Agueda is one of the Portuguese municipalities most committed to the development of its Local Agenda 21, a fact recognized by the international ICLEI association in inviting the local government to present a communication at the panel dedicated to the future of global Agenda 21s.
Alongside Agueda’s presentation, good practices were also shared by representatives from the cities of Toronto (Canada), Montevideo (Uruguay), and the Province of Barcelona (Spain). In the preliminary panel, experiences from Almada (Portugal), Changwon (South Korea), São Paulo (Brazil), Bilbao (Spain), and Copenhagen (Denmark) were presented.
In a panel dedicated to good practices on Ecomobility, Agueda Mayor, Gil Nadais, presented the beAgueda project – Agueda’s electric bicycle initiative. Other speakers included Stian Berger Rosland, Mayor of Oslo (Norway), and Marcelo Cardinale Branco, Secretary of Transportation for the city of São Paulo (Brazil). Representatives from Oslo and Belo Horizonte showed particular interest in the beAgueda project, considering the introduction of similar projects in their territories.
The Agueda delegation left on the 18th for Rio de Janeiro to integrate into the Portuguese Delegation represented at the United Nations Conference on Sustainable Development – Rio + 20.
Agueda’s participation in these two global congresses is due to the international and national recognition of its ongoing policies and actions in sustainability. Gil Nadais stated, “With our participation in these congresses, we seek to share experiences, enhance our knowledge, and showcase the commitment and work of small and medium-sized cities in terms of sustainability (from local to global).”
The Agueda mayor also emphasized that these events allow “to project the name of Agueda beyond borders, improving the performance of the municipality as well as establishing networks of contacts, aiming to enhance the municipal strategy for environmental, social, and economic sustainability.”
United Nations figures indicated the presence of around 130 heads of state, as well as the issuance of over 45,000 credentials, about 12,000 for delegates from 188 countries. The virtual interaction was considered “huge” by the UN: since November of last year, online discussions have seen participation from 50 million people.
