Yesterday, at least six people died in four cities in North Rhine-Westphalia due to one of the most violent thunderstorms in the region for the last twenty years, immediately following the hottest Pentecost weekend in Germany since records began. The estimated costs are in the millions of euros.
In Bonn, where the damage was fortunately smaller, the question of how cities can adapt to climate change and contribute to greenhouse gas reductions has been one of the leading topics today.
#TEM on urban environment @UN_ClimateTalks New urban world will define success to achieving a low carbon world. #SB40 pic.twitter.com/AJx5h0x4Xo
— Connect4Climate (@Connect4Climate) June 10, 2014
“We cannot address climate change without addressing urban areas”, stressed Executive Secretary of the UNFCCC, Christiana Figueres, opening the second Cities Day in the history of UN climate talks. It consisted of events under Workstream 2 of the so called Durban Platform for Enhanced Action (ADP) and aims to increase pre-2020 ambition. Mayors, representatives of local governments, experts and observers participated in the Cities Forum, the Technical Expert Meeting on Urban Environment, and side events, sharing good practices and experiences in mitigation and adaptation.
Recognising the importance of local and subnational governments for combating climate change has been one of the most significant outcomes of the UN Climate Change Conference in Warsaw last year. Today’s session has been a continuation of advancing their engagement in the 2015 Paris agreement and rising the global level of ambition.
But why do cities play such an important role?
In 2008, an unprecedented shift occurred in human habitats around the world. We became city dwellers. More than half of the population now live in urban areas, and the number continues to grow. By 2050, it will be seven out of ten people. Moreover, cities produce roughly two third of all greenhouse emissions and consume two thirds of global energy supply.
They are also on the frontline of the climate change struggle, especially those in coastal areas in developing countries. However, when you take into account the urban heat island effect, water stress and air pollution, it is easy to see how critically vulnerable all cities could become in the context of climate change.
Given this fragility, local governments are now taking matters into their own hands. Watching in on the Cities Forum and side events today, I heard about initiatives from Malmö in Sweden to Kampala in Uganda and, for example, about successful partnerships between German and Chinese cities.
Do not wait until Paris, go back to your community and work on the subnational level. The change, the remarkable shift comes from there. And nations have to get on board, otherwise they will stop being relevant,
said David Cadman, environmental activist and president of the international organization ICLEI - Local Governments for Sustainability, today evening.
If you do not believe Cadman, do an exercise proposed by Yunus Arikan, an ICLEI expert on climate change policy and advocacy. Watch the webcast from the last weeks’ ministerial meeting without ministers, where people were snoring and yawning out of boredom, and compare it with today’s sessions (webcast will be available tomorrow), where people are full of hope and enthusiasm.
In the upcoming Climate Summit 2014, which will take place in New York in September and gather leaders from governments, businesses, and finance, cities, together civil society organizations, are also expected to drive ambition.
Photo credit: Chris Ford via Flickr & dgheban