HEAD OF STATE FUND PARTICIPATED IN INTERNATIONAL SEMINAR ON LOCALIZATION SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT GOALS
Chairman of the Board of the State Fund for Support of Youth Housing Construction Serhii Komnatnyi participated at the online seminar “What will your city look like in 2030? "Localizing Sustainable Development Goals and the Role of Voluntary Local Reviews in Eastern and South-Eastern Europe."
The seminar was opened by Gulnara Roll, Secretary of the Committee on Urban Planning, Housing and Land Management of the United Nations Economic Commission for Europe (UNECE), and Alexandre Hedjazi, Director of the Global Environment Policy Program at the University of Geneva. In the introductory speech, the moderators of the event stressed the importance of dialogue between experts and regional representatives.
Gulnara Roll, in particular, pointed out the importance of the transition from a socialist economy on the example of the city of Bishkek (Kyrgyzstan) through the Sustainable Development Goals and the exchange of best practices through voluntary local reviews.
Serhii Komnatnyi, during his speech, recalled: supporting the global Sustainable Development Goals until 2030, proclaimed by the resolution of the UN General Assembly, Ukraine pledged to ensure compliance with SDGs. Therefore, the issue of collecting data for monitoring the implementation of SDGs is relevant for Ukraine.
Monitoring of the implementation of Sustainable Development Goals at the national level is carried out in accordance with the Government Resolution. Monitoring is carried out on 183 indicators. The State Statistics Service of Ukraine is the coordinator of this process. The relevant analysis makes it possible to identify issues, determine the priority of solving issues of economic and social policy in Ukraine.
However, Serhii Komnatnyi noted that at the local level in Ukraine there are no regulatory requirements for monitoring the state of achievement of SDGs in a particular region, city, or local community.
Mr. Komnatnyi focused on the experience of Kharkiv, where Sustainable Development Goals as an important tool for improving the welfare of the population are integrated into the city's development programs. In particular, the city authorities pay great attention to energy efficiency, energy saving and affordable housing. Programs are being implemented to support citizens and associations of co-owners who have received loans for energy efficiency and energy saving measures. The Kharkiv authorities also pay considerable attention to improving infrastructure, in particular, transport links, expanding public transport lines, including the subway.
Projects to improve Kharkiv’s ecosystem are being implemented. It is planned to combine all the park areas of the city into one system, which will allow the city's residents to move freely from one park area to another.
In addition, the city of Kharkiv pays great attention to overcoming the consequences of the COVID-19 pandemic. The high level of such work is evidenced by the report prepared in the framework of the UNDA’s 13th tranche project "Building urban economic resilience during and after COVID-19".
Serhii Komnatnyi expressed his opinion on the necessity of UNECE support in conducting regional monitoring of the achievement SDGs in Ukraine. It is no less important to inform territorial communities throughout Ukraine about the importance of implementing Sustainable Development Goals at the regional level.