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Adaptation Futures 2023

Montréal, Canada

More than 1500 members of the climate change adaptation community from around the world gather in Montreal to share their knowledge on the challenges and opportunities of adaptation. 180 sessions, master classes and field visits will address themes such as migration, habitat, coasts, fisheries, agriculture, water, energy, finance, education, NBS, local and indigenous knowledge, equity and justice… Be there! Register now to access cutting-edge knowledge to shape the future of adaptation.  

High-Level Policy Dialogue on the Malaga Global Coalition for Municipal Finance

Malaga, Spain

The Málaga Global Coalition for Municipal Finance was created in 2018 by the United Nations Capital Development Fund (UNCDF) and the United Cities and Local Governments (UCLG), in collaboration with its technical partner the Global Fund for Cities Development (FMDV). UNCDF is the United Nations hub for subnational finance. The Málaga Coalition aims to equip subnational governments with financial and technical support to realize their full potential in the provision of sustainable public services and infrastructures to drive the required transformation. The upcoming third conference will bring together key actors, including mayors, government ministers, development banks, capital market authorities and commercial banks, who are at the forefront of designing and implementing the five elements of the Malaga Coalition policy agenda. Through dedicated roundtable discussions, the event will further unpack how the international financial architecture can be more friendly to local and regional governments and showcase concrete solutions illustrated by different country cases. The conference will also convene special guests to discuss innovative financing mechanisms, such as leveraging the cultural and creative sector for sustainable development, and to share findings of the third edition of the World Observatory on Subnational Government Finance and Investment (SNG-WOFI).

Opening Ceremony: Inspirational Talk “Unequal Scenes and a Just Transition towards liveable cities for all”

Online

Dr Heike Litzinger, Head of the Division for Energy, Urban Development, Mobility and Infrastructure at the Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ) will introduce the strategic relevance of sustainable urban development in German development cooperation. Following the introduction, photographer and multimedia storyteller Johnny Miller will give an impression of his project “Unequal Scenes”, dedicated to document the world’s inequalities, and illustrate the challenges cities face globally regarding the climate crisis. Carmen Vogt, head of the GIZ Section Cities, will provide some insight into GIZ’s work in the field of sustainable urban development and conclude with an outlook on the events and topics covered during GIZ Urban October 2023.

How urban actors solve the plastic problem with innovative ideas

Online

INVOLVED Civil society in cities: Citizens' group in Tela, Honduras Businesses and partners in cities: the case of Recíclalos in Guatemala Authorities in cities: The case of the municipality of Puerto Plata, Dominican Republic and Holbox Island, Mexico International cooperation in cities: Success story of waste management and campaigns in Lusaka. GIZ Water and Energy Cluster LANGUAGE: Spanish with simultaneous translation into English

GIZ Joining Forces to Enhance Cities’ Access to Climate Finance

Online

If you work with municipal or state authorities that are interested in investing in green urban infrastructure, but lack the studies required by financiers, then we are looking for you! The City Climate Finance Gap Fund supports cities with early project preparation. It offers GIZ teams an opportunity to provide partners with additional support to realize green infrastructure, identify financing sources and access to climate finance, e.g. through the European Investment Bank. Thus far, 55 cities are receiving support and we are looking for more! This event will discuss our collaboration approaches. INVOLVED Giulia Macagno, Head of City Climate Finance Gap Fund Technical Secretariat   Genc Demiraj, Modernize Waste management– GIZ Kosovo Florent Eveille, African Biodigester Component –GIZ Kenya Moderator: Asil Abuassba, Advisor, City Climate Finance Gap Fund Please note that this event is for GIZ employees only.

ISCN Global Mixer: A flight through a powerful Digital Twin in Virtual Reality

Online

With its‘ „ISCN Global Mixer“ the International Smart Cities Network of GIZ brings you a wide spectrum of selected Smart City topics in less than 30 minutes. Fresh and innovative ideas, as well as out-of-the-box-content or experimental approaches from the very frontier of Smart City development await you. Join the curiosity! This time: This event will let you fly through a visualization cave of a highly sophisticated urban Digital Twin in Virtual Reality! The audience will have the opportunity to freely Q&A and zoom-in together with the speaker into specific data sets and use cases. INVOLVED: Leyla Kern, High-Performance Computing Center Stuttgart

Perceptions and Systems of Urban Waste – Changing behaviors towards circularity beyond awareness campaigns

