Intermediary cities play a unique and crucial role in the fight against climate change. These cities account for 30 percent of the world’s urban population, a figure estimated to rise to 50 percent in 20 years. They also play a primary role in connecting important rural and urban areas to basic facilities and services – and are where we’ll see the most impact from local leaders’ efforts to reduce global warming.
By Melanie Gosling, Correspondent The future we don’t want is already happening with more intense droughts, floods, heat waves, blackouts, food shortages and sea levels gradually rising. It may sound like a post-apocalyptic movie, but delegates to the Adaptation Futures 2018 conference in Cape Town heard that these climate change effects were already happening around … read more
Billions of people in thousands of cities around the world will be at risk from climate-related heatwaves, drought, flooding, food shortages, blackouts and social inequality by mid-century without bold and urgent action to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. Fortunately, cities around the world are delivering bold climate solutions to avert these outcomes and create a healthier, safer, more equal and prosperous future for all urban citizens.
By Hamdi Issawi EDMONTON—As tensions mount between Canada and the U.S. on the trade front, municipal leaders have pledged to work more closely together to fight a common enemy: climate change. On Monday, the United States Conference of Mayors endorsed the so-called Edmonton Declaration, a locally created document that asks municipalities to take a stand on … read more
The next few years will be critical to determine how effectively we will rise to the challenge of protecting our cities, and therefore our planet. But this work can’t be undertaken blindly –we must ensure that our climate mitigation and adaptation strategies are based on sound scientific data and are tackled in an integrated manner with public and private partners.