10 September 2014: The Euro-Asia Dialogue on Climate Diplomacy and Urban Resilience, which aimed to enhance discussions and achieve greater cooperation between European and Asian partners on climate change and urban resilience, met in Yangon, Myanmar, from 3-4 September 2014.

During the dialogue, Mariko Sato, UN-Habitat’s Bangkok Office Chief, underlined that the fact that climate change has become a leading international development issue at a time when the world has become mostly urban is “no coincidence.” She stressed that achieving sustainable urbanization will be key to adapting to and mitigating climate change, as well as enhancing urban resilience.

Speakers also emphasized: the importance of decentralizing urbanization from megacities and supporting smaller urban centers with lower human and financial capacity; weak decision-making by urban authorities during urbanization and development processes leads to unsustainable growth; a memorandum of understanding between UN-Habitat, the UN Environment Programme (UNEP) and the Ministry of Environmental Conservation and Forestry (MOECAF) in Myanmar; the importance of mobilizing innovative mechanisms and processes to connect climate science, damage costs, societal benefits and human security; the need to incorporate cities into the climate negotiations.

The dialogue also highlighted challenges related to: fostering collaboration between local governments to enhance policy dialogue on mainstreaming climate change into urban development; and supporting local governments in developing climate change action plans and promoting awareness, education and capacity building to support implementation of such actions.

Konrad Adenauer Stiftung (KAS) and UN-Habitat organized the dialogue, which is also intended to be one of the preparatory inputs to Habitat III, which will take place in 2016. [UN-Habitat Press Release]