Event

The Cultural Foundation of Sustainable Development: The Role of Localisation, Diversity, and Community in the Global Agenda.

Organizers

• UN Etxea – Basque Country Association for UNESCO
• Basque Government

Date and venue

Tuesday 30 september, 11:00–12:00

MONDIACULT 2025 – World Conference on Cultural Policies and Sustainable Development.

Centre de Convencions Internacional de Barcelona -CCIB. Room 111.

The event aligns with the Pact for the Future adopted in September 2024, which recognizes culture as a key enabler of sustainable development. It emphasizes the importance of localization and community participation in implementing the 2030 Agenda. Case studies from Hawaiʻi and the Basque Country will illustrate how cultural and linguistic diversity can be integrated into public policy to foster inclusive and resilient communities.

The Pact for the Future, adopted at the Summit of the Future in September 2024, recognizes culture as a fundamental enabler of sustainable development. It highlights the role of culture in shaping identity, fostering social cohesion, and contributing to inclusive and equitable development. The Pact calls for the integration of culture into economic, social, and environmental policies, ensuring adequate public investment to protect and promote it.

 

A key element of the Pact is localization, which ensures the effective implementation of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development by adapting solutions to the specific challenges of each region. Localization strengthens community participation, reinforces ownership of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), and promotes grassroots resilience. While the Pact acknowledges the importance of culture, it falls short of fully incorporating the aspirations of MONDIACULT 2022, which aimed to establish culture as a stand-alone development goal beyond 2030.

 

MONDIACULT offers a strategic framework linking culture and sustainability, while localization translates these principles into concrete actions at the territorial level. The United Nations Local2030 Coalition advocates for the essential role of culture in development, emphasizing the need for collective efforts to make its contribution to the 2030 Agenda more visible.

 

This event aims to highlight the role of cultural and linguistic diversity in advancing the 2030 Agenda at the local level, presenting initiatives from the Basque Country (Euskadi) Hawaiʻi and Wales, three distinct regions committed to embedding culture and language in public policy through targeted strategies.

 

• Hawaiʻi Green Growth (HGG) exemplifies a localized cultural framework for implementing the SDGs through the Aloha+ Challenge, a statewide public-private partnership. With over 200 partners—including NGOs, government agencies, and businesses—HGG coordinates efforts to build a resilient and sustainable future for island communities. It convenes working groups to set priorities, monitors progress through the Aloha+ Dashboard, and promotes community-driven action. HGG also leads Hawaiʻi’s Voluntary Local Review (VLR) submission to the United Nations, including a 2025 version in ʻŌlelo Hawaiʻi, the indigenous Hawaiian language, and coordinates the SDG Youth Council led by Native Hawaiian students.
• The Basque Country (Euskadi) highlights the contribution of cultural and linguistic diversity to sustainable development. The region reinforces its commitment to the SDGs by incorporating SDG 18—focused on cultural and linguistic diversity—into its Voluntary Monitoring Reports for the Euskadi 2030 Agenda, which have been presented since 2016. Euskadi is also promoting the “Ahots Batuak” campaign, launched publicly in June 2025, which seeks to engage citizens in advancing SDG 18 on cultural and linguistic diversity. By integrating culture and language into sustainable development policies, these case studies exemplify how localized approaches can effectively contribute to achieving global sustainability goals, ensuring resilient, inclusive, and culturally rich communities.

 

Simultaneous interpretation will be provided in Spanish, Basque, and English.

 

Programme

• Presentation video from the Basque Country
• Andoni Iturbe, Deputy Minister of Culture of the Basque Government
• Round Table – Cultural and Linguistic Diversity in the Localization of the 2030 Agenda
  • Andoni Iturbe, Deputy Minister of Culture of the Basque Government
  • Iñigo Arbiol, deputy director, United Nations Local2030 Coalition.
  • Elin Burns, Welsh Government’s Director of Culture, Heritage, Sport and Welsh Language. Wales Government.
  • Kinohi Souki. Hawaii SDG Youth.
  • Moderator: Arantza Acha, UN Etxea, Director.
• Closing Remarks:  Pablo Fernández Marmissolle-Daguerre, UCLG Assistant Secretary-General for Partnerships.

 

 

 

 

Please feel free to share this invitation with colleagues attending Mondiacult who may be interested in participating.

 

Focal point: Begoña Guzmán Sánchez, Head of Culture at UN Etxea b.guzman@unetxea.org