Join – Cities Race to Resilience

On behalf of

City(Required)

Country(Required)

I pledge the following:

Integrate climate change adaptation and resilience in all aspects of urban planning and undertake a community-wide climate risk and vulnerability assessment that also includes all vulnerable communities.
Plan to use available knowledge and scientific evidence, including data and spatial analysis, for decision-making and action, and outline interim targets and milestones as part of a long-term commitment for citywide action.
Immediately proceed to taking action by committing to at least one of the resilience actions as listed on www.citiesracetoresilience.org by COP26.
Report commitments by COP26 - and progress annually thereafter, to an existing or recommended reporting platform. If you have not reported before, you will be contacted by partners for support.

Once adopted, I commit to report my target and action commitment(s) on the following platform:

Platform(Required)

CDP-ICLEI Unified Reporting System

MyCovenant

PCP/BARC (Canada)

I don’t currently report and will need support once adopted

Other

Platform Other

Resilience actions (please choose at least one action from any of the categories below)

BUILDINGS

Buildings

Develop a resilience strategy for buildings to ensure they can withstand the impacts of climate hazards ex. preparing buildings for large storm impacts

Create a publicly accessible inventory of public assets and infrastructure, including hospitals, schools, and university buildings, their condition, exposure to hazards, and maintenance history

Update construction standards for infrastructure and building, accounting for local hazards and criticality, and enforcement mechanisms in place

Develop pre-approved contracts for emergency interventions (ex. debris removal) or reconstruction (ex. road repairs) approved, with enhanced standards

Restrict development in areas that are at risk of climate impacts (ex. Areas at high risk of flooding, forest fires, etc.)

Initiate consultation processes with communities living in informal settlements in hazardous areas, such as flood plains, in order to begin urban upgrading or co-planned resettlement processes

DIGITALIZATION

Digitilization

Advance digital inclusion to ensure the vulnerable population has proper access to digital infrastructure, connectivity, and knowledge to participate in the digital world

Amplify work from home opportunities and universalize the adequate conditions for workers to undertake labor using digital tools

Strengthen digital commerce with a particular focus on onboarding small and medium businesses and entrepreneurs to build a strong and inclusive local economy

Promote digital public services, open government practices, and secure data management policies to increase transparency and citizen participation

ENERGY

Energy

Invest in and plan for resilience of the energy grid and renewable energy assets to ensure continuity of services to the community, including the most vulnerable, all critical urban infrastructure and public assets

Invest in decentralized renewable energy sources to enhance access to clean sustainable energy, address energy security, and reduce energy poverty while improving climate resilience

Provide 100% of my community with access to affordable, reliable, sustainable, and modern renewable and clean energy

FOOD SYSTEMS

Food systems

Expand access for all citizens to affordable, nutritious plant-based food by 2025

Create a food council/board with local stakeholders by 2025

Align all food procurement (e.g. school feeding programs) to planetary health diet by 2030, with at least 50% of procurement expenditure aligned to the planetary health diet by 2025

Reduce food loss and waste by 50% from a 2015 baseline by 2030, achieving at least a 25% reduction in food loss and waste by 2025

Support an overall increase of healthy plant-based food consumption in our cities by shifting away from unsustainable, unhealthy diets by 2030

Identify and eliminate food deserts (urban areas in which it is difficult to buy affordable or good-quality foods) within the community

Generate supportive policies for local traders and informal traders

Create enabling environments for local and regional small-scale and agroecological producers and traders (including informal traders) to access market share, through financial incentives and market access programmes

GOVERNANCE AND COMMUNITY ENGAGEMENT

Governance and community engagement

Establish new and inclusive approaches to governance that embrace a balance between economic and well-being values, co-designing the vision and the choices for a comprehensive strategy that integrates climate, social and health objectives

Include social equity quotas in governance processes, to ensure that people of all genders, races, ethnicities, abilities and classes are represented equitably in community and political life, and that their needs can be assured

Establish & improve mechanisms for community based organisations and community members to contribute to city-scale resilience plans and actions from the beginning to the end of processes

Develop financing and governance mechanisms to improve basin level water resilience

Devolve governance and fiscal responsibility to allow for local entities to drive impactful water resilience interventions

Designate a city official/advisor to coordinate and undertake resilience projects and to engage with urban stakeholders, for example a Chief Resilience Officer

NATURE-BASED SOLUTIONS

Nature-based solutions

Commit a tree-planting or creation of green space target by 2025 that supports local biodiversity and is resilient to anticipated climate change

