2nd Resilient Cities Asia-Pacific forum to ‘define local actions’ after COP21, new SDGs

Around 500 delegates from local governments, including over 60 cities, development agencies, civil society, and private sector will convene at the Hotel Equatorial in Melaka, Malaysia, on 2-4 March 2016 for the second Resilient Cities Asia-Pacific (RCAP) forum, the first major assembly for local and subnational action in the region in the wake of the new climate agreement forged at COP21.

Organized by ICLEI–Local Governments for Sustainability and hosted by the Melaka State Government, Melaka Historic City Council, and the Indonesia-Malaysia-Thailand Growth Triangle (IMT-GT), the event, formally known as the 2nd Asia-Pacific Forum on Urban Resilience and Adaptation, shall be held in conjunction with the 16th International Convention on Melaka Twin Cities with the theme, ‘Building Local Resilience Towards Liveable Cities’. The event builds on the success of the inaugural RCAP forum held last year in Bangkok, Thailand.

RCAP seeks to provide a platform for discourse on urban resilience and climate change adaptation in the Asia-Pacific, with the ultimate goal of ‘identifying implementable solutions and creating lasting impacts’ for local governments in the region. With the approval last year of the landmark Paris Agreement at COP 21, along with several other international outcomes such as the new Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and the Sendai Framework for Disaster Risk Reduction, RCAP 2016 is expected to become the forum at which the implications of these new frameworks for Asia-Pacific cities shall be defined.

“As ICLEI’s work within the global policy arena has helped secure many of the advances in support of local and subnational action, it is my hope that our work in RCAP 2016 will help translate these global gains into local realities,” said Mr. Gino Van Begin, ICLEI Secretary General.

Among the intended outcomes of RCAP 2016 is a ‘Melaka Declaration’ on urban resilience which shall be tabled at the UN Habitat III conference in October. Notable sessions in the programme include the opening plenary on the implications of the 2015 UN outcomes for local and subnational governments (March 2); plenaries on financing urban resilience and localizing the SDGs (March 4); and a ‘high-level segment’ to be attended by Malaysian Deputy Prime Minister Datuk Seri Dr. Ahmad Zahid Hamidi and Melaka Chief Minister Datuk Seri Idris Haron.

At its conclusion on March 4, a Resilience Walk by the delegates and a Citizens’ Pledge for Resilience by Melaka residents shall be led by Chief Minister Idris and City Council Mayor Zainal Hussin at the Melaka Independence Memorial.

For further updates on RCAP 2016, visit http://talkofthecities.iclei.org/blog/category/resilient-cities-asia-pacific-2016/ or follow @ICLEI_ResCities. Join the conversation on #ResilientCities and #ResilientMelaka.