During the Climate Adaptation Summit 2021 (CAS 2021) Mayor Aboutaleb presented the 10-year global program ‘1000 Cities Adapt Now’ (1000CAN) to world leaders, including Ban Ki-moon and António Guterres, the 8th and current Secretary-General of the UN, the German Chancellor Angela Merkel, and Emmanuel Macron, Narendra Modi and Mark Rutte, the Prime Ministers of France, India and the Netherlands. He proposed the Joint Statement to accelerate and scale climate adaptation worldwide on behalf of the cooperation partners during the international climate summit on the 25th of January.

We have to adapt to new, more extreme conditions

Mayor Aboutaleb: “the warmest year ever, the driest month, the most precipitation in one day; weather records continue to be broken. We have to adjust our way of living and adapt our economies to new, more extreme conditions. As leaders of cities, mayors know that both tackling climate change as well as accelerating global action on climate adaptation are vital for the future of these cities. Corona forces us to choose a green recovery out of this pandemic as well”.

‘1000 Cities Adapt Now’

The goal of this program is to accelerate climate adaptation in 1000 cities all over the world. In 2050 more than 70% of the world’s population will be living in cities. Therefore it is imperative that cities and urban regions, that deal with the impact of the changing climate, are at the center of efforts to respond to this challenge. The program is initiated by a new coalition between the Global Center on Adaptation, World Resources Institute, Resilient Cities Network and UN-Habitat. They can count on the practical experience with climate adaption of city leaders from Miami, Paris, Accra, Christchurch, Milan, Jakarta, Surat, Beira, Antwerp, Tirana, Athens, Greater Manchester, Khulna, Istanbul, The Hague, Groningen and Rotterdam.

Mayors Forum ‘Accelerating Adaptation in Cities’

As a part of the CAS 2021 Mayor Aboutaleb hosted the Mayors’ Forum ‘Accelerating Climate Adaptation in Cities’. This Forum could be watched online on the 25th of January 2021 on www.cas2021.com. Ban Ki-moon and city leaders from Miami, Paris, Jakarta, Christchurch spoke about climate adaptation in cities and their support for the 1000CAN program.

The Netherlands host CAS 2021

The CAS 2021 is an international climate summit that is held on the 25th and 26th of January 2021 in the Netherlands. The summit focuses on finding solutions to adapt to the unavoidable consequences of climate change, such as rising sea levels and extreme weather conditions.

Appendix: Joint Statement on Accelerating Climate Adaptation in Cities

Source: persberichtenrotterdam.nl