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Credit: ICLEI
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Cities
Show the Way to Climate Adaptation
BY
NIRUPA MAYER (IDN)
BONN
(IDN) – Local government leaders set their own course for cities
adapting to climate change as the Bonn Climate Change talks of the
United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) opened
May 31.
500 Mayors, municipal decision makers and experts from universities and
international organizations from all continents met for Resilient Cities
2010, the first world congress on the adaptation of cities to the
impacts of Climate Change, organized by ICLEI-Local Governments for
Sustainable Development, the World Mayors Council on Climate Change and
the City of Bonn.
Konrad Otto-Zimmermann, Secretary General of ICLEI, commended Congress
participants for making the event a success, but said there is a need
for connections with leaders in other sectors. “The well-established
disaster risk community and those who work in climate change need to
work together to accelerate adaptation in cities,” he said. “We need
to strengthen this movement of ‘adaptationists.’”
Mayors promise to safeguard the urban poor from the effects of climate
change, to press for greater local government involvement in
international climate proceedings and to allot more funds to cities'
climate adaptation. Mayors set out a local leader's roadmap for climate
adaptation preceding the UN Climate Talks (COP16) in Cancún, Mexico,
from November 29 to December 10, 2010.
The Bonn Declaration of the Mayors Adaptation Forum 2010 is local
governments' loudest international response to the failed UN Climate
Change Conference (COP15) in Copenhagen in December 2009. COP15 did not
deliver the bold, binding and global climate change agreement the world
hoped for.
While cities make efforts to reduce their carbon dioxide emissions and
increase urban energy-efficiency, they are at the same time at risk.
Climate change is already leading to an increased frequency of extreme
weather events bringing floods, landslides and droughts while melting
glaciers threaten the drinking water supply of large cities. Sea-level
rise will affect the many large cities located along the coastlines.
“Our cities are at risk now”, said Marcelo Ebrard, Mayor of Mexico
City and chair of the World Mayors Council on Climate Change. “We are
losing time, so we are working with other cities in order to have new
ideas, new ways to do things faster than in the past. Our Mayors
Adaptation Forum is a unique opportunity to discuss a way to get closer
to the future we want.”
“Ultimately, it is cities that will directly face and directly deal
with climate change impacts,” said Yvo de Boer, outgoing Executive
Secretary of the UNFCCC, who spoke emphatically about cities' role in
international climate adaptation at the final plenary of the Congress.
“We know from past experience that the poor in all countries suffer
most from the impacts of climate change. Local authorities are hard
placed to provide (help) without a national and international policy
framework,” de Boer said. “National governments should not be
allowed to get away with this.”
“The United Nations doesn’t yet have a good framework for
interacting with local governments,” said Margareta Wahlström, UN
Assistant Secretary General for Disaster Risk Reduction and moderator of
the final Resilient Cities 2010 plenary panel.
She called for an “increase of space for local governments in the
national arena and in global agenda-setting.”
The congress also saw the launch of the Making Cities Resilient Campaign
by the United Nations International Strategy for Disaster Reduction.
The Resilient Cities 2010 congress organizer, ICLEI, is the world's
leading local government association engaging cities in programs
addressing climate change. It works with over 1,100 member metropolises,
cities, towns, counties and regions in 70 countries on sustainable
development and environmental initiatives. ICLEI's headquarters is in
Bonn, Germany.
‘Making Cities Resilient: My City is Getting Ready’ is a two-year
scheme launched by the United Nations on May 27, against the backdrop of
the recent wave of natural hazards – from the devastating January 2010
earthquake in Haiti to volcanic eruptions in Iceland wreaking havoc with
air travel in Europe – laying bare the need for cities to implement
disaster reduction plans.
“A resilient city and its citizens can benefit greatly from the
opportunities presented by urban risk reduction actions,” said Wahlström.
“When successfully mobilized, resilient cities may benefit from growth
and employment, business opportunities, balanced ecosystems, better
health and improved education,” she added.
The campaign, launched in Bonn, Germany, on May 30, seeks to bring more
than 1,000 local government leaders around the world to step up their
investment in urban planning; infrastructure and building safety;
reinforcing drainage systems to reduce flooding; and installing early
warning systems, among other measures.
The mayors of five cities – Bonn; Mexico City, Mexico; Saint Louis,
Senegal; Karlstad, Sweden; Larreynaga-Malpaisillo, Nicaragua; and Albay,
Philippines – are the first to commit to at least one of the
checklist’s 10 points.
“It is fundamental that we as local leaders are conscious about the
risks,” said Enrique Gomez Toruño, Mayor of Larreynaga-Malpaisillo.
“We learned a lot during the recent influenza epidemics and before
that from Hurricane Mitch, floods and landslides. We learned we have to
invest more time, more capacities to reduce our risks.”
The new campaign also urges community groups, planners, academics,
non-governmental organizations (NGOs) and the private sector to join
efforts to enhance the resiliency of cities.
“Urban risk reduction is an opportunity that cities and their
populations cannot afford to miss,” Wahlström said.
The Secretariat of the UN International Strategy for Disaster Reduction
(ISDR) is coordinating the initiative, with the UN Human Settlements
Programme (UN-HABITAT), the UN World Health Organization (WHO) and the
UN Children’s Fund (UNICEF) also playing a key role.
[Source:
IDN-InDepthNews
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