Talanoa Dialogue & Dinner

 

 

Resilient Cities 2018 is part of the Talanoa Dialogues!

This year’s conference has been confirmed as a Talanoa Dialogue. Do not miss out any news about resilient Cities 2018 engagement with the initiative! Follow us on Twitter and search for the hashtags #ResilientCities #Talanoa4Ambition #Cities4Talanoa and #Regions4Talanoa

 

Talanoa is a traditional word used in Fiji to describe an inclusive and transparent dialogue and decision-making process.

The Talanoa Dialogue was launched by the COP23 Presidency of Fiji and is designed to take stock of and strengthen national climate plans known as Nationally Determined Contributions, or NDCs. In order to keep global temperature rise well below 2 degrees Celsius, greater ambition and more effective implementation involving all levels of government is critical.

Launched by ICLEI on behalf of the Global Taskforce of Local and Regional Governments with UN-Habitat and the Global Covenant of Mayors for Climate & Energy as special partners at the 9th World Urban Forum in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia on 9 February 2018, the Cities and Regions Talanoa Dialogues aim to support the Talanoa process and the raise ambitions of NDCs through inclusive, multi-stakeholder processes.

Each national government, in many cases led by ministries of environment or climate change, may decide their own vision and processes for Talanoa Dialogues for their NDCs. Therefore, it is important to create additional mechanisms to demonstrate the contribution of integrated sustainable urban and territorial development, as well as engagement of local and regional governments. The members and partners of the Local Governments and Municipal Authorities (LGMA) constituency, started to define priority countries, cities, partners and processes to dialogue of local and regional governments with their respective ministries responsible for the implementation of NDCs, along with the respective ministries for urbanization, housing, public works or cities and other sub-national governments.

Once again, Resilient Cities 2018 is scheduled back-to-back with the April/May UN Climate talks in Bonn (30 April – 10 May). This year, the “Bonn talks” will be the first opportunity for Parties and non-Party stakeholders to interact and engage in the Talanoa Dialogue and work to address the 3 main questions:  Where are we? Where do we want to go? How do we get there?

Resilient Cities 2018 participants had the chance to discuss main urban resilience and climate adaptation challenges, directions, opportunities, gaps and future developments and carry those messages to the “Bonn talks” to positively influence and strengthen the dialogue process. 

• Patricia Espinosa, the UN Climate Change Executive Secretary and co-patron of the Resilient Cities Congress
• Jochen Flasbarth, the State Secretary of German Ministry of Environment
• H.E. Inia Seruiriatu, COP23 High Level Champion
• Deo Saran, Fiji’s Ambassador to the Kingdom of Belgium, Permanent Representative to the European Union and Special Envoy to the UNFCCC

   

Sessions of particular relevance 

Throughout the three congress days, there were several sessions that covered the three questions through an inclusive, participatory, facilitative, solutions-oriented and multi-stakeholder dialogue. While all the sessions are part of the Talanoa Dialogue, the following ten are of particular relevance/interest to participants: