral Processes & Local Elections

The Constitution stipulates that the provincial, district and village councils will be formed through free, direct

and secret elections. However, elections were held only for Provincial Councils, and other councils have

not yet been formed.

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BAHRAIN

Local Government Systems in Bahrain

Land Area : 250 km²

Population : 1.04 million (2010-2011)

Gross Nat. Income per capita : 26,664$ (HDI-2010)

Human Development Index (HDI) Status

Ranked 39th out of 169 countries & grouped as “Very High Human Development” (UNDP-

2010)

Political Regime

Pursuant to the Constitution, the system of governance in Bahrain is constitutional hereditary

monarchy, based on the separation of powers between the legislative, executive, and judicial au-

thorities.


The Constitution of Bahrain was ratified on 6th December 1973, with major amendments being

issued on 14th February 2002. Specific provisions in the Constitution concerning local authorities

are included in Articles 50 & 114.


The Law on Municipalities, being the first written law in Bahrain, was issued as early as 1920. The

new Law on Municipalities, enacted in 2001, granted women the right to vote and stand as candi-

dates for municipal councils.

Other Legislation Concerning Local Authorities

Another significant law concerning local authorities is the Law on the Organization of Gover-

norates, enacted in 2002 (replacing the Law on the Organization of Governorates of 1996) that has

restructured the provinces in the country.


Bahrain is administratively divided into five governorates. Each governorate is administered by a

Governor appointed by the Ministry of Interior.


Under the political reforms of 2002, five municipal councils were formed corresponding to Bah-

rain’s governorates. Each municipality is managed by an appointed Director General under the su-

pervision of 10 elected members.


Bahrain witnessed its first municipal elections as early as 1924, which allowed the participation of

women. The first municipal elections under the 2002 Constitution were held in May 2002, and

most recently, in October 2010.



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IRAN

Local Government Systems in Iran

Land Area : 1,648,195km²

Population : 75 million (2010-2011)

Gross Nat. Income per capita : 11,764$ (HDI-2010)

Human Development Index (HDI) Status

Ranked 70th out of 169 countries & grouped as “High Human Development”

Political Regime

It is stipulated in the Constitution that Iran is an Islamic Republic. The powers are vested in the

legislature, the judiciary, and the executive, wherein these powers are independent of each other.


The Constitution of Iran, adopted on 24 October 1979, was amended on 28 July 1989. The

Constitution has a significant number of provisions directly related with local authorities, including

Article 7, and Articles 100-106.


The Law on Municipalities, enacted in 1906, established the municipality as the base of local

administration. It became the first post-Constitutional Revolution Law.


The administrative structure of Iran encompasses ostans (administrative provinces), further divided

into governorships, cities and villages.


In line with Chapter VII of the Constitution, the tiers of local government in Iran encompass the

Higher Province Council, Province Council, City Council, District Council, Town Council, and

Village Council.


All members of local councils, including the City and Village Councils are directly elected by the

people. The Chairman of the City and Village Council is elected by the members of the Council

from amongst its members.





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There are historical structures such as Kızılkule,

Shipyard and Tophane in the Alanya Ancient

City. In this area, as a part of Kızılkule –

Tophane Axis Project, in accordance with the

concept of modern museology, the Shipping and

Maritime Museum with indoor and outdoor

expositions is being built. The area also has

archaeological remains and the Alive Museum,

where visitors could find different activities, will

be created and the spaces with cultural functions

will be constructed.

As a result of the studies in the region, safe tour

routes were devised, environmental monitoring

and illumination were introduced, repair of

exterior (in the Shipyard) was provided. Besides,

partial renovation of harbor walls, storehouses,

and structure of Tophane; restoration of

undefined structures, which will be used for

exposition and the conversation center; and

restoration of the historical Girene Fountain

were completed. In this way the fountain was

made functional again. The inactive well in the

Shipyard was cleaned, as a consequence of the

cooperation between the Municipality of Alanya

Alanya district boasts an important cultural

heritage with its geographical position, historic

fabric and natural beauties. Alanya Municipality

cooperates with government agencies and non-

governmental establishments to protect this

historical and cultural heritage and hand it down

to next generations as well as carries out

important projects and aims to increase

awareness of being a citizen by this work.

In this context for the first time on district basis

in 2006 KUDEB (Offices of Protection,

Application and Control) was founded. In 2009,

Center of Area Management was put into service

and the Plan of Area Management was prepared.

The Plan of Area Management is the first of its

kind in our country because it was carried out in

an area which has archaeological, urban and

natural features.

As a part of cultural heritage studies, some

works were conducted with the Ministry of

Culture and Tourism and Alanya Museum to

include Alanya Castle to the List of World

Heritage. As a result of these activities, Alanya

Shipyard and Castle were nominated to the list.

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Alanya Municipality

is protecting its cultural heritage

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and 360 Degree Research Group, some

expositing objects were located to five

compartments of the Shipyard and the Axis

Project's area.

Kale Kapısı in the Tunnel position, which is one

the six historical gates of the Ancient Alanya

City, is an area dedicated to Alanya Municipality

with its bastions and walls. The area of

“Counseling and Information Center for

Visitors about Castle and Aspect Terrace” (in

the construction plan aims to protect the Alanya

Castle) is being repaired.

The graffito are under guard

Thousands of graffito on the Historical City

Walls make Alanya unique. Alanya Municipality

prepared a series of projects for protecting the

graffito and opening them to the public. Besides

the Municipality started identifying and

photographing the details of the gates, windows,

ceilings in the traditional houses.

Traditional Alanya houses are returning to

life

Alanya Municipaity is bringing life to the

traditional Alanya houses. These houses are

allocated to the municipality for a certain time by

their owners or publicized by the Municipality.

For example, the registered structure named

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"Hamamlı Ev" (Hammam Home) has been used

as the Alanya Municipality Directorship of

Culture and Social Affairs and Area

Management after its restoration. A traditional

Alanya house in Alanya Castle was allocated to

the Municipality for 20 years. The house was

arranged in a way, which represents the

traditional life, and it was opened as Ömürlü

Kemal Atlı Culture House. Restoration is not

limited to historical structures. A registered

building in İskele Avenue was opened for

visitors as the Alanya Municipality Culture

House and Herbarium.

Azakoğlu Mansion was allocated to the

municipality by the owners for 15 years in order

to support the consciousness of being a citizen/

urbanite and create city memory. Municipality

started working to put the building into service

as the Alanya Municipality Hüseyin Azakoğlu

City Museum. In this context, municipality is

collecting materials for exposition and doing the

oral history studies.

Ömürlü Kemal Atlı Culture House

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2- Support to the chorus and their instructors in

the primary schools.

3- Support all chorus for children in Ankara,

include them to the Project and unite them in

different activities.

4- Provide opportunity for children to meet with

international chorus through festivals and

recognize foreign songs.

1000 Child Chorus is not only one chorus. It

consist of 1400 members from 36 diffrent

chorus which each of them have approximately

40 chorist from Çankaya Municipality, NGOs

and Primary Schools. The principles of 1000

Children Chorus are: give priority to children

and protect children’s rights, support childrens

life and development, to respect the differences

and do not disciriminate, develop participation,

freedom of expression, personality and abilities

of children.

The basic education programme in the

Being one of the most important projects of

Çankaya Municipality for children, ‘‘Çankaya

1000 Children Chorus’’ is aiming to contribute

to the culturel and artistic development of the

children.

Chorus are important not only for bringing up

artist and mucis lovers but also for artistic,

intellectual and personal development of

children. This is the reason of this Project.

Founded in 2009 primarily to contribute to the

culturel and artistic development of the children,

1000 Children Chorus aims to realize many

social targets. Because local governments are

suppose to work not only for the basic local

servives but also for the artistic development of

the society.

In this context, the mission of 1000 Children

Chorus is to:

1- Announce that all children – in accordance

with their ages – can sing.

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‘‘Çankaya 1000 Children Chorus’’ Project by Çankaya (Turkey) Municipality

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framework of 1000 Children Chorus Project

bases on making the music popular. This

education programme has two main points;

‘‘Basic Music Education’’ and ‘Chorus’’. “Basic

Music Edubation”, aims that the children have

basic theorical music information in a funny way

by playing. Chorus consist of the

implementation of these theorical information.

Although we can not learn all languages, through

music we can communicate and be friends with

the children of the world.

