The Committee on Decentralization and Local Self Government, chaired by Diputacion of Barcelona, and the UCLG World Secretariat organized a session at the World Urban Forum (WUF) in order to inform about the findings and recommendations of local authorities with regard to local government Finance to a broader group of partners.
The session based in the finding of the 2nd Global Report on Decentralization and Local Democracy (GOLDII), "Local Government Finance: The Challenges of the 21st Century", highlighted key challenges face by local governments regard across the different world regions. Accelerating urbanization and important shifts in the global context (climate change, increasing risk of natural disaster, migration, and demographic changes, among others) present both threats and opportunities for local governments in the years ahead.
Cecilia Martinez, Director of UN Habitat NY highlighted the need to clarify the roles of the different levels of government as well as strengthening the fiscal capacity of cities.
If increasing fiscal decentralization has been a global trend in recent decades, there are significant variations across and within regions and countries. Local budgets make up on average 25% of public expenditure in the countries of the European Union but less than 5% in many developing countries. The need to address the international architecture of finacing urban development was addressed by the representative of FMDV.