Climate change mandates get global, local boost

As the affects of climate change displace global populations, an international solution to empower local governments in mandating brews. City mayors from 19 countries signed a declaration committing to coordinate local climate action at a mayors adoption forum – prior to the convening United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) in Bonn, Germany May 30.

“The poor in all countries suffer most from the impacts of climate change. Local authorities are hard placed to provide without a national and international policy framework,” said Yvo de Boer, Executive Secretary of the UNFCCC at the congress.

The declaration came in preparation for a global mechanism expected to arise at the World Climate Summit of Mayors during the sixteenth Conference of the Parties under the UNFCCC, in Mexico City, Mexico Nov. 21.

The declaration and adoption discussions are a response to Resolution GC22/3: Cities and climate change, an environmental protocol adopted in 2009 by the Governing Council of The United Nations Human Settlements Programme (UN-HABITAT). The commitment also falls under the United Nations International Strategy for Disaster Reduction’s Making Cities Resilient Campaign.

The International Council for Local Environmental Initiatives (ICLEI) supported the congress in a pledge to meet the objectives and outcomes of the UNFCCC Nairobi Work Programme on Adaptation. Participants such as those in the picture above (courtesy of ICLEI) included representatives of various industries including international development.

Climate change approaches and solutions focused on such topics as sovereignty, the Bengal ecosystem, vulnerability, quality of life, regulations and local financing.

“Multilateral financing is largely accessed by sovereign states whereas the specifics of adaptation and mitigation often depend on ecosystems that can transcend national boundaries,” said David Jackson head of Asia and Pacific Office of the United Nations Capital Development Fund in a Congress Summary of deliberations. “The debates at the congress has revealed a new division relevant to climate change. Not rich and poor or north and south, but instead, regulatory deep and regulatory shallow.

“In addition to specific mandates local governments can perform them under the general mandate of ‘duty of care’ or ‘development promotion’ found in the statutes of most local governments. ‘No regret’ and ‘no harm’ have been key principles of much adaptation and mitigation,” Jackson said.

For more information visit: http://unfccc.int/2860.php or http://www.iclei.org/index.php?id=1504&tx_ttnews[tt_news]=4422&tx_ttnews[backPid]=983&cHash=4cd0ac6049