1000 Children Chorus consist of art consultant,

conductor, instructors, children and

coordinators. The age of children range from 09

– 12. Only with the approval of the instructor,

younger children can join the chorus. All

children with healthy voice can join on condition

that they pre-register and enter the placement

test which is announced in the beginning of each

semester. Once children are accepted, they are

placed to classes up to their age and knowledge

and get education as long as the instructors

approves with the parents knowledge until they

are 14 – 15 years old. Members elder than 15

years old and willing to continue chorus may

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join ‘‘Youth Preparatory Chorus’’

Repertoire Commissin which consists of

conductors, instructors and mucis teachers

determines the repertoire of the chorus. The

songs with educational and artistic qualifications

are backbone of the programme.

The Chorus practises are realized between

October 15 and May 15, once a week (Saturday

or Sunday) and it lasts one hour.

The Project has been supported by different

institutions such as: Hacettepe University,

Ankara State Conservatiore, Ankara University

State Conservatiore, Bilkent University Faculty

of Music and Performing Arts, Society of Music

Instructors, Sevda Cenap And Music

Foundation, Polyphonic Chorus Society and

Ankara Polyphonic Music Society.

1000 Children Chorus had very big concerts in

2009, 2010, 2011 and 2012. On 23 April 2010,

the chorus with its 1200 members had a concert

in company with Presidential Symphony

Orchestra.

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Due to the heritage and unique urban texture of

these areas represent, ‘an integrated preservation

approach’ based specifically on ‘authenticity’ and

‘sustainability’ of the heritage in terms of

scientific principles, education system and

responsibility of local authorities is required.

Also, lack of finding talented and qualified

people to be employed at restoration work

usually occurs as a serious conservation

problem. Regarding such issues, KUDEB

managed to develop an education model by

‘Timber and Stone Training Workshops’as an

alternative solution.

Timber and Stone Training Workshops are

established in order to educate the trainees about

either the traditional techniques of these crafts

(woodwork and stonemasonry) or restoration -

conservation idea and to provide ‘skilled and

qualified teams’ for restoration works.

Suleymaniye is one of the four historical areas of

Istanbul listed as ‘UNESCO World Heritage

Site’ since 1985 with Zeyrek district,

Sultanahmet Archaeological Park and the

Theodosian Land Walls. An important number

of historical timber houses belonging to the late

19th - early 20th century exist in Suleymaniye

and Zeyrek districts. These two significant

residential areas of Historical Peninsula include

numerous cultural properties of different eras

such as archaeological remains, Byzantine and

Ottoman monuments creating an organically

shaped unique urban texture. KUDEB

(Directorate for the Inspection of Conservation

Implementations) has been established in 2006

under Istanbul Metropolitan Municipality and is

located in one of the most important historical

timber houses in Suleymaniye, the World

Heritage Site of Istanbul.

Istanbul Metropolitan Municipality (IMM)

Directorate for the Inspection of Conservation Implementations (KUDEB)

AYRANCI STREET - Before AYRANCI STREET - After

25

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by the help of academics from several

universities in Istanbul. Also professionals from

different fields of public/private sector are

invited to give lectures and share their

experiences. Practical education part is mainly

conducted by the experienced craftsmen and

take place both in the workshop and the

restoration sites. Trainees learn how to cut, give

shape, carve, treat, protect and repair the

material. Seminars and symposiums are focused

on ‘why and how to preserve the heritage’ and

restoration - conservation studies.

This education project of IMM - KUDEB

represents a fine ‘coordination model’ of local

authorities, academics, professionals and

students for the preservation of our common

heritage, to be applied and spread throughout

the country and to be developed by other local

authorities according to their unique values

including arts, crafts, culture and architectural

unity.

Theoretical education and practical experience

on site are integrated in approximately six

months’ term; programmes are supported by

seminars, symposiums, implementations and

publications.

Within the framework of this education model,

it’s aimed to integrate the ‘knowledge’ with

‘implementation’ in restoration - conservation

field, to create an opportunity for young people

to be involved in restoration activities, to help

the cultural continuity via the traditional crafts

and techniques and to raise the awareness on

protection of common architectural heritage.

A wide range of subjects for both wood and

stone including restoration and conservation

theories , documentat ion techniques,

identification of traditional building materials,

their characteristics, decay phenomena,

conservation techniques such as surface

cleaning, partial reintegration or repair and their

application methods are included in these

programmes. Trainees are chosen among the

students or graduates from technical and

vocational high schools in Istanbul.

Theoretical education part is mainly performed

CUMHURİYET FOUNTAIN before and after

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F e l l o w c i t i z e n

associations will operate in

the structures reflecting

the original and regional architecture of their city.

On the campus, in addition to arrangements

made in automobile/bus parks, entrance and

inspection facilities and other general necessity units,

it is aimed to realize research, investigation and

publication studies on places reflecting our

“caravansaray” architecture for shared meeting,

activity, general knowledge/ art displays, exhibition

and gallery; “Toy( play-wedding) Garden” and

needed subordinate units providing service for the

arrangement of regional summer weddings;

handicrafts production and training centers, other

places where sporting activities take place apart

from the places in which “charity market” activities

to be held, regional cultures, tales, legends, plays,

languages, lingos, musics, traditions, from caucasus

to the Balkans.

Depending on the purpose of Anatolian

Bazaar’s being also a shopping center relies heavily

on regional products, it will provide selling section

occasions to the firms in Bursa performing service

on this issue, along with enabling fellow citizens

associations to create their regional markets.

ANATOLIAN BAZAAR PROJECT

“Anatolian Bazaar” is a project aiming to present

and keep all cultures alive and claim to be the owner

of disappearing civilization and traditional values of

“Relative Culture” geography extending into two

continent, from Balkans to Caucasus.

In order to realize the project all regional and

territorial values of the institutional structure

generated through gathering of “associations of

fellow citizen established in Bursa” are aimed to be

presented individually and integrated into the

tourism.

The Project will enable all disappearing

personal values extending from the Balkans into the

Caucasus to be presented and transferred from

generation to generation.The Anatolian Bazaar

Project is implemented under the leadership of

Nilüfer Municipality and with the active participation

of Fellow Citizen Associations.

The project is planned on 160.000

square meter land, recreation corridor of

Bursa, Balat site on west of the Mudanya

Highway.

Thanks to the project as well as Bursa

inhabitants native and foreign explorers will

also gain cultural acquisitions by being

acquainted with the unique values of

culture, civilisation, vacation and

experiencing architecture, handicrafts,

cuisine and gift traditions , all regional

product and personal wealth of our culture

operating in the same place.

Nilüfer Municipality

27

cultural development. The buildings along the

boulevard could not bring in large-scale

commercial and cultural activities as a result of

high crime rate and the deterioration in the area.

The historical location of the major renovation

project is essential for the restructuring of the

potential of Beyoğlu. The launch of commercial

activities associated with this renewal project will

bring changes to the value of land, quality of life

and the service in the area. Tourism and

qualified investments in the service sector will

provide an economic revival to the project area

and its surroundings and will be an opportunity

for the development of the entire Tarlabaşı

neighborhood. Thus, this project will rejuvenate

the dormant part of the city and become the first

step to ensuring successful adaptation.

One of the most important goals of the project

is to complete regeneration of the aging

infrastructure in an unhealthy environment due

to lack of maintenance that could meet the

demands of modern life. Underground car parks

will be created for all dwellings and social

activity will be intensified by the creation of

pedestrian areas. When the project is completed,

the city center of Istanbul will attain a new life.

Urban regeneration, as the actions being taken

to improve the environmental conditions, aims

to reconstruct the debris and amend the

deterioration of the economic, social, physical

and urban space. The objectives of the urban

transformation can be defined as exploring the

causes of the corruption of urban areas and

social devastation, in order to become a

continuum of exchanges that make up the fabric

of the urban space. This way it can allow

successful socio-economic progress to be

delivered to the public, avoiding unnecessary

urban development and ensuring the widespread

use of urban areas.

Beyoğlu Municipality is one of those who took

serious steps on the course of urban renovation.

Beyoğlu Municipality with the project of

‘Tarlabaşı Yenileniyor ’ is a leading example in

Turkey. In addition to this project, Beyoğlu

Municipality is as well working on other projects

of urban renewal, namely, Kasımpaşa,

Okmeydanı and Örnektepe.

The Case Of Tarlabaşı

Tarlabaşı district, neighboring Taksim Square

and Istiklal Street, which are important centers,

was unable to secure for itself economic and

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Urban Renewal in Beyoğlu (Istanbul/Turkey)

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the world. In contrast to that, the demand for

the energy increases day by day. This situation

causes both the increase of prices of goods and

competition among energy-demanding countries.

