The LEDS regional platform for Latin America and the Caribbean (LEDS LAC) is hosting a series of webinars to explore the experience of cities’ action on climate change in the region, with the support of local cooperation initiatives.

International agendas acknowledge the importance of cities to building a secure, climate-resilient future. This is especially relevant in Latin America – the most urbanized region in the world – where cities are highly vulnerable to climate change. Local governments play an essential role in achieving these objectives, since they are key in designing and implementing local development policies that bring in relevant actors from across sectors and levels of government. However, local governments often lack the capacity for climate action.

This webinar series provides an insight into several cities’ experience of building up climate action in the region, and will be useful to low emission development practitioners working in urban environments. The webinars will be held in Spanish and will take place from 9:00 a.m. to 10:30 a.m. CST between February and March 2018, according to the following schedule:

Wednesday, February 21: Building climate resilience: the experience of 13 cities in Latin America

The initiative on Climate Resilient Cities (CRC) is supporting six innovative research projects for decision-making and action in 13 small and medium-sized cities in Latin America, with the aim of promoting climate resilient urban development. The webinar will present two case studies: the Cooperation in Border Cities project, which covers Ciudad del Este in Paraguay, Foz de Iguazú in Brazil and Puerto Iguazú in Argentina; and the Participatory Planning for Climate Resilience project, covering Santa Ana in El Salvador , Santo Tomé in Argentina and Dosquebradas in Colombia.

Find out more and register for the webinar

Wednesday, March 7: Progress of the City Footprint Project

For five years, the Footprint of Cities Project supported the design of policies, action plans and mitigation and adaptation projects in 12 cities in Latin America, and contributed to strengthening decision-making processes in urban planning and management across the region. This webinar will present the results of the project, the advances in developing and applying the water footprint methodology in cities, and a case study of the Footprint Reduction Plan in the city of Cuenca, Ecuador.

The registration link for the webinar will be available soon through this link.

Wednesday, March 21: Climate action plans at the municipal level

This webinar will share experiences of Mexico and Costa Rica in developing local climate change planning instruments, applied to different levels of political-administrative division, with a focus on vertical integration and alignment with countries’ Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs).

The registration link for the webinar will be available soon through this link.

If you have any questions about these webinars, please contact the LEDS LAC Secretariat

Photo: Scott Wallace / World Bank