Plan for the sustainable management, protection and restoration of coastal areas and ecosystems such as mangroves, seagrasses, flats, tidal marshes

Dedicate 30-40% of the total built-up city surface to green and permeable spaces which favor protecting and restoring biodiverse and climate resilient ecosystems

Convert 40-60% of the urban parking space to green and permeable spaces

Ensure that 70% of the population has free access to a fit for purpose green and blue space within 15 minutes- equitably prioritized to maximize the accessibility and connectivity to nature for the most vulnerable

Protect soil resources by limiting soil sealing and ensuring that soil characteristics are considered in decisions concerning allocation and use of land

Invest in and plan for protecting, restoring, and sustainably managing inner, nearby, and faraway forests

Increase investment in nature-based solutions and smart low carbon technologies to address water risks i.e. pollution, flooding, drought, leakage etc

RISK AND VULNERABILITY PLANNING

Risk and vulnerability planning

Integrate local, gender-sensitive and indigenous knowledge and community-based mapping initiatives in all climate risk analysis to ensure validation and prioritization is informed by impacted communities especially the most vulnerable

Install early hazard warning systems and emergency management systems (including the identification of the percentage of the population that has access to the systems)

Identify, monitor, and plan accordingly to anticipate acute shocks and to adapt for addressing chronic stresses

SOCIAL EQUITY

Social equity

Ensure social justice is taken into account when developing climate & resilience strategies, actions and policies in the city, including considerations of social equity in public services delivery, affordability and access

Empower leaders amongst marginalised groups and communities to take a lead in disaster scenarios in order to effectively voice the needs of these groups, and to have access to the right platforms in order to do so

Create strategies to ensure children, the elderly and people with disabilities are accounted for in disaster scenarios, so as to not be disproportionately affected

Promote gender and/or racial sensitivity training for all civil servants engaged in the development and implementation of resilience strategies, including city officials, civil defense, health care workers, teachers and police officers, promoting values of care, empathy and respect

Raise awareness about the vulnerability of poor communities and the need for solidarity actions between communities and districts

Create counselling and emotional wellness programs as well as job-finding and entrepreneurship centres to support local communities as well as climate refugees/migrants to combat trauma and disempowerment. Improving social resilience and social cohesion increases peoples’ ability to endure and manage in times of crisis

Provide more funding and capacity for gender-based violence hotlines and counselling services, particularly during the response and recovery phases which further expose already vulnerable populations as seen during the lockdowns in response to the COVID-19 pandemic

URBAN-RURAL LINKAGES

Urban-rural linkages

Consider proximity and complementary between urban and rural areas in regional strategies, for example natural services, food supply, and cultural activities

Cooperation programs between municipalities to financially compensate or share duties and benefits of natural resources and their management, for example waste disposal, water basin management, wastewater treatment, etc

Keep the proportionality and land use ratio between rural/natural & urban areas in the administrative division, boundaries and plans to relate nature to all areas and all scale (incl neighborhood)

Adopt education programs or trainings to mainstream the concept of the right to nature and behavioural shift to consider nature as a common good that is respected

Design urban policies and create enabling environments to ensure the immediate agricultural hinterlands have sustainable access to market share, for example in the form of local market spaces and building relationships with retail

WASTE

Waste

Collect all waste generated in the city and ensure residual waste is disposed of adequately in an engineered sanitary landfill, which considers and minimizes impact to surface and groundwater sources

Provide 100% of my community with access to resilient secure, sustainable and safely managed sanitation services

Invest in circular economy assessments to repurpose and reduce waste and generate new business opportunities

WATER

Water

PLEDGE OTHER RESILIENCE/ADAPTATION ACTIONS

Please enter other policy actions you would like to pledge as part of this commitment

Please note: You may join 'Cities Race to Resilience' now and complete your commitment by selecting appropriate actions from the list at any time before COP26. A member of Cities Race to Resilience will reach out to help complete the process.

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Please note, data provided through submission of this form may be shared with the partners of Cities Race to Resilience, including: C40 Cities, Global Covenant of Mayors for Climate & Energy (GCoM), ICLEI – Local Governments for Sustainability (ICLEI), Making Cities Resilient 2030, Resilient Cities Network, United Cities and Local Governments (UCLG), CDP, the World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF) and the World Resources Institute (WRI), as per the GCoM Privacy Policy