On the other hand, current political uncertainty,

especially in the Middle East and African

countries which have petrol, natural gas, coal,

and Plutonium resources, is another reason

which causes increasing prices and makes the

supple of resource insecure. Therefore, there is a

possibility that states could engage in armed

interstate conflict for cheap and reliable

resources in such a conjuncture.1

Increasing Competition over Petrol and

Natural Gas

If we would analyze the market of petrol and

natural gas, we would see more intensive

competition than is the case with other energy

products. Because of the shrinkage at the energy

market and increasing energy prices, we can see

that demand and supply are becoming

increasingly unrelated to each other, and in the

same way current competition becomes more

aggressive.

After the global economic crises of 2008-2009,

the global economy started to recover itself in

2010, and this situation also became an

augmenting element for energy consumption. As

a result, energy demand of the member countries

of the Organization for Economic Co-operation

and Development (OECD) as well as energy

demand of non-member states of OECD such as

China, India, which have always enjoyed

economic enlargement, increased; energy import

experienced a radical rise at a global scale.

If we work on the numbers, we can recognize

that the biggest surge of energy consumption

since 1973 happened in 2010, with an estimates

increase of 5.6%.2 According to the report of

Mankind has since 19th century transformed

from an agricultural society to an industrial

society. The transformation to the industrial

society caused a shift of needs to development

and sustainability of the state economy as well as

the formation of countries’ economic activities in

terms of this new order. “Energy” is the

foremost of those requirements.

Energy demand that appeared with the Industrial

Revolution formed the foreign policy of states.

Until the middle of the 19th century, hegemonic

states, which struggled to control trade paths and

trade centers that brought benefit, began

considering energy resources and/or energy

transit paths as an essential aim of their foreign

policy, in order to keep up with industrialization.

In order to guarantee the resources for the

supply of energy, countries implemented policies

that had caused conflict throughout history, even

brutal wars. Lastly, the Gulf War, experienced in

our recent history (1990-1991), and the Invasion

of Iraq (2003-2011), are good examples of brutal

wars that included the intention to control

energy resources. Invasion of Kuwait by Iraq,

and thereby experienced wars in the Gulf and

Iraq with the intention of capturing petrol

sources, show how strongly industrial states

emphasize their energy supply.

The Iraq War neither was the first, nor will it be

the last war aiming to guarantee energy supply to

industrialized countries. Due to the current

situation at the energy market, it is believed that

there is a strong possibility of having reasons for

conflict which may cause new brutal wars. Yet,

developed economies mostly need petrol, natural

gas, coal at producing energy and a supply of

Plutonium for nuclear energy, and they generally

cover their needs with import. There are limited

natural resources that are demanded all around

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Increasing Energy Consumption and Wars for Energy

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Generally, new-found reserves were in offshore

locations, which are difficult areas for petrol

extraction and it shows that more investment is

required to do this.7 Consequently, working for

petrol extraction in difficult geographies is

another reason of rising costs and energy prices.

Developed economies in need of energy have

started to consume natural gas because of the

negative situation in the petrol market. Yet,

countries that have gas reserves aren’t seen as

reliable gas suppliers by Western developed

economies. Nowadays, Russia with natural gas

reserves amounting to 44.8 trillion m3 is the

country with the biggest natural gas deposits in

the world.8 Again Russia is a country that has

world's second largest natural gas reserves and

world's eighth largest petrol deposits.9 It is the

second largest petrol producer with 10.2 million

barrels daily, following Saudi Arabia.10 With

these properties, Russia is an indispensible

country, and as a result has political hegemony

over the EU and other countries which import

natural gas and other energy sources from

Russia. This situation is not good for the EU11 as

36% of its gas need, 31% of its petrol, and 30%

of its coal supply comes from Russia. Europe is

concerned about the supply of natural gas from

Russia because they have are already experienced

difficulties such as the gas crisis between Russia

and Ukraine, stopping the gas transfer from

Russia over Ukraine to Europe. Hence, Russia

can use it as a political trump. Thus, other gas

producing countries should be found aside from

Russia, first and foremost Nabucco12 and other

projects.

It is quite difficult to find an alternative country

to Russia in the natural gas market. Energy does

not exist in every country and lucky countries

which have it (natural gas), might have political

uncertainty or be located on a geography that

USA Ministry of Energy which is known as

"Energy Information Administration" (EIA),

energy consumption will continue to rise rapidly

until 2035; daily consumption of liquid fuel will

reach 112 million barrels from 85 million barrels

today.3

In addition to the increasing demand for petrol

and natural gas, another factor that caused the

increase of prices is the decrease of current

reserves. Petrol and natural gas reserves are

decreasing, especially in the North Sea, lying

between England and the Continental Europe,

and in Mexico. Instead of them, new inadequate

reserves are being opened.4 If we analyze the

volume of how much these mentioned country

deposits decreased, we see that even though

Norway was producing 3,422 thousand barrels of

petrol in 2001 daily, in 2009 it produced only

2,350 thousand barrels of petrol daily. While

England was extracting 2,087 m3 of gases from

the North Sea in 2009 daily, this amount

decreased to 1,988 m3 of gases.5 It is also known

that other reserves all around the world are

running lower day by day. According to many

experts, petrol deposits mostly will run out in

around 2040, due to the increasing petrol

production if it continues to be consumed as it

has been in the past.6

Beside those two elements that caused the

increase of petrol prices, another factor is that

most of the known reserves are in the countries

where political uncertainty exists. Political

uncertainty in the Middle East, political

depression in petrol producing countries such as

Nigeria and Sudan in Africa affect the prices

negatively, and there is suspicion about the safety

of the delivery of imported petrol to consumers.

Decision-makers of developed countries always

encourage the search of hydrocarbon reserves in

order to overcome from this negative situation.

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approximately 70% of the world’s natural gas

reserves. Lastly, another reason that causes the

increase of prices is that developed and

developing countries, especially India and China,

are on the wait for those reserves.

It is known that there is a limited amount of

petrol and natural gas reserves and that day by

day they are even decreasing. However,

increasing energy consumption, influenced by

developing economies, and emerging regional

political uncertainties in recent years make the

energy more expensive. Neither energy derived

from a nuclear reactor nor coal is an alternative

to the energy produced from petrol and natural

gas, due to their high cost and being a threat to

the environment. For this reason, there will be a

possibility for an interstate armed conflict unless

much more is invested in wind power, solar

power, clear and renewable energy such as

biogas, and the over-use of energy in the light of

current conditions is avoided.

experiences armed conflict. Among these

countries, Iran is the most important. Iran is a

country which has gas reserves of approximately

30 trillion m3. But as it is known, this country has

serious problems with the West regarding its

nuclear activities and may encounter an

intervention at any time. Therefore, even though

it is a rich country in respect of both petrol and

natural gas, pulling down the prices of petrol and

gas and accessing its resources without any

trouble looks impossible.

Another country that has natural gas amounting

to 25 trillion m3 is Qatar. Yet, this third country

in the world regarding natural gas resources is

located in the Middle East, which has political

uncertainty. There is a risk in importing natural

gas from Qatar especially due to the Arab Spring

and to the closed Strait of Hormuz by Iran.

Looking at their conditions, Iran, Russia, and

Qatar13 aren’t considered to be sustainable

energy suppliers, even though they have

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1Ann Florini, Benjamin K. Sovacool, “Bridging The Gaps in Global Energy Governance”, Global Governance, Vol. 17, 2011, p. 59. 2BP (British Petrolium), BP Statistical Review of World Energy June 2011, http://www.bp.com/assets/bp_internet/globalbp/globalbp_uk_english/reports_and_publications/statistical_energy_review_2011/STAGING/local_assets/pdf/statistical_review_of_world_energy_full_report_2012.pdf., erişim tarihi: 4/8/2012 3EIA(Energy Information Administration), International Energy Outlook 2011, http://www.eia.gov/forecasts/ieo/more_highlights.cfm#world, erişim tarihi: 4/8/2012 4Stuart Harrıs, “Global and Regional Orders and the Changing Geopolitics of Energy”, Australian Journal of International Affairs, 2010, Vol. 64, No. 2, p. 168. 5US. Energy Information Administration, http://www.eia.gov/countries/country-data.cfm?fips=UK, erişim tarihi: 2/6/2011 6Gioietta Kuo, “Will Natural Gas Replace Oil”, World Future Review, Spring 2012, s. 8. 7Nikolay Kaveshnikov, “The Issue of Energy Security in Relations Between Russia and the European Union”, European Security, 2010, Vol. 19, No. 4, s. 588. 8CIA - The World Factbook, https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/rankorder/2179rank.html, erişim tarihi: 5/8/2012 9Energy Information Administration, “Russia Energy Data, Statistics and Analysis – Oil, Gas, Electricity, Coal”, http://www.eia.doe.gov/emeu/cabs/Russia/pdf.pdf, erişim tarihi: 7/6/2012 10CIA - The World Factbook, https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/geos/rs.html, erişim tarihi: 1/8/2012 11Avrupa Komisyonu Resmi Web Sitesi, http://ec.europa.eu/energy/international/russia/russia_en.htm, erişim tarihi: 2/2/2012 12Bkz. Nabucco Gas Pipeline, http://www.nabucco-pipeline.com/portal/page/portal/en, erişim tarihi: 7.8.2012 13Stuart Harrıs, a.g.e., s. 169.

31

The city of Oslo (Norway) has recently decided

to reap the benefits offered by energy-efficient

street lighting systems. 10,000 High Pressure

Sodium street-lighting columns have been

installed in the streets of Oslo. These can be

individually controlled from a central location

and the lighting can be dimmed when

appropriate, which helps to reduce energy

consumption and extend lamp life. Tougher

efficiency standards for street lighting and

lighting control can have a significant impact on

the totality of city’s energy consumption and lead

to significant reductions of energy use.

Producing energy from waste is yet another way

of reducing CO2 emissions. This

technology has been for years used by

the city authority of Freiburg

(Germany). The operating municipal

anaerobic digestion plant converts

36,000 tons of household organic waste

into 4 million m3 of biogas and 15,000

tons of fertilizer. In Gothenburg

(Sweden) waste-to-energy production

saves annually around 200,000 tons of

CO2. The biogas is then burned

generating 7 GWh of electricity

annually. In Stockholm (Sweden) the

resultant biogas is used as a fuel source for inner

city buses, garbage trucks and taxis.

Combined heat and power (CHP) systems can

also offer substantial improvements in efficiency.

There are two main approaches to CHP

installation. The first uses waste heat, such as that

arising from the process of electricity generation

itself, to heat building. The second approach

outputs a specific heat load and exports the

electrical energy it generates to the local network.

The municipality of Helsinki (Finland) initiated

the construction of a CHP plant and is now able

to generate more than enough electricity to meet

Nation-wide policy is a crucial component for

reaching goals such as sustainable development

and the efficient use of energy. However, the

actions taken on the local level is what makes an

impact in the most direct way. Initiatives of

municipal governments and cities on these issues

are not only welcomed but nowadays are even

expected and considered a part of what a real local

government of the people ought to do. To varying

levels it has certainly become a practice in Europe.

Municipalities of Vienna (Austria) and Münster

(Germany) have begun implementing city-wide

projects of energy conservation by introducing

quite stringent building standards and energy

efficiency requirements. The municipal program

in Vienna established a list of more than 100

ecological requirements which are now mandatory

for all municipal procurement and contracting.

This has led to annual cost savings of about 17

million Euros and 30,000 tons of CO2 emissions

reductions. The implementation of stringent

thermal performance requirements for residential

buildings in Münster resulted in the construction

of over 5,600 low-energy housing units and 85

energy efficient commercial buildings, saving the

city 13 million kWh and at least 3,400 tons of

CO2 each year.

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European City Initiatives in Energy Efficiency

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32

and in the long run contributes to the reduction of

pollution in the city. Due to the success of the

communication campaign and the idea of the

project in general, the Barcelona Solar Thermal

Ordinance has become a model for other

municipalities and many cities in Catalonia have

adopted similar local regulations.

The dissemination of knowledge and good

practice can encourage cities to invest not only in

short-term projects dealing with immediate needs

of the people but in long-term sustainable

solutions that future generations could thank for.

Cooperation between local governments, private

businesses and citizens can immensely improve

the quality of life, and this is especially true for big

cities that require big decisions and actions. Local

initiatives, local solutions, especially in this world

of uncertainty, declining resources and increasing

levels of pollution can make a great difference to

the benefit of city dwellers and in turn, if

combined, amount to global solutions.

the needs of the city, therefore Helsinki Energy

sells surplus energy to the Nordic grid. At the

same time, it produces 92 % of the city’s district

heating. All of this means higher efficiency of

energy use, lower CO2 emissions as well as

substantial economic profit.

The municipal action plan of the city of

Barcelona deserves special attention. This action

plan consists of various management, supply and

consumption, social and communication as well as

economic and legal strategies which promote an

environmentally sustainable city, reducing air

pollution and the consumption of fossil fuels in

the process. Concerning legal instruments,

Barcelona is the first European city to have a Solar

Thermal Ordinance. According to this by law, all

new buildings and building undergoing major

refurbishment are obligated to use solar energy to

supply 60 % of their running hot water

requirements. This has led to a major expansion in

the surface of solar thermal square meters which

in turn means a wider use of clean and safe energy

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WALD

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Cover

trainings and to meet with the trainees from Turkey, as well as from other countries in the Middle East and West Asia and neighboring regions.

Within the speech that Princes Mathilda gave in the beginning of the ceremony, she emphasized the importance of giving opportunities to the youth and also investing for their future. She also claimed that the leadership programs like UGLA improves the social skills and global knowledge of the young people. With this, she stated that she liked the slogan “we are not the leaders of the future, we are also the partners of today”.

During the organization, Secretary General of UCLG-MEWA and Chairman of WALD Mr. Mehmet Duman, took the floor and stated that the trainings that are giving teenagers leadership skills will continue in order to raise leaders.

After the speakers finished their speeches, the

reception began in the garden of the UCLG-

MEWA and WALD center office. During the

reception Princes Mathilda had a nice

conversation with young trainees and had taken

photos with them. At the end of this warm visit

Princes Mathilda mentioned that she was

supporting all UGLA activities from the bottom

of her heart and would like revisit Turkey again.

United Cities and Local Governments West Asia and Middle East Section (UCLG-MEWA) and Word Academy for Local Government and Democracy (WALD) are attracting the celeb’s attention via realized projects.

After the Yoo (Ban) Soon’s visit on June 2012, who is the wife of Secretary General of United Nations Ban Ki Moon, Belgiun Princes Mathilde Marie Christine Ghislaine d’Udekem d’Acoz paid a visit to the centre of both UCLG-MEWA and WALD where the trainings of International Youth Leadership Academy (UGLA) takes places on 16th of October 2012.

UGLA Project which is realized by the cooperation of UCLG-MEWA, WALD, UNICEF and the Habitat Center for Development and Governance aims to give training to the youth aged between 15-30. UGLA provides training on entrepreneurship, communication, project management, intercultural learning, democratic governance, human rights, and participation in decision-making, protection of the environment, information technologies, gender equality, sexual health, reproductive health and conflict resolution topics within 3 years to the 3,000 trainees.

By paying visit to this important project, Princes Mathilde had the opportunity to observe the

WALD

Belgium Princes Mathilde Visited UCLG-MEWA and WALD

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Activities

Activities

UCLG World Council took place in Florence on 9-11 December 2011

At the invitation of Matteo Renzi, Mayor of

Florence, the City of Florence hosted 500 local

and regional representatives from over 40

different countries gathered in the UCLG World

Council from 9 to 11 December.

The gathering counted with the presence of

mayors from cities around the world such as Ra-

bat, Dakar, Paris, Stuttgart, Sevilla and with the

participation of numerous mayors of Italian

cities. It further brings together private partners

and key international partners, representatives of

Cities Alliance, UNFCCC and OECD.

The Council was chaired by Kadir Topbas, Mayor of Istanbul (Turkey) and President of UCLG, and by the

Co-Presidents Antonio Costa, Mayor of Lisbon (Portugal), Muchadeyi Masunda, Mayor of Harare

(Zimbabwe), Ilsur Metshin, Mayor of Kazan (Russia), and Ted Ellis, Mayor of Bluffton (USA), Treasurer.

The main decisions of the UCLG World Council focus on the definition of the UCLG Strategy for the

coming six years and pay particular attention to the contribution of local and regional authorities to the

international debate on sustainability around Rio +20.

UCLG-MEWA Executive Bureau and Council Joint Meeting took place in Tehran (IRAN)

UCLG-MEWA Executive Bureau and Council Joint Meeting

took place in Tehran (IRAN) on 24-25 of December 2011 at

the kind invitation of Mohammad-Bagher Qalibaf, Mayor of

Tehran and Co-President of UCLG-MEWA.

Representatives of 150 local and regional elected officials

have met in Tehran.

Visit to Cairo and Gaza

Mr. Mehmet DUMAN, Secretary General of UCLG-MEWA visited to Cairo

and Gaza Strip between 29 April 2012-2 May 2012. In Cairo, Secretary General

visited the headquarters of Arab Administrative Development Organization,

Arab Republic of Egypt State Ministry of Administrative Development and Mr.

AbdelKavi Khalifa, the Governor of Cairo. In Gaza Strip Mr. Duman attended

a meeting on the problems of local governments in the region. Mr. Duman

visited to Mr. Yosef ALMANSI, Minister of Local Governments in Gaza Strip,

Deputy Mayor and Municipal Councilors in Gaza Municipality. Mr. Ismail

Haniyya, the Prime Minister, received Secretary General in his office. Jabalia,

Beit Lahia, Khan Yonis, Beni Sohaila, Absan, Alnosayrat,Deir Albalah, Aljadida

and Absan Alkabira Municipalities were also contacted. Secretary General

placed a wreath on monument of the fleet of liberty in Gaza Port.

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Throughout the days dedicated the local and regional

authorities, the elected officials presented the concrete

solutions they have implemented in the framework of the

Istanbul Consensus.

Mr. Joan Clos, Executive Director of UN Habitat, highlighted

the importance of increasing urbanization in developing

countries, particularly in Asia and Africa. "Local authorities

must organize themselves to ensure universal access to basic

services for all citizens, particularly those living in peripheral

cities and informal settlements." He called for a more human

urbanization, and put the emphasis on the need to develop

alternative models of urbanization, independent of city size.

Mr. Loïc Fauchon, President of the World Water Council,

expressed his wish to follow local and regional authorities in

the implementation of the Istanbul Consensus. He added that

he was ready to personally follow up on the implementation

of the Consensus: "The best governance for water is the one

that is defined close to the citizens." Mr Michel Vauzelle,

President of the Region Provence-Alpes-Cotes d’Azue

(France), expressed his wish to see regional authorities

reinforced in this process.

Mr. Serge Lepeltier, President of the Political Committee of

the 6th Forum, Mayor of Bourges (France) and Ambassador,

highlighted the importance of placing water at the core of the

Rio+20 debates, in particular in the Ministerial Declaration,

and he reminded the essential implementation of the right to

water and sanitation.

During this 6th World Water Forum, entitled "Time for

Solutions", local and regional authorities showed their

commitment to bring their solutions to the essential global

issues of water and to reaffirm their key role in improving

access to water and to sanitation.

On the occasion of the 6th World Water Forum, held in

Marseille from 12 to 17 March 2012, 350 local and regional

elected officials from accross the 5 continents have met to

increase international the mobilization of local and regional

authorities on the issues of water and sanitation and to

reinforce the commitments agreed upon in the Istanbul Water

Consensus.

In the framework of the Forum’s political process, United

Cities and Local Governments organized, jointly with the

World Water Council, the 3rdInternational Conference of

Local and Regional Authorities. With 12 thematic sessions,

this International Conference presented the advances realized

under the Istanbul Consensus since its adoption during the

5th World Water Forum in 2009, and allowed participants to

exchange on key issues such as water and urbanization,

cooperation and solidarity, as well as regional governance.

On behalf of UCLG and before the 1,450 participants in the

political process, Co-President Muchadeyi Masunda, Mayor of

Harare (Zimbabwe), reminded all of the constant

commitment of UCLG toward water issues, as well as the

support of the World Organization to the United Nations

resolution on universal access to water. He also affirmed the

need to reinforce the Istanbul Water Consensus and to fully

integrate the issue of water in the climate change negotiations

that will take place during Rio+20.

During the General Assembly of Local and Regional

Authorities, local and regional elected officials decided to

strengthen the political dimension of the Istanbul Water

Consensus, developing in particular projects of decentralized

cooperation, fostering the development of innovative

financing based on solidarity, and ensuring the

implementation of universal access to water and sanitation.

6th World Water Forum

36

Activities

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Prof. Dr. Haydar Sur, Dean of the Faculty of Health

Sciences of the Istanbul University took the floor

and presented the specific problem we meet in urban

health. Dr. Sur described the specificity of urban

issues such as population growth and related health

issues. He emphasized the importance of local

governments as the mechanisms to present the

solutions against the health problems increasing in

the cities.

Following the opening, the First Session of the

meeting was chaired by Mr. Hasan Ünver, Mayor of

Nevşehir and member of the UCLG World Council.

Mr. Dinçer Çetintaş, Director General of Sağlik A.Ş.

of the Istanbul Metropolitan Municipality underlined

that Istanbul has a ever-growing importance in

Healthy Cities Projects and their related services will

increasingly continue.

First part of the second session was chaired by Mr.

Tansel Kaya, Councillor of the Istanbul

Metropolitan Municipality and political

representative of the Committee for Urban Health

who introduced the work plan of the Committee for

Urban Health. The second part of the Session Two

on “Organizational Issues of the Committee for

Urban Health” was chaired by Mr. Mehmet Duman,

UCLG-MEWA Secretary General . The

organizationall structure of the committee was

agreed as in the following; Istanbul will chair the

committee and vice presidency will be persued by

Kazan (UCLG Euro-Asia), Tahran (UCLG-MEWA)

ve Goungzhou (UCLC ASPAC).

The launching meeting of the Committee for Urban

Health took place on 6-7 May 2012 in Istanbul,

Turkey and was attended by representatives from

cities such as Istanbul, Yalova, Izmir, Nevşehir,

Tahran, Guanghzou, Kazan and organizations such

as CEMR, UCLG Africa Section, UCLG-MEWA

Section, Local Government Association from

England (LGA), Organization of Islamic Capitals

and Cities. The meeting was organized under the

auspices of Dr. Kadir Topbaş, Mayor of Istanbul,

President of the Union of Municipalities of Turkey

and President of UCLG.

In the welcoming speech Kadir Topbaş, Mayor of

Istanbul, President of the Municipalities of Turkey

and President of UCLG, said : ’’I sincerely believe

that the decision taken in this meeting will build a

richness to solve the problems humanity suffer and

added: ‘‘Regarding the global health issues and

solutions, as UCLG we have established this

committee and we aim to take advantage of the

energy and synergy of local governments in terms of

realizing main targets pointed out by UN and World

Health Organization.

Mehmet Duman, Secretary General of United Cities

and Local Governments Middle East and West Asia

Section (UCLG-MEWA) underlined the importance

of health issue in the Millenium Development Goals

and added: ‘‘the work the Committee initiated in

Istanbul would be an important contribution to the

improvement of urban health policies in all cities of

the world’’.

The Launching Meeting of UCLG Committee for Urban Health Took Place on 6-7

May 2012 in Istanbul

37

of Interior in charge of the Reformation, reaffirmed on behalf of the Minister of the Interior that decentralization is an essential option for the future to consolidate the unity of the State. Dr. Kadir Topbaş reaffirmed the commitment of UCLG to assist the authorities and local actors to consolidate Tunisian local democracy.

After a first general discussion on issues of decentralization, the participants developed, in three parallel workshops, debates about the balance between decentralization and devolution, the role of local authorities in development and their relationships with civil society.

In the first workshop, Mr. Mehmet Duman, UCLG-MEWA Secretary General, made a speech presenting the region and the actual situation in terms of decentralization, by underlining UCLG-MEWA activities serving to the strengthening of local democracy and decentralization in the Middle East and West Asia region.

Nearly 200 representatives of local and central governments, regional and international organizations and members of the Tunisian National Constituent Assembly gathered in Tunis, Tunisia on 28-30 May 2012 to debate decentralization and the constitutional process in Tunisia. The conference was jointly organized by the National Federation of Tunisian Cities (FNVT), UCLG, the Diputación de Barcelona (Barcelona Provincial Government), the International Association of Francophone Mayors (AIMF) and the Arab Town Organisation (ATO).

The conference was opened in the presence of representatives of central government, the President of the Local Government Commission of the Tunisian National Constituent Assembly and Dr. Kadir Topbaş, President of UCLG and Mayor of Istanbul. Mr. Saifallah Lasram, Mayor of Tunis and FNTV, recalled in his opening speech the principles that should be included in the new constitution to strengthen the role of local government and local democracy. Mr. Said Mechichi, the Secretary of State in the Minister

Activities

Decentralization : Strong Instrument for Local Democracy and Development

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38

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spheres of government; the need to strengthen and diversify the local tax system and ensure a transfer of resources to local authorities on transparent and predictable basis, improving transparency and efficiency of management and the creation of a local government service as well. Regarding civil society issues, the participants considered that participative democracy must go hand in hand with representative democracy. Participants officially recorded the changing role of civil society as associations of allegiance to a role of intelligence. It was also noted that a third of the country is not yet municipalized and priorities should be to give to all citizens the same rights.

In conclusion, local authorities have warned against neglect they face and called on parliamentarians to receive constituent local authorities to establish a dialogue on the constitutional process. They also proposed to promote pilot projects of citizen participation to help developing the new legislation.

