Mayors Adaptation Forum
Local leaders leverage climate adaptation and urban resilience

Mayors and guests of the Mayors Adaptation Forum

Mayors Adaptation Forum

The MAF 2011 formed the Mayors' segment of the Resilient Cities 2011 congress. Over 30 local decision-makers from around the world have demonstrated their political leadership through the Bonn Declaration of Mayors.

Among the local leaders present are the mayors of Mexico City, Bonn, Dar es Salaam, Copenhagen, Harare, Suwon City, Quezon City, Lagos State, Jerusalem, Kampala, Kaohsiung, Sao Paulo, Johanesburg, and Brussels.

Under the leadership of the World Mayors Council on Climate Change through the Mayors of Bonn and Mexico City, the 2011 Forum's discussions focused on:

  • bottom-up financing for urban adaptation
  • global climate reporting from local governments with a specific focus on adaptation actions

Special guests of the Mayors Adaptation Forum included:

  • Christiana Figueres, Executive Secretary, UNFCCC
  • Andrew Steer, Special Envoy for Climate Change, The World Bank
  • Joan Clos, Executive Director, UN-HABITAT
  • Helena Molin-Valdes, Acting Director, UNISDR

The outcomes of the Forum were directly conveyed to the climate negotiators present at UN climate talks on 6-17 June 2011 in Bonn. 

Renewed and increased support to the Mexico City Pact

The cities of Oeiras (Portugal), Almada (Portugal), Quezon (Philippines), Kampala Kawempe (Uganda), Suwon (South Korea), and Kaohsiung (Chinese Taipei)  as well as Metro Vancouver (Canada) have signed the Global Cities Covenant on Climate, aka the 'Mexico City Pact' that reached 191 signatories. Mayors also called for more cities to join and to report their climate data to the cCCR.

Additionally, the 2011 Bonn Declaration of Mayors officially announced that signatories to the Mexico City Pact will convene in a Conference of Signatories during the international UN climate conference (COP17) in Durban, South Africa this December.

Previous edition: 2010 Mayors Adaptation Forum

For its first edition in 2010, the Forum drew more than twenty local decision-makers from five continents among which were Mayors and Governors from Mexico City, Bonn, Durban, Chennai, Albay, Saint Louis, Jerusalem.

As concrete outcomes, the Forum released the 2010 Bonn Declaration and paved the way for the World Mayors Summit on Climate 2010 in Mexico City.

Who can attend?

The attendance to the Mayors Adaptation Forum is upon invitation. If you are a Mayor, Governor or other relevant local leader and want to participate please contact us.