The "Cities and Regions Talanoa Dialogues ", facilitated by ICLEI, with the support and partnership of the Global Covenant of Mayors for Climate & Energy and UN-Habitat, was launched today at the World Urban Forum in Kuala Lumpur (Malaysia).

The initiative builds upon the Bonn - Fiji Commitment of Local and Regional Leaders adopted at COP 23 in November 2017 and will be implemented in collaboration with the UN Climate Change Secretariat and the Fijian Government.

The Talanoa Dialogue is viewed as a major global push to bring more stakeholder engagement on board towards achieving the 1.5 - degree target in the 2015 Paris Agreement.

The process was launched by the COP23 Presidency of Fiji and is designed to take stock of and strengthen national climate plans, commonly referred to as Nationally Determined Contributions, or NDCs.

Currently, only a third of NDCs are on track for implementation and, even if they were fully implemented, recent estimates by UN Environment project a global warming of over 3°C by the end of the century. Urban communities contribute up to 70 percent of energy - related global greenhouse gas emissions and they are among the most vulnerable hotspots for climate change impacts.

Current commitments by local and regional governments have the potential to reduce emissions by 5-15 gigatons by 2020 to 2030.

However, only around 60 percent of countries have some sort of urban perspective in their national plans, according to UN Habitat figures.

For more information about the Talanoa Dialogue, click here.Image copyright: sourced from The Global Covenant of Mayors for Climate & Energy more   8 February 2018 IUC programme launches second round of city-to-city pairingsThe call for applications for the second round of the International Urban Cooperation (IUC) programme's city-to-city pairing initiative was officially launched today at the 2018 World Urban Forum in Kuala Lumpur (Malaysia). The initiative will see European local governments matched with international counterparts facing similar sustainability challenges from China, Chile, India, Japan, Peru and the United States of America.

"With this announcement, no fewer than 25 new city-to-city partnerships for sustainable urban development will be created. In this way, the European Union is making a decisive contribution to the roll-out of the United Nations' New Urban Agenda across the world, keeping the promise we made at the Habitat 3 meeting just over 15 months ago," said Ronald Hall, Principal Adviser on International Relations at the Directorate General for Regional and Urban Policy of the European Commission.

The first round saw 35 pairings established, including Frankfurt (Germany) and Yokahama (Japan); Bologna (Italy) and Austin (USA); Manchester (United Kingdom) and Montreal (Canada); and Almada (Portugal) and Belo Horizonte (Brazil).

Cities will be matched based on shared topical interest: for example, cities may wish to reduce urban poverty, raise gender equality, tackle the challenges of migration, or have a desire to switch to renewable forms of energy. Each local government will learn from one another's approaches, and will develop Local Action Plans which set out measures to be pursued during their 18 month cooperation period.

The Local Action Plans will follow a common methodology, inspired by the EU-funded URBACT programme experience. Its development will involve a wide-range of departments within each city, as well as academia, businesses, other levels of government and the local community.

It is a requirement that the Local Action Plans include pilot projects that are capable of being realised in the short to medium term, with the potential to spur R&D market growth. Measures and actions should also contribute to achieving the objectives of the UN's New Urban Agenda Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), the Urban Agenda for the European Union, the Sendai Framework and the Paris Agreement, enhancing quality of life in urban areas.

The IUC programme is funded by the EU's Partnership Instrument.

For more information, click here.Image copyright: sourced from IUC Programme more

» Publication Date: 09/02/2018

» Source: Iclei Europe

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