Press Release: The future we want includes culture

03 June 2014

 

Today, on behalf of EBLIDA, Klaus-Peter Böttger, EBLIDA President, signed the Declaration for the Inclusion of Culture in the Sustainable Development Goals post-2015:  The future we want includes culture.

EBLIDA endorses the Declaration: “We believe that culture is both a driver and an enabler of sustainable development and that the explicit inclusion of targets and indicators for culture in the Sustainable Development Goals will enable transformative change”.

EBLIDA supports the role of culture in UNESCO’s Sustainable Development Goals post-2015:

• Culture is necessary for building democratic societies;
• Culture is key to building a peaceful social existence as well as mutual understanding between different communities;
• Culture is an essential aspect of sustainable development.

 

Why is this important?

Global expenditure on development over the next 15 years will be defined by the final goal document to be agreed by UN Member States in the coming months. If culture is not mentioned, it will be extremely difficult for countries to elaborate policies and provide funds for projects that rely on culture’s role as a driver and an enabler of sustainable development.

‘Culture’ was completely absent from the Millennium Development Goals document http://www.un.org/millenniumgoals/. Don’t let this happen again.

Why is this urgent?

The UN’s Open Working Group (OWG) on Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) http://sustainabledevelopment.un.org/owg.html holds working sessions to draft a list of goals, targets and indicators. Culture is again almost absent. The OWG’s draft of the SDGs will be finalised in July 2014.

What can you do to help?

EBLIDA calls on its members to sign the declaration and to help raise awareness of the UN’s Member States of culture’s vital contribution to sustainable development.

The full text of the declaration is accessible at http://culture2015goal.net/index.php/home/declaration.

Twitter: #culture2015goal

The Declaration has already been signed by more than 450 organisations (including IFLA and Culture Action Europe) and by numerous individuals. Please join the global campaign and sign the declaration.

 

-        END -

 

 

Download the Press Release here

 

< back to overview