It’s 2009. The world has failed to reach a meaningful international climate agreement at COP15 in Copenhagen. Despite increased climate action, cities and regions are increasingly feeling the effects of climate change. Mitigation alone is not enough – cities and regions around the world need to build resilience. Responding to this need, ICLEI launched the
A record thirty-seven mayors of African capital cities committed to collective responsibility to build sustainable African capital cities at the fifth African Capital Cities Sustainability Forum (ACCSF) last month. Through the adoption of the Tshwane Declaration of 2019, the mayors committed to increasing the role of cities in the realisation and localisation of Agenda 2063
by Sophia Rettberg, Resilient Cities 2019 Guest Blogger Food waste is a global issue. According to the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization, more than one third of all food worldwide is wasted. When it comes to food waste, the US ranks second worst in the world, wasting around 40 percent of the food produced
Lykke Leonardsen is constantly thinking about rainy days… even when it’s sunny outside. But you really can’t blame her. Ever since Copenhagen’s 100-year storm on July 2 of 2011, which caused major flooding and extensive infrastructure damage, city officials such as Leonardsen, who heads Copenhagen’s program for Resilient and Sustainable City Solutions, have been preoccupied
Knowledge exchange and technical deep dives are always core elements of the annual Resilient Cities congress. The program is designed for a critical examination of emerging issues in urban resilience and informative exchanges around them. Sessions cover a diversity of topics, so that every participant can find his or her place in the conversation, from
The Talanoa Dialogue launched at COP23, the 23rd United Nations Climate Change Conference in 2017, is designed to take stock of and strengthen climate action globally. It also opens the door to a more inclusive and collaborative approach to climate governance by connecting nations and climate stakeholders. The Cities and Regions Talanoa Dialogues, facilitated by ICLEI – Local Governments
Five seconds, a simple laptop, knowing where to look and what to look for. This is what it took to Thomas Stasch, Head of IT-Security and Civitec-CERT at Civitec to do a live demonstration of how simple it is to take control of a home automation system, something more and more people install without even thinking
Dear ICLEI friends and colleagues, Building resilience in our communities plays an important role in the actions we take as local leaders. The global climate is changing quickly, and urban communities are on the frontlines of this shift. At the same time, many cities are rapidly expanding and facing unprecedented social and technological
By Ingrid Coetzee, Senior Manager, Biodiversity and Nature-based Solutions, ICLEI Cities Biodiversity Center (CBC) and Kobie Brand, Director of the CBC The challenge of rapid urbanization The United Nations World Cities Report 2016, Urbanization and Development: Emerging Futures, predicts that by 2030 two-thirds of the world’s population will be living in cities. It further
Last year ended with a sense that the momentum on sustainable development is durable. It was a hard blow when the U.S. backed out of the Paris Agreement, but the global and U.S. domestic response was swift and forceful. All in all, 2017 reaffirmed that nations, cities and towns, regions, civil society and the private