Dr. Ahmet N. Helvacı, former sub-governor and former mayor from Turkey, presented the Turkish experience of local government and decentralization.

A general consensus has emerged on the need to promote anchoring of political, administrative and financial decentralization in the new constitution of Tunisia to enshrine the principles of local autonomy, to create different levels of local communities and ensure an appropriate split of responsibilities and resources between different levels of government, encourage citizen participation and provide a legalisation of controls on local government.

During the three workshops, participants discussed several issues such as the status of regions as territorial level management to reduce regional disparities, the weakening of the controls exercised by central government on local authorities and the relevant place to establish the best connection between local administration and central government for more constructive collaboration between the different

Activities

39

Activities

The Partners Forum of the UN Alliance of Civilizations took place in İstanbul

The Partners Forum of the UN Alliance of Civilizations (UN AoC) convened in Istanbul, Turkey on 31st May – 1st June 2012, at the invitation of Mr. Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, Prime Minister of Turkey, and was co-chaired by UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon. A special session of the Forum, entitled as “The Alliance of Civilizations, Cities, Citizens” was dedicated to cities, local governments.

70 countries, 15 international organizations, and a significant number of corporations, foundations and NGOs took part in the Forum, affirming the Alliance’s position as a global platform for cross-cultural dialogue and cooperation at a time of growing global interdependence.

More than half of those present pledged new support for the Alliance’s work – both financial and in kind, thereby enabling the Alliance to better plan its future activities and consolidate existing projects. Additionally, participants discussed a wide range of topics relevant to the mandate of the Alliance, including commonly shared values essential for coexistence, cities and diversifying local governance, and the role of the private sector in supporting cross-cultural activities.

Moderated by Mr. Josep ROIG, UCLG Secretary General, the Session on “The Alliance of Civilizations, Cities, Citizens” had Dr. Kadir TOPBAŞ, Mayor of Istanbul, Turkey, President of UCLG and UNACLA; Mr. Khalifa Ababacar SALL, Mayor of Dakar, Senegal and the UCLG Vice-President for Africa; Ms.Linda LEES, Founder and Director, Creative Cities International, USA; Mr. Lütfü SAVAŞ, Mayor of Antakya, Turkey; and Ms. Snezana SAMARDZIC-MARKOVIC, Council of Europe's Director General for democracy, as main speakers.This session dedicated to the local authorities was organized by UCLG-MEWA.

President TOPBAŞ renewed to President SAMPAIO, UN Alliance of Civilizations High Representative, UCLG´s commitment to the work of Alliance and the promotion of peace and dialogue.

Activities

40

and Local Governance Sezai Hazır delivered welcoming speeches. Following the presentation about IYLA, Mrs. Yoo (Ban) Soon-Taek took floor and answered the questions of young people.

86 young people from 43 different cities in Turkey have been volunteer trainers in IYLA since 2010. Presently, 1.572 young people between the age of 15-30 have been trained by volunteer trainers in the scope of IYLA. Furthermore high school students, under the age of 20, disadvantaged youth (young people who are vulnerable to crime, young women, and teenagers in orphanages) are also involved in trainings.

So far, trainings on different topics such as ICT Literacy, CISCO IT (Cisco Information Technologies) Networking, Communication, Project Management, Financial Literacy, Discrimination and Hate Speech on New Media, HIV/AIDS, Documentary Movie Making and Social Responsibility, Conflict Resolution, Negotiation and Mediation have been organized.

The spouse of UN Secretary General Ban Ki-Moon, Mrs. Yoo (Ban) Soon-Taek visited the International Youth Leadership Academy (IYLA) located in the UCLG-MEWA building in Istanbul, Turkey on 1st June 2012.

The International Youth Leadership Academy is a partnership among UNICEF, Save the Children, Habitat Center for Development and Governance (an NGO from Turkey), Corio, United Cities and Local Governments Middle East and West Asia Section (UCLG-MEWA), and the World Academy for Local Government and Democracy (WALD). In the framework of a protocol signed by UCLG-MEWA, UNICEF and WALD, trainings are conducted in the UCLG-MEWA building. UNICEF and Save the Children contribute in the international curriculum of the academy.

UCLG-MEWA Secretary General Mehmet Duman, UNICEF Deputy Resident Representative Regina de Dominicis, CORIO Representative of Turkey Esra Yalçın and Honarary President of Habitat for Development

Activities

UN First Lady Yoo (Ban) Soon-Taek visited UCLG-MEWA

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41

Activities

Conghua City, TAN Zhixiang, Director General

of Guangzhou Cooperation Office, Zhang

Fangyou, Chairman of Guangzhou Automobile

Industry Group, LI Chuyuan, Vice Chairman &

General Manager of Guangzhou Pharmaceutical

Group Co., Ltd. and FANG Jizhang, Vice

Mayor of Conghua City Government.

WAN Qingliang, the Co President of UCLG,

inaugurated İstanbul Guangzhou Day, which

was held in Four Seasons Hotel, with a vast

group of businessmen with him on the first day

of his visit. Distinguished persons from the

business world made speeches in this ceremony,

as part of the "China Year in Turkey" event for

2012.

Co-President WAN was accompanied by Kadir

TOPBAŞ, President of UCLG, and Josep

ROIG, General Secretary of UCLG, in his two-

day visit. On the last day, after the lunch hosted

by Kadir TOPBAŞ, İstanbul Metropolitan

Municipality Mayor, he visited President

TOPBAŞ in his office.

Mr. WAN Qingliang, former Mayor of

Guangzhou and Vice President of China

Association of Mayors came to İstanbul on 17th-

18th July, 2012, and visited Kadir TOPBAŞ, the

president of United Cities and Local

Governments (UCLG). During his visit to

İstanbul, Mr. WAN Qingliang's, the Co-

President of UCLG, was accompanied by TIAN

Kaisheng, Consulate General of China in

Istanbul, CHEN Gugui, Senior Vice Mayor of

Guangzhou Municipal Government, WANG

Xudong, Director General of Guangzhou

Economic & Trade Commission, LIU Baochun,

Director General of Guangzhou Foreign Affairs

Office, LI Ming, Director General of Bureau of

Urban Planning of Guangzhou Municipality,

ZENG Kaizhang, President of CCPIT

Guangzhou, YUAN Zhimin, Chairman of

Guangzhou Federation of Industry &

Commerce, Chairman of Kingfa Sci. & Tech.

Co., Ltd., HUANG Hehong, Party Secretary of

CPC Conghua Committee, Director General of

the Standing Committee of People’s Congress of

Activities

UCLG Co-President Wan Qingliang Visited President Kadir Topbaş

42

Activities

organizations, was signed by Mehmet DUMAN,

General Secretary on behalf of UCLG-MEWA,

and LIU Baochun, General Director, on behalf

of GZFAO. The Protocol of Cooperation is

intended to promote the International

Guangzhou Urban Innovation Awards in the

region of MEWA, encourage members of

MEWA to participate in the competition. It also

aims to show the support and encouragement of

the Guanghzou Office for the activities arranged

by MEWA General Secretariat.

Press Conference ended with Josep ROIG,

General Secretary of UCLG, Qingliang WAN,

Co-President of UCLG, and Kadir TOPBAŞ,

President of UCLG, answering journalists’

questions. After the last official event, which was

the Press Conference, Co-President WAN was

sent off by TOPBAŞ, ROIG, General Secretary

of UCLG, and DUMAN, General Secretary of

UCLG-MEWA. Then President TOPBAŞ,

Josep ROIG, General Secretary of UCLG, and

Mehmet DUMAN, General Secretary of UCLG-

MEWA, exchanged evaluations about the

agenda of the organization.

In the meeting, the issues on the agenda of

UCLG World Organization were discussed the

most extensively. The details connected with the

Press Conference of International Guangzhou

Urban Innovation Awards, which was arranged

right after the meeting, were finalized.

After this concilium, the events passed on to the

Press Conference that was to be held in İstanbul

City Hall. In the Press Conference, where

International Guangzhou Urban Innovation

Awards were advertised, the signing

ceremonies (Sister City Protocol

between İstanbul and Guangzhou

and the Memorandum of

Understanding between UCLG-

MEWA and Directorate for

External Relations of Guangzhou

(GZFAO) Municipality) also took

place. CHEN Rugui, Guanghzou

Deputy Mayor; Adem BAŞTÜRK,

General Secretary of İstanbul

Metrpolitan Municipality; Josep

ROIG, General Secretary of UCLG;

WAN Qingliang, Guanghzou

Province General Secretary of the

Communist Party of China and Co-President of

UCLG; Kadir TOPBAŞ, İstanbul Metropolitan

Municipality Mayor and President of UCLG;

TIAN Kaisheng, İstanbul Deputy Consul-

General of People’s Republic of China; Mehmet

DUMAN, General Secretary of UCLG-MEWA;

LIU Baochun, Director of External Relations of

Guanghzou Municipality, were present in the

meeting. After the speeches of WAN, Co-

President of UCLG, and TOPBAŞ, President of

UCLG, the conference passed on to the signing

ceremony.

Memorandum of Understanding between

UCLG-MEWA and GZFAO, which aims to

support the cooperation between the two

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Local and Regional Authorities gearing up to Habitat Agenda

Over 200 Mayors and local

practitioners gathered in Naples

on 1-7 September at the World

Urban Forum called for the Third

Conference of Sustainable

Human Settlements (Habitat

III) to revise the international

governance architecture for urban

and development issues.

Dr. Kadir Topbas, Mayor of

Istanbul and President of UCLG

presented the commitment of the

UN Advisory Committee for

Local Authorities (UNACLA) to

significantly contribute to shaping the new Habitat Agenda.

As inheritor of the Habitat II process, which set the basis for the creation of the World

Organization of Cities and Local Governments, UCLG called all local government partners to

unite and define the priorities of local and regional authorities internationally.

The new Habitat agenda needs to be people centered and help us move away from the dichotomy

of rural versus urban. It will need to put cohesion among territories at the forefront of our future

work, said the UCLG and UNACLA President.

The Mayor of Mexico, Marcelo Ebrad called for a change in the international financial architecture,

allowing direct financing of local governments.

The Mayor of Naples, di Magestri, asked for local authorities to unite and call for global rights with

the development of culture as corner stone for sustainable development.

Mr Carrasco, Vice-President of FOGAR underlined the need to make territorial cohesion a priority

in the agenda.

Representatives of local government associations from Sweden, Canada, Colombia, Senegal and

the Philippines, among others, ratified the need to focus on the empowerment of local authorities

around the world in order that they can comply with their responsibilities towards citizens.

The round table of Mayors celebrated and embraced the UNACLA Habitat III statement that

requests Habitat III to address representational deficits faced within global governance and policy-

making instruments.

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UCLG Urban Health Committee Attended to the UCLG’s Committees and Working

Groups Meeting

The annual meeting of the UCLG’s Committees and Working Groups Secretariats meeting held in the head Office of UCLG in Barcelona, on 12 – 14 September 2012.

In the first two days of the meeting, “City to City Learning” named program which was organized with the cooperation of UCLG and Metropolis, was held. In the meeting UCLG Urban Health Committee was represented by Dinçer Çetintaş (Secretary General of Urban Health Committee), Prof. Haydar Sur, Dr. Ali Osman Soluk and Vefik Mehmet Aksu. First day, the learning process of Local governments, working groups and metropolises and the most efficient ways for them to share their knowledge between each other was debated. The purpose of this discussion was contributing these entities on acquiring knowledge in order to enhance their effectiveness in their services. During the debates held in first day, participants addressed tree main questions: “How we learn, what we learn and who needs to learn?” and tried to answer them.

Second day of the meeting the UCLG’s Committees and Working Groups’ – UCLG Urban Health Committee was one of them – ideas and proposes were listened. At the same day, the UCLG’s connection role that is about knowledge and experience sharing between members was identified.

Tim Campell who is specialist in “Learning Cities” concept also involved the second day meeting and made a small presentation about his book “Beyond Smart Cities”. The last part of the second day meeting, short, medium and long term targets for acquiring information and sharing information effectively were determined by the attendees.

According to these targets in the short term, working on the subjects which are Facilitating Peer Learning, Communication and Visibility, Knowledge Management and Brokering/Intermediation were agreed.

In the medium and long term, participants agreed on monitoring and evaluating learning outcomes and working on joint efforts for resource mobilization.

At the UCLG Committees and Working Groups Secretariats Meeting, UCLG Health Committee presented his activities and announced that Committee’s meeting will be organized in Bagdad within the framework of UCLG-MEWA Statutory Meeting.

UCLG Committees and Working Groups Secretariats Meeting was held on 14 September 2012 in the afternoon. At the meeting, participants discussed about the ways of improving their mutual communication and agreed on the necessity of developing UCLG’s active role in their intercommunication. Participants also decided to use internet more active for sharing knowledge and communication.

According to this subject, Prof. Haydar Sur who took the floor on the behalf of UCLG Urban Health Committee, emphasized the importance of creating web site or/and improving the existing ones for the committees and working groups. Professor Sur, also announced the Urban Health Committees web page which is under construction phase. Accept Urban Health Committee’s web page, Prof. Haydar Sur announced the academic bulletin which is considered to be issued in the soonest time by Urban Health Committee. He also claimed information support for bulletin from working groups and committees. Additionally at the same speech, the meeting of UCLG Urban Health Committee which is going to be organized on January 2013 in Bagdad, was announced by Professor Sur.

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The third institutional meeting of UCLG Urban Health Committee was held on 5 December

2012 in Dakar, Senegal. The meeting was conducted by Tansel Kaya, Councilor of the

Istanbul Metropolitan Municipality and Political Representative of the Committee for Urban

Health who represented Dr. Kadir Topbaş, UCLG President and Mayor of Istanbul

Metropolitan Municipality in the meeting. The meeting began with the announcement of the

agenda and introduction of the participants.

After Tansel Kaya, Prof. Dr. Haydar Sur, Dean of the Faculty of Health Sciences of the

Istanbul University and Deputy Secretariat General of UCLG Committee for Urban Health

took floor and gave information about the activities that the committee realized from its

establishment to the meeting. Prof. Dr. Haydar Sur also made a presentation about the role

and effectiveness of local governments in the field of urban health.

In Prof. Sur’s presentation it was expressed that more than half of the world population lives

in the cities in today’s world and therefore mega cities have formed where there are more than

10 million inhabitants. As a result in a world that urbanization escalates so rapidly the local

government’s responsibilities on health issue increases relevantly.

Another important subject that Prof. Dr. Haydar Sur underlined was the issue of slum areas.

According to his presentation, increasing in the slum areas are directly related with rapid

urbanization and slums that have unhealthy conditions provides available environment for

epidemics. With regard to these information Prof. Sur specified good governance. For him, a

local government which doesn’t let increase in slum areas could be considered as good

government.

During the presentation Prof. Dr. Haydar Sur remarked the unhealthy housing and working

conditions that more than one billion people have in the world and the inability of

undeveloped and emerging countries governments about fulfilling the essential requirements

UCLG Committee for Urban Health Gathered in Africa

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of these people.

He pointed out the ability of developed countries on meeting its citizens’ needs and related to

this the 75 years or more life expectancy of the citizens in developed countries. He also

mentioned the contrary situation in the cities where there is poor urban governance and said

that the expectancy of human life can reduce to approximately 35 years at that countries.

Additionally in the presentation the main factors that are shorten the human life and arise

from poor governance are specified. These are: insufficient and unhealthy food, epidemics,

environmental pollution, air pollution and as its outcome severe acute respiratory syndrome,

traffic accidents, urban violence like crime and psychological effects of poorness.

At the third meeting of UCL Committee for Urban Health, Dr. Muzaffer Saraç, Head of the

Department for Health and Social Services of Istanbul Metropolitan Municipality, took the

floor after Prof. Dr. Haydar Sur. Dr. Muzaffer Saraç made a presentation in order to give

information about the health services of Istanbul Metropolitan Municipality.

He stated that 34 women and family center, 12 psychological consultation center and 3

monitoring center has established in order to serve woman and family health. He also

expressed that free health service has provided to 1.446.417 citizen from 2004 to 2012 and

besides all these, with the establishment of ALO 153 Call Center, 1700 appointment has given

to the women and 3.961 cancer patients (women) have cured successfully until present.

Dr. Saraç kept on informing participants about the services implemented for all citizens of

Istanbul and remarked on health education services provided by Istanbul Metropolitan

Municipality. At his presentation 398.969-hour psychological consultation service and

2.230.969 hour health education service, which have given to the citizens until 2012 by IBB,

had pointed out. Apart from all these, establishment of 16 stop smoking clinic in Istanbul had

announced in the presentation.

In the second part of his presentation, Dr. Saraç gave detailed information about free health

services which are being implemented in the citizens own house who are incapable of going to

hospital like handicapped, elderly, poor, extremely sick people. He mentioned that from 2004,

97.240 people have received this free charge health service. He also gave information about

the 108.296 hour health education service which includes nutrition and wound care and

treatment has given to this people at their own home too. At last free accompaniment service

that is given by Head of the Department for Health and Social Services of Istanbul

Metropolitan Municipality for the needers had briefly explained in his presentation.

