Contributor: Tina Yuan (Intern)

On June 30, 2022, the Institute for Global Environmental Strategies (IGES) webinar on Voluntary Local Reviews 2022: Overcoming Barriers to Implementation celebrated the launch of the third volume of State of the Voluntary Local Reviews. The report titled "Overcoming Barriers to Implementation" presents an analysis of 36 voluntary local reviews (VLRs) of cities from 2021.

The webinar highlighted the key points of the report and provided a forum for an in-depth discussion of the reasons for conducting VLRs and what VLRs are used for. Representatives from Asker, Norway; Barcelona, Spain; and New Taipei City shared their VLR experiences, particularly the benefits the VLRs brought their cities in promoting the localization of the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and how they optimized their VLRs. This conversation provided insight on how to localize, monitor, and review the SDGs.

In her speech, Director-General Chingyu Yao of the New Taipei City Secretariat stated that a "VLR is more than just a report—the process of making a VLR is an implementation of the SDGs." New Taipei City is home to 4 million people and is the largest city in Taiwan. Since New Taipei City Mayor Hou Yu-Ih took office, localizing the SDGs has been a priority for the city. New Taipei City is pleased that many like-minded partners and friends have joined in localizing the SDGs.



New Taipei City's 2021 VLR had several distinct characteristics. First, the VLR report includes an entire chapter on the city's battle against COVID-19 and is dedicated to the people who lost their lives and family members to the disease. Second, New Taipei City was the first city in Taiwan to collaborate with Sweden's Stockholm Environment Institute and incorporated the sustainable development tools released by the United Nations in 2016 into the analysis. Finally, New Taipei City invited young designers and local companies to turn waste materials into packaging as a part of the VLR.

Important speakers and guests who attended the webinar included Yatsuka Kataoka, the program director of the City Taskforce of the IGES; Fernando Ortiz-Moya, a policy researcher from the City Taskforce of the IGES; Martin Hafsahl, the international cooperation and public relations adviser of Asker Municipality; and Ramon Canal-Oliveras, the director of the Technical Programming Office of the Barcelona City Council. Representatives of the IGES also presented at the 2022 ING Earth Day Forum in New Taipei City. This valuable collaboration signifies New Taipei City's ongoing implementation of the SDGs.

Competent Authority: Secretariat × IGES