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.

The Culture2030Goal campaign, of which IFLA is a founding member, is focused on ensuring that the global sustainable development agenda fully integrates culture.

We argue that this is a key way of accelerating positive change, through mobilising the energy and ideas of the cultural sector, as well as better centring efforts on people and communities.

While the name of the campaign focuses on the idea that any future development agendas should include a specific cultural goal, we underline that governments at all levels should act as if a culture goal already existed.

By correcting the mistake of 2015 – not including a culture goal – we both raise the profile of culture as a policy area in itself, facilitate its integration into policy implementation in other areas, and mobilise the energies of the sector.

IFLA and the other members of the Culture2030Goal campaign therefore strongly welcome the latest draft of the Pact for the Future, which includes a whole action on culture, including a call for a culture goal in future development agendas.

The Pact is likely to be a milestone document this decade for the UN, launching or confirming new initiatives designed to make the multilateral system more effective.

The inclusion of culture is consistent with this goal, given its role in policy effectiveness and enabling change.

The inclusion of an action on culture follows the work of UNESCO, supportive countries, and of course the Culture2030Goal campaign itself, which has reached out to governments in New York and Paris (where UNESCO is based) in order to make the case.

You can read the full statement on the Culture2030Goal website.

We will shortly also be publishing a library perspective on the Pact and its wider implications for knowledge and information.