Online

Per year, the global population generates over 2 billion tons of municipal solid waste, with 45 percent of it currently lacking proper management in controlled facilities. This figure is projected to soar to nearly 4 billion tons by 2050 (UNEP). Due to rapid urbanization, lack of technical and financial capacity or low policy priority many urban areas face challenges to manage waste properly and prevent its generation. It differs depending on the local context and is a complex and multifaceted process that involves various stakeholders and responsibilities at different levels of government, within the private sector and communities. Moving towards a circular economy is seen as a way to leave the linear idea of waste behind and serve as a solution to overcome these issues. Behavioral change is an integral aspect of the transition to a circular economy. It empowers individuals, businesses, and governments to adopt practices that prioritize resource conservation, waste reduction, and sustainable consumption, ultimately leading to a more sustainable and resilient economic model. Yet, in terms of urban/municipal waste public debates are often focused on individual households, end consumers, how to make them separate waste better, avoid or produce less waste and make smarter or more circular […]

ISCN Global Mixer: Digital Twins for regions

Online

With its‘ „ISCN Global Mixer“ the International Smart Cities Network of GIZ brings you a wide spectrum of selected Smart City topics in less than 30 minutes. Fresh and innovative ideas, as well as out-of-the-box-content or experimental approaches from the very frontier of Smart City development await you. Join the curiosity! This time: Digital Twins and their visualisations are for many the “next big thing” in Smart City development. But often they are focused on the level of one single object or city. What are use cases when whole regions are integrated? How can that enhance governance and the complementarity between cities, towns and villages? INVOLVED: Thomas Kiwitt, Verband Region Stuttgart

Virtual Marketplace – meet GIZ urban cooperation partners!

Online

Have you ever wondered what exactly urban-related organisations such as, e.g., Cities Alliance, ICLEI, the World Resources Institute (WRI), CCFLA or the Covenant of Mayors in Sub-Saharan Africa (CoM SSA) are working on – and whether there are links to the work you do in your project? Our Virtual Marketplace (aka Thematic Forum Urbanisation, session 5/2023) offers you the opportunity to meet nine different urban cooperation partners of GIZ, get to know their current activities and discuss your questions. Their presentations will a broad range of urban development topics – from climate change, nature-based solutions and circular economy through housing and infrastructure to cross-cutting issues such as finance, digitalisation, urban security and the fight against urban poverty. You missed the event? Here you can find recordings of the sessions: Programme CoM SSA EFUS ICLEI RegioKontext UNITAC UCLG CCFLA WRI Cities Alliance There are unfortunately no recordings for this session.  

“Building Impact” in Moldova: Improving lives through construction

Online

With construction measures ranging from tiny to huge, the Construction Section of GIZ contributes directly to a better quality of life both in urban and rural societies all over the world. Taking Moldova as an example of our aim to “build impact”, we show how Moldovans profit from energy-efficient renovations of existing buildings as well as infrastructure measures. Join us as we show some pictures, tell stories from the (sometimes unbelievable) reality of Moldovan construction sites, and engage in a discussion on how we can use construction to create a better life for all. INVOLVED Moderator: Laura Diefenthal, Junior Communication Specialist of the Section “Construction in IC” (G230) Speaker #1: Adrian Stranzenbach: Consultant Construction (G230); currently based in Moldova Speaker #2: Patricia Hofmann, Head of Section “Construction in IC” (G230)

Citizen participation for a local circular economy

Online

Civil society and the circular economy are interconnected in their responsibility towards the environment. In This regard, the municipality of Mostaganem (Algeria), with the participation of residents, has set up an innovative "integrated waste management initiative’’, to promote sorting at source, recycling, and other more sustainable circular economy practices  In Tunisia, the municipality of Kasserine engaged on the circular economy starting by mapping out its strategic vision and then implementing a number of actions, including the home composting experiment.  El Guettar is a promising town in terms of the selective sorting of recyclable waste, thanks to its waste collection center and the “collection-reward concept” for citizens who subscribe to it.  LANGUAGE: French

ISCN Online Advisory Programme: Cities and Data Platforms on multiple geographic levels

Online

With its‘ „ISCN Global Mixer“ the International Smart Cities Network of GIZ brings you a wide spectrum of selected Smart City topics in less than 30 minutes. Fresh and innovative ideas, as well as out-of-the-box-content or experimental approaches from the very frontier of Smart City development await you. Join the curiosity! This time: ISCN’s Online Advisory Programmes (OAPs) are thematic deep-dives into topics of interest for its network. This OAP will look at the governance, use cases and potentials of urban data platforms and how they can interact across geographic levels. After all, data that cities collect and integrate on Data Platforms for common good-oriented urban planning and development can also often be useful when linked to districts, quarters or to other cities. Several experts and urban practitioners will hold keynotes and give pitches to engage with the audience. INVOLVED Lea Hemetsberger, DKSR (Moderator) Baptiste Mougeot, Project Manager, Lyon Confluence, EU project ASCEND Melisa Breda, CDO of Buenos Aires Tim Guily, Smart City Manager, City of Leuven James Van Zandweghe, Smart City Manager, City of Roeselare Peter Sailer, Project Director, International Smart Cities Network Enoh Tabak, Advisor, International Smart Cities Network LANGUAGE: English (Spanish and Portuguese live translation provided) OPEN […]