World Summit on Climate and Territories
The UCLG Africa Secretary General participated in the World Summit on Climate and Territories held in Lyon, France, on 1st and 2 of July 2015, at the invitation of the Rhone-Alpes Region, as a milestone towards the COP21 in Paris in December 2015. The Summit was attended by over 800 participants from all regions of the world, representing subnational levels of local governments and civil society organizations.
The Summit was privileged to receive a keynote speech by the President of France, His Excellency Mr. Francois Hollande, who stated, “five months before COP 21 in Paris, the World Summit on Climate & Territories is an important step, a sign of collective will and of mobilization of the world’s territories”.
A series of workshops were organized around key topics like agriculture; mobility and transport; energy generation, distribution and consumption; education, mobilisation, awareness raising; climate finance.
Commitments and proposals were made by non-state actors and subnational and local leaders.
In a declaration released at the end of the summit, participants pledged to take on the “challenge” of keeping global temperatures below an increase of 2 degrees Celsius “by aligning their daily local and regional actions with the decarbonization of the world economy scenario”.
They warned that the “fight against climate change cannot be achieved without a truly local and subnational approach that takes into account economic, social, cultural and environmental realities.”