Finally Dr. Ali Osman Soluk made a small presentation about the web page of Committee

(www.uclg-urbanhealth.com) which is newly created and under development stage. During his

presentation the contribution from members also claimed like receiving their academic

researches in order to enhance the content of committee’s web page.

At the last part of the meeting, the speakers answered the participants’ questions about the

presented topics and the considered meeting of UCLG Committee for Urban Health on 14

January 2013 in Bagdad which is announced during the meeting.

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http://www.uclg-urbanhealth.com

The 2nd UN High Level Panel of Eminent Persons on the Post-2015 Development Agenda took place in London from 29 October to 2 November hosted by the British Prime Minister David Cameron. Dr. Kadir Topbaş, Mayor of Istanbul and President of UCLG, voices the views of local and regional governments in this important forum which will play a key role in defining the international development agenda for the coming decades. The London debates paid special attention on poverty eradication, job creation and the promotion of sustainable development. The previous and first meeting of the High Level Panel was held in New York on 25th September and highlighted the need to identify catalyst that will enable achieving the targets set by the existing Millennium Development Goals in 2015 but that will also contribute to the definition of the new development agenda. The second meeting of the Panel in London stressed the need to work towards “an open, transparent, and inclusive Post 2015 process”. The London meeting stressed the need to target individual and household level poverty. UCLG´s President stressed the importance of addressing inequalities at local level, through the provision of basic services, adequate infrastructures and the definition of local development strategies. Dr. Kadir Topbas declared: “many of the challenges we face require an integrated territorial approach and the improvement of urban planning.” He further stressed : “Territorial inequalities should be addressed by the future Post 2015 agenda”, Following up his commitment to represent the broad constituency of local and regional authorities and their diverse networks, the UCLG President has invited local government sister organizations to join a Task-force that will prepare inputs for the 2015 process. He further proposed the High Level Panel to have a dedicated sub-group on sustainable urbanization which will address development targets from the holistic approach of cities and will path the way for the new Urban Agenda to be defined at the Habitat III Conference. The next meetings of the High Level Panel are due to take place in Monrovia and Bali in the first quarter of 2013. The final meeting is envisaged to take place in New York in May. This will be the occasion in which the Report to the UN Secretary General will be delivered.

Activities

UCLG President stresses the role of local and regional governments in addressing inequalities

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http://www.uclg.org/en/issues/millenium-goals

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The Guangzhou Awards Ceremony was held in Guangzhou, China between 14-17 November

2012 on the occasion of Metropolis Board of Directors. The first edition received a total of 225

initiatives of application from cities of 56 countries and regions throughout the world and the

awards were handed out to five winners representing each Regional Section. From Middle East

and West Asia Region Kocaeli (Turkey), from Africa Lilongwe (Malawi), from Asia Pacific Seoul

(South Korea), from North America Vancouver (Canada) and from Europe Vienna (Austria)

gained the prizes. Kocaeli Municipality won the prize with its “Prepare before it’s too late: Learn to

live with earthquake” Project.

30 Projects were also declared as “Deserving Initiatives” and Dubai (United Arab Emirates),

Kadıköy (Turkey), Mashhad, Tehran (Iran) and Zouk Mikael (Lebanon) are the cities in this

category from MEWA Region.

The Guangzhou International Award for Urban Innovation (Guangzhou Award), which is defined

by Mr. Kadir TOPBAŞ, President of UCLG, as “the Nobel Prize of UCLG” and will be delivered

biennially, is co-founded by the City of Guangzhou, the World Association of the Major

Metropolises (Metropolis), and the

United Cities and Local

Governments (UCLG), with the

aim of promoting the sharing of

urban innovation experiences,

recognizing the successful practices

of cities and local governments on

urban innovation, and advocating

scientific approach to urban

innovation, thus pushing forward

the comprehensive, harmonious

and sustainable development of

cities around the world.

AND THE GUANGZHOU AWARD GOES TO… KOCAELİ

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Asian Mayors Forum 3rd General Assembly Meeting on Local Governance: Urban Initiatives for

Progress&Justice was held on 28-29 November 2012 in Bangkok, Thailand. Dr. Kadir Topbaş,

Mayor of Istanbul Metropolitan Municipality and President of United Cities Local Governments

(UCLG) attended the meeting through a video message. Mehmet Duman, United Cities Local

Governments Middle East and West Asia (UCLG-MEWA) Secretary General; Tansel Kaya

İstanbul Metropolitan Municipality (IMM) Councilor and Selamettin Ermiş Director of Foreign

Relations Department of IMM also took part in this Forum. Mr. Topbaş expressed that he regards

Asian Mayors Forum as a friendship meeting, saying: ‘‘we all are like different branches of a tree;

our roots, lands and aims are the same.’’ Mr.Topbaş said: ‘‘In order to provide a better world for

the next generations, we have taken important steps and we have demonstrated the impact and

power of city diplomacy. Mayor Kadir Topbaş also reminded his last visit to Guangzhou, China on

the occasion of Metropolis Board of Directors on November 16th saying: ‘‘We made important

contacts. We planted a friendship tree. I believe that this tree will fruit as more cooperation, a

better future and permanent peace. Even if we speak different languages, we share the same

feelings. During my visit to China, Presidency of the Urban Transformation Commission was

offered to me. I accepted this offer on behalf of the whole UCLG family. I believe that we will

succeed much better works together. On every occasion I mention the importance of collaboration

among Asian cities. Please be aware of this power.’’

Third Asian Mayors Forum took place in Bangkok

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Over 300 UCLG members from over 40 countries gathered at the UCLG World Council, held

in Dakar (Senegal) from 4th to 6th December 2012, at the kind invitation of Mayor Khalifa Sall and

UCLGA.

Local and regional leaders focused on discussing the impact of local and regional government’s

daily work in development and called UCLG to work to ensure that this message is convened

to the international community in the preparations of the new Millennium Development

Goals and Habitat III. Basic services, equality, local development have been identified as areas

where Local and Regional Authorities are key actors if we want to improve the quality of life of

communities.

The UCLG membership recalled that the New Urban Agenda should be based on four key

pillars: new methods of partnership between central and local governments in order to regulate the

urbanization and metropolization processes; supporting innovation and economic development of

UCLG World Council was held in Dakar, Senegal

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towns and cities in order to improve the quality of public services; the promotion of strategic

urban planning and resilient towns and cities; the engagement of citizens in local decisions.

Special emphasis was put in improving the life of women and empowering them as motors of

development.

Members of the World Organization furthermore committed to participate in the 4th UCLG

World Congress, Summit of Local and Regional Leaders to take place in Rabat from 1st to 4th

October 2013. Imagine Society, Build Democracy will be the red line of a gathering that should

be inclusive and open to all partners and sister organizations. Fathallah Oualalou Mayor of Rabat

(Morocco), stressed the desire of his city to facilitate dialogue and exchange that should contribute

to a peaceful future for all. UCLG members requested the agenda of the Congress to include

strong accent on Culture as fourth pillar of sustainability and gender equality.

The President of UCLG, Kadir Topbaþ, Mayor of Istanbul, recalled his determination to have the

voice of local and regional authorities heard in the international development agenda, and to follow

the mandate and aspirations of UCLG to facilitate the diversity of local and regional voices to

enrich the international agenda in particular through the High Level Panel of the United

Nations. “The Post-2015 Agenda is critical for our Organization, but also for the citizens that we

serve”.

“The Habitat III Conference will be a decisive moment that should recognize the maturity of our

movement at global level,” he concluded.

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Joan Clos, Under Secretary General of the UN, stressed the need to pay attention to medium size

cities in middle income countries which are rapidly growing and being the target of many of the

urban challenges.

The UCLG leadership welcomed the increased participation of Regional Authorities in

UCLG through the creation of the Forum of Regions and renewed partnership with ORU-

FOGAR aiming at creating a Section of Regions. The World Forum of Regions adopted a

Declaration that calls upon all spheres of government to coordinate and contribute to the

provision of basic public services. They further stressed the need to unite to work towards food

security, and self-sufficiency of territories.

The UCLG Executive Bureau was chaired by Muchadeyi Masunda, Mayor of Harare

(Zimbabwe) who stressed the need to partner with all actors and highlighted the role of local

authorities as catalyst of alliances and development. Wolfgang Schuster, Mayor of Stuttgart

(Germany) praised the work carried out by the organization in 2012 and encouraged members to

mobilize and get involved next year providing inputs for the Local and Regional Authorities Post-

2015.

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Notes

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Notes

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UCLG-MEWA NEWSLETTER - 3

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