Rockefeller Foundation and UN facilitate dialogue on cities and climate change resilience

The Rockefeller Foundation’s Asian Cities Climate Change Resilience Network (ACCCRN) – a network created to assist Asian cities in preparing for the potentially devastating effects of climate change in the coming years – along with the United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (UN/ESCAP) and the United Nations International Strategy for Disaster Reduction (UN/ISDR), held the Cities and Resilience Dialogue today, to encourage a conversation between local City leaders and their national counterparts on the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) negotiating teams on the role cities can play and are playing in climate change resilience.

Leaders from India, Indonesia, Thailand, Vietnam, Bangladesh and the Philippines made presentations on the importance of local government in adaptation responses to climate change. UN/ISDR and UN/ESCAP presented information on climate change disaster risk reduction, adaptation and mitigation within the region. As part of the ACCCRN initiative, The International Council for Local Environmental Initiatives (ICLEI), ProVention Consortium, along with other partners presented on activities and lessons from the ACCCRN cities that have already begun to develop climate change planning strategies.

With Asia’s rapidly growing urban population, estimated to amount for more than 60% of the global urban population increase, coupled with the unavoidable impact of climate change – the region is anticipated to face a multitude of unprecedented risks over the next few decades. Climate change impacts ranging from increased severity of coastal storms and flooding to increased variability in rainfall patterns and periodic droughts are expected. Launched in January 2009, select ACCCRN cities have already started to develop climate change risk and vulnerability analyses involving multiple local stakeholders and climate and technical experts – with special attention paid to the needs of poor and vulnerable populations. This work has been and continues to be followed by the development of resilience-building projects - from resilient housing solutions to the development of private sector opportunities to create adaptation-related business models - based on local context, city-specific risks and vulnerabilities and alignment with existing city priorities.

Almost a year into the initial launch of the ACCCRN project, the Cities and Resilience Dialogue provided an opportunity for city leaders to present the information they have learned over the last nine months to the national negotiating teams from the UNFCCC and show the critical role that cities play in helping both countries and regions build resilience to the impact of climate change. “As the world continues to prepare for the United Nations Climate Change Conference in Copenhagen this coming December, it is critical to shine a spotlight on the local actions that are already being taken and can be taken on adaptation and resilience,” said Rockefeller Foundation Managing Director Ashvin Dayal. “This dialogue will emphasize for national leaders the importance of encouraging and enabling local leaders and local solutions as they look forward to negotiating and ultimately implementing any agreement reached at Copenhagen.

In addition to presentations by regional local leaders, ICLEI, UN/ISDR and UN/ESCAP made presentations to the UNFCCC negotiating teams. ICLEI presented their Local Government Roadmap Project, which aims to demonstrate the critical role local government can play in supporting their national governments’ climate change strategies. ISDR spoke about their initiative on disaster risk reduction, which is working within Asian countries to promote the development of national platforms for disaster risk reduction and linking them to local initiatives. ESCAP presented on the link between regional and local responses to the challenges of climate change.