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Daring Cities 2020 Opening: Session 1

 

Ashok Sridharan, Mayor of Bonn and President of ICLEI welcomes participants to Daring Cities 2020 and highlights the need and intention for such a virtual forum.

Special addresses from António Guterres, the United Nations Secretary-General, along with H.E. Svenja Schulze, Federal Minister for the Environment, Nature Conservation and Nuclear Safety (BMU) and Norbert Barthle, Parliamentary Secretary of State, Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ) as representatives of the federal government of Germany and Patricia Espinosa, Executive Secretary of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change, further contextualize the criticality of this moment for decisive multilevel action in response to the climate emergency.

An interactive dialogue among local and regional leaders addresses efforts and specific challenges being faced by all levels of government. They emphasize the critical role that towns, cities, and regions play in regards to the climate emergency, both in being on the frontlines, as well as being active parts and co-creators of the innovative solutions needed. They also pay special attention to the need to embrace different contexts, conditions and multilevel governance structures in tackling the climate crisis.

ICLEI Secretary General, Gino Van Begin,  presents an overview of the 3-weeks of global mobilization through the intense agenda of Daring Cities Forum which includes 4 Plenaries, 90+ Deep-dive sessions, 10+ Side events.

The session concludes with a closing address from Armin Laschet, Minister-President of the state of North Rhine-Westphalia.

You can watch interventions by clicking on the speaker name below.

Master of Ceremony:

  • Manuela Kasper-Claridge, Editor-in-Chief, Deutsche Welle (DW)

Welcome:

  • Ashok Sridharan, Mayor, City of Bonn, Germany; President, ICLEI – Local Governments for Sustainability

Keynote Addresses:

Dialogue on Multilevel Action to Tackle the Climate Emergency across Contexts:

Overview of 3-weeks at Daring Cities Forum:

  • Gino Van Begin, Secretary General, ICLEI – Local Governments for Sustainability

Concluding remarks: