Cities Forward Initiative

Cities Forward Initiative holds first Hemispheric Dialogue on Climate Adaptation and Resilience in São Paulo, Brazil

 

June 2024

This week, the Institute of the Americas kicked off the Cities Forward (CF) Hemispheric Dialogue on Climate Adaptation and Resilience in São Paulo, Brazil with the help of our implementing partners ICLEI and Resilient Cities Catalyst (RCC). We started with a welcoming reception hosted by CAF – the Latin America and Caribbean Development Bank. We heard from representatives from the U.S. Department of State, but also a special recorded message from Ricardo Gomes, Vice Mayor of Porto Alegre, in the state of Rio Grande Do Sul, where catastrophic flooding devastated the region earlier this year. He emphasized how crucial it is that city, state, and federal governments work together to prepare and prevent future tragic climate events not only in Brazil but around the world.

This was followed by a Western Hemispheric Dialogue on Climate Adaptation held with more than 80 people in attendance. Strategically timed before the 2024 ICLEI World Congress (WC), the Dialogue played a key role in the Cities Forward Initiative by serving as a platform to convene its representatives and subject matter experts to learn, discuss, and share knowledge and best practices in addressing climate-related challenges. Throughout the convening, each session invited the CF representatives to join the panelists and share thoughts and questions. We heard insights and presentations by more than ten experts and academics from across the Americas and panels were organized around key urban resilience themes.

During the first session, for instance Martin Pérez, Director of Forest Climate Solutions Impact and Monitoring at the WWF-US, spoke about urban Nature-Based Solutions. In his case study, focused on Bogotá, Colombia, touched upon the loss of forest cover in the Amazon, and explained how reforestation, conservation programs and the introduction of urban birds help mitigate these effects.

Pablo López, an urban development specialist from CAF, shared how different types of extreme weather events, informal settlements, and unplanned urban sprawl can all lead to housing vulnerability. Here, land use planning and Ecosystem-based Adaptation (EbA), adaptive zoning, urban green infrastructure, and ecosystem restoration all need to be prioritized.

In the third panel, Mayor Ravinder Bhalla of Hoboken, New Jersey spoke about his city’s unique approach to building resilience to flooding. With feedback from Hoboken’s residents, the fourth resilience park is currently being constructed. Beyond creating an open vibrant space for the community, it will feature below-ground infrastructure capable of detaining up to 430,000 gallons of stormwater to mitigate flooding.

The Dialogue ended with a panel on data modelling and technologies available for climate adaptation. Dr. Virginia Burkett, Chief Scientist for Climate and Land Use Change at the U.S. Geological Survey gave an overview of the Latin American & Caribbean Initiative (LACI) and its four pilot programs in El Salvador, La Plata Basin, Amazonia, and Jamaica. It is meant to advance local climate risk assessment capabilities through regional partnerships and peer-to-peer exchange of knowledge, tools, and methodologies.

You can download a full summary report of the convening here, and look at our photo album here.

Throughout the week, participants continued to attend guided site-visits in São Paulo for hands-on learning experiences, met with their pair cities, developed their respective project roadmaps, and participated at WC sessions and activities.

These events were possible with the support of the U.S. State Department, ICLEI – Local Governments for Sustainability, RCC and CAF. Thank you to our wonderful participants, panelists, and partners for joining and we are eager to host a second Hemispheric Dialogue in Washington, D.C. in 2025.