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The Culture2030Goal Campaign has released its draft analysis of the place of culture in 2024 Voluntary National Reviews of implementation of the Sustainable Development Goals. The analysis highlights that all countries are already reflecting on culture, with some taking a very comprehensive approach. However, an explicit goal could make the difference in generalising this good practice.
The latest draft of the United Nations’ Pact for the Future, likely to be a milestone document for the UN this decade, represents welcome progress towards recognising the importance of culture – and the need for a goal in future development agendas.
Creative Commons, a longstanding partner of IFLA, is leading an effort to advocate for a UNESCO Recommendation on Open Culture. This would follow in the footsteps of current UNESCO recommendations on Open Science and Open Educational Resources.
IFLA joined partners from around the world in the Hague to mark 70 years of protecting cultural heritage at a conference hosted by UNESCO and the Kingdom of the Netherlands. It is on this occasion that we join sister organisations and fellow founding members of Blue Shield International to reaffirm our calls for the protection of archives, libraries, museums and heritage places during armed conflicts and political instability.
IFLA Headquarters joined partners from UNESCO representing civil society and beyond at the 16th International Forum of NGOs in Official Partnership with UNESCO. This was held in person from 15‐16 April 2024 in Abidjan (Côte d’Ivoire) with the theme, “Sustainable Cultures”.
UNESCO has opened the call for candidates to be World Book Capital City from 23 April 2026. IFLA warmly encourages libraries to engage with city authorities to explore submitting bids that celebrate and strengthen the contribution of books and reading to urban development.
IFLA was proud to join colleagues in the Culture2030Goal campaign in submitting proposals for improving the zero draft for the Pact for the Future, with a view to ensuring that it seizes the opportunity to mobilise culture to deliver on the United Nations' goals.
IFLA’s participation at the 2024 meeting of the World Book Capital Network provided an opportunity to highlight the need to more to mobilise libraries for urban development, and to gather and share lessons that can help cities everywhere build stronger communities through books and reading.
With a strong basis in the work of the cities libraries and librarians, the recently published programme for Strasbourg as World Book Capital City from 23 April 2023 is an exciting one, offering much not just to the city’s residents, but also to others interested in promoting books and reading locally.
Local governments are not just a key stakeholder for many libraries, but also a key ally in making the case for a stronger recognition of the role of culture, cultural institutions and cultural actors in advancing sustainable development. We were therefore very happy to join United Cities and Local Governments' Culture Summit, focused on building recognition of this role, and to sign a memorandum of understanding allowing us to take this work further.
IFLA is excited to invite colleagues from the library and museum fields, as well as from the Permanent Delegation of the UAE to UNESCO, to join us in a discussion at the Greening Education Hub. We will explore how cultural actors help implement lifelong greening community strategies, and integrate these perspectives into the work programme of the UNESCO Greening Education Partnership.
As a founding member of the Climate Heritage Network, IFLA is excited to join in supporting a call to action for culture at COP28 – and we invite you to join as well!
The Culture2030Goal campaign, of which IFLA is a founding member, has welcomed recent statements by UN Member States, the G20, the BRICS and ministers of the European Union which underline the role of culture in development, and point towards the need for a dedicated culture goal in future.
Calling for immediate humanitarian aid is of the highest priority. We implore all parties to uphold respect for human rights and dignity, in line with international law, and find a pathway to peace.
FLA was excited to attend and contribute to Creative Commons’s conversation on the future of openness. The open movement provides opportunities for libraries to engage with and serve their users, as well as reach new users. Read on for some key take-aways from the programme, and what they may mean for library advocacy going forward.