Mexico City to Host Urban Climate Summit in November 2010

MEXICO CITY, June 1 /PRNewswire/ -- Marcelo Ebrard, Mayor of Mexico City and chair of the World Mayor's Council on Climate Change, will host a summit of mayors from around the world in Mexico City on November 21, 2010, with the goal of creating a new advocacy and action mechanism for cities to address global climate change.

The World Mayor's Summit on Climate Change was announced at a gathering of more than 500 mayors and municipal leaders in Bonn, Germany on May 30, entitled Resilient Cities 2010: 1st World Congress on Cities and Adaptation to Climate Change, and organized by ICLEI – Local Governments for Sustainability, the City of Bonn and the World Mayors Council on Climate Change. The World Mayor's Summit will be held in Mexico City a week before the start of the UNFCCC's 16th Committee of the Parties (COP-16) in Cancun, Mexico.

"Our cities are at risk now," Mayor Ebrard said during the forum. "We are losing time, so cities around the world must work more closely together in order to have new ideas, new financing, and new ways to do things faster than in the past."

The forum adopted a 10-point action declaration to guide the advocacy of cities in addressing the challenges of climate change:

We, mayors of the world, declare to the global climate community 10 Action Points listed below:

1. Climate change is real, global and immediate. Our cities are at risk. Local level adaptation is essential.
2. Many cities around the world are already developing and implementing local adaptation strategies to solve local problems caused by impacts of climate change, in the absence of a binding global commitment on adaptation.
3. Local adaptation strategy must support local sustainable development and improves the quality of life of our inhabitants, in particular the urban poor, who are most vulnerable to impacts of climate change.
4. Local knowledge and capacity are essential assets for global adaptation to climate change and can be mobilized immediately.
5. Budgets and capacities of local governments in both the developed and in the developing world must be strengthened sufficiently to address climate adaptation.
6. Local governments need direct access to financing mechanisms and technical resources from all levels – multilateral, national and local – in order to implement strategies and initiatives to manage a changing climate.
7. Local leadership must be empowered to ensure global climate action.
8. Global partnerships between multilateral institutions, national governments, the private sector and civil society, as well as urban-rural, and intercity cooperation, are critical for success in adaptation to climate change at the local level. We commit to seeking dialogue, cooperation and partnership with all stakeholders, whenever and wherever possible. The Nairobi Work Programme of the UNFCCC is an example to be continued.
9. Cities must have a stronger voice and presence in global climate negotiations. Without the successful participation of cities and local governments, national governments will fail to meet the emission targets and actions that must be included in a global climate treaty.
10. On the eve of COP-16 in December 2010, the World Climate Summit of Mayors, to be held in Mexico City on 21 November 2010, will bring mayors together to create an innovative international mechanism for the advocacy and action of local governments at COP-16 and beyond.

SOURCE Gobierno del Distrito Federal