(mi-lorenteggio.com) Milano, 4 novembre 2022 – La Conferenza delle Nazioni Unite sui cambiamenti climatici (COP27) del 2022, che si svolgerà dal 6 al 18 novembre a Sharm-El-Sheikh, in Egitto, riunirà più di 200 paesi. Le regioni del mondo, attraverso una delegazione delle Regioni4 (compresa la Lombardia), difenderanno davanti ai principali leader mondiali che sono loro che stanno attuando la stragrande maggioranza delle azioni di adattamento e mitigazione del clima, chiedendo quindi maggiore collaborazione e sostegno per influenzare decisioni internazionali.
Organizzeranno diversi eventi, tra i quali spicca quello del 10 novembre, dove sarà presentata la ‘Dichiarazione dei governi regionali per la COP27’; e il RegionsAdapt 2021-2022 Progress Report, la prima iniziativa globale per facilitare i governi regionali nell’azione per il clima sull’adattamento, che sostiene più di 70 regioni nei cinque continenti e ha un impatto su circa 300 milioni di persone.
The United Nations Climate Change Conference 2022 (COP27), which will take place from November 6 to 18 in Sharm-El-Sheikh (Egypt), will bring together more than 200 countries and thousands of other national and sub-national actors. It will be a very action-oriented summit, with a focus on resilience and adaptation. The discussion on loss and damage is also on the main agenda, as well as the increase in climate finance (the two key issues of this COP27), which is becoming widespread due to the current pace of the emergency and its daily impacts around the world. African regions will be particularly represented at this COP, which is based in Africa.
Multilevel action is key to curb climate change. The preamble to the Paris Agreement already recognizes that all levels of government are fundamental to ensuring a future below 1.5°C. For this reason, about thirty subnational governments will be present in Egypt, where they will represent the voice of the regions, share solutions and report on their actions in favor of adaptation and resilience, notably the international campaign Race to Resilience.
This is a delegation from Regions4, a pioneering international network that seeks to empower and position regional governments as the agents that can most directly act against the challenge posed by climate change and biodiversity loss. As a matter of fact, it is the regions that lead up to 75% of mitigation measures and up to 90% of adaptation measures to climate change, according to the European Committee of the Regions.
Along with Regions4 Secretary General, Natalia Uribe, and Global Advocacy and Climate Programs Manager, Heloise Chicou, there will be representatives from 26 regional governments: Rabat Salé Kénitra (Morocco, which hosted the Regions4 pre-COP27 meeting in June), Auvergne Rhone Alpes (France), Lombardy (Italy), Navarra, Catalonia and the Basque Country (Spain), Flanders (Belgium), Scotland and Wales (United Kingdom), Sao Paulo, Rio de Janeiro, Paraná and Minas Gerais (Brazil), CONGOPE-Ecuador, Baja California, Jalisco, Yucatan and Guanajuato (Mexico), Louga and Gossas (Senegal), Cross River State (Nigeria), Kwazulu (South Africa), Kenya – Council of Governors, Quebec (Canada), South Australia and the Organization of United Regions Oru-Fogar.
Regions4, an observer organization accredited to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), aims at raising the bar for multi-level governance and the progress of regional governments towards resilience. In this line, Regions4 will participate and organize various events during COP27.
In addition to sharing innovative solutions that have shown results and can be scaled, Regions4 will showcase how its flagship initiative, RegionsAdapt, can support regional governments in scaling up their adaptation and resilience ambitions.
Thematic days
On November 10, the day on which resilience will be discussed at COP, Regions4 organizes its main event open to the media: ‘A spotlight on states and regions contributions to the Global Stocktake – getting it done’. The main objective is to find solutions to overcome the institutional barriers that prevent regional actors from being recognized as key drivers for the achievement of the Global Goal on Adaptation and the Global Stocktake. In addition, it will focus on the importance of including regional governments in decision making, implementation and monitoring of climate resilience and adaptation strategies.
In this event Regions4 will present the ‘Declaration of regional governments towards COP27’, arising from the preparatory event of the regions for COP27 that was held in June in Rabat, Morocco. After the contributions received and the signature by over 20 regions of the world, the declaration will be taken to the world summit.
Here are some of the events that Regions4 will organize at the Blue Zone of Sharm El-Sheikh International Convention Center (SHICC):
| Day, time and place | Event | Topic | Keys |
| November 10 13.30 Multi-level action pavilion (blue zone COP27 venue) and online | A spotlight on states and regions contributions to the Global Stocktake – ‘getting it done’ | Resilience | It will focus on the importance of resilience and adaptation to curb climate change, beyond mitigation, and will vindicate the role of the regions in this matter. The RegionsAdapt Progress Report will be presented, a campaign that supports 70 regions on five continents and has an impact on around 300 million people. The ‘Declaration of regional governments towards COP27’, signed by 20 regional governments will also be presented. |
| November 12 16.30 Multi-level action pavilion (blue zone COP27 venue) and online | Adaptation Innovation Lab | Adaptation | Workshop for regional governments and other regional and international actors for the exchange of innovative actions on adaptation that are already being implemented. |
| November 14 16.45 Room 3 (blue zone COP27 venue) and online | Strengthening the capacity to increase resilience to climate change in West Africa (official side event) | North-South responsibility | Collaboration between different actors, some current projects and adaptation experiences of regional governments in West Africa, which suffers great climate hazards that already affect communities, infrastructure and even economic growth, will be explored. |
| November 16 12.00 Multi-level action pