On 5 June, during World Environment Day, through Daring Cities 2024 Bonn Dialogues, the LGMA community actively engaged at the UN Bonn Climate Change Conference (SB60). Activities included the CHAMP Endorsers Roundtable, dialogues with the COP28 and COP29 UN Climate Change High-Level Champions, and the UN-Habitat's report's launch to advancing urban contents of NDCs by 2025. Most notably, we saw the release of the Call-to-Action to support national CHAMP implementation, with Germany, Brazil, and the US national local government associations as the first responders.
São Paulo became the center of gravity for local action in the third week of June, with numerous meetings hosted by U20, Metropolis, and ICLEI.
These fruitful outcomes generated the necessary momentum for ambitious and harmonized LGMA engagement in preparation for a hectic agenda in the second half of 2024, including COPs of three Rio Conventions in Cali, Baku, and Riyadh, the UN Summit of the Future in New York, and the World Urban Forum in Cairo.
You will find many of these updates in the LGMA Bulletin, facilitated by ICLEI on behalf of the Local Governments and Municipal Authorities.
CHAMP is at the LGMA website!
The Coalition for High Ambition Multilevel Partnerships (CHAMP) for Climate Action was created to enhance cooperation between national and subnational governments in the planning, financing, implementation, and monitoring of climate strategies.
The CHAMP pledge was led by the COP28 Presidency, with support from Bloomberg Philanthropies and a coalition of partners including C40, the Global Covenant of Mayors, ICLEI – Local Governments for Sustainability, United Cities and Local Governments, the NDC Partnership, the University of Maryland, Under2 Coalition, WRI – Ross Center for Sustainable Cities, and UN-Habitat.
The constituency of local and regional governments is aiming to grow the CHAMP endorsements, and bring the results to COP29 in Baku.
You can find the full page on the CHAMP initiative here!
8th Biodiversity Summit of for Subnational Governments and Cities at CBD COP16 in Cali on 26th October:
The 8th Biodiversity Summit for Subnational Governments and Cities, an official parallel event to CBD COP16, will take place on 26 October 2024 in the Blue Zone at the CBD COP in Cali, and is part of a 3-day program from the 25-27 October.
The Summit will align with the objectives and priorities of CBD COP16 to showcase subnational biodiversity actions at the local and territorial scale, in contributing to the implementation of the Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework (GBF) and the Plan of Action under Decision 15/12.
Local and subnational government leaders from around the world, together with their key stakeholders, are invited to participate in targeted and high-level dialogues on implementation progress and the important issue of leveraging financing for, and investment in, biodiversity and nature at the local and territorial scale.
See the announcement on the 8th Biodiversity Summit here
Urban Leaders call on G7 to Advance Solutions to Global Challenges from a Local Perspective
From 13-15 June, Heads of State of the G7 Member States met for the G7 Summit in Fasano, Apulia . Under the Italian G7 presidency, leaders discussed a wide array of pressing international topics with high relevance for local and regional authorities: climate change and development, economic security and energy, the ongoing situation in the Middle East and the war in Ukraine.
Following the summit, the Urban7 (U7) call on G7 leaders to facilitate the meaningful inclusion of cities and local governments through a multilevel approach when shaping international agreements with local relevance. A multilevel approach is a prerequisite for achieving “progress towards an equitable world” in a rapidly urbanising society; a point that was recognised repeatedly by G7 leaders in recent years, but has yet to be translated into systemic consultation and implementation support.
In response to the conclusion of the G7 Summit, the U7 are reiterating their call to G7 Heads of State and Ministers to provide local governments with a meaningful role in addressing pressing global challenges such as climate change and sustainable development across G7 fora. The U7 reiterates the readiness of local governments to actively support G7 Ministers tasked with “concrete actions to reduce spatial inequalities, protect the environment and climate, and promote smart and innovative economies in urban areas.” As local governments are the ones ultimately responsible for implementing decisions and responses coordinated within the G7, stronger multilevel cooperation will enable the design of more effective, place-based solutions.
The U7 reiterates the main points made in the 2023 U7 Mayors Declaration, and aims at contributing to the efforts of the G7 countries to face global challenges if provided with enabling framework conditions.
Read the news on how Urban Leaders Call on the G7 to Advance Solutions to Global Challenges form a Local Perspective.
New endorsers to the Local and Subnational Governments Coalition to End Plastic Coalition.
The Local and Subnational Governments Coalition to End Plastic Pollution, an international coalition of local and subnational governments, and partner organizations, with the primary goal of stopping plastic pollution and ensuring that the Intergovernmental Negotiating Committee recognizes the critical role that local and subnational governments have in addressing the current plastics crisis. was launched in Ottowa in April during INC-4.
The ICLEI World Congress saw the endorsement of this coalition by 10 new local and regional governments from five continents.
Read the full news article here, and join the Local and Subnational Governments Coalition to End Plastic Pollution here