World Cities Meet before Cancún Climate Conference

Will cities and local communities take the lead when it comes to mitigation action against climate change? This was the definite lesson of a summit held in New Taipei City (formerly Taipei County) on November 8-9 2010.

Mayor Chou Hsi-wei had been a participant at the Mayors Summit held on the margins of the Copenhagen conference in December 2009. He had drawn the conclusion that cities were showing much more boldness and creativity when dealing with climate change than was the case of national governments. Hence his idea of organizing a pre-Cancún conference in Taiwan. He asked the Ricci Institute and Renlai to help with the planning, brainstorming and organization.

Mayors and representatives of Cincinnati, Portland, Metro-Vancouver, El Salvador, Copenhagen, Riga, Greater Paris, Gold Coast (Australia), Moura (Portugal), Kurunegala (Sri Lanka), Greater Taipei as well as Green Cross International and other leading NGOs were among the ones showing in which ways cities are now responding to environmental challenges through education, planning, green energies, alternative transportation systems and shifts in developmental models. All shared the feeling that national governments, pressed by a number of issues and short-term priorities, have renounced the lead when it comes to climate change mitigations. All have felt that, rather than resigning to such a situation, they were called to show how local initiative could supplement and inspire national and international agreements.
http://www.erenlai.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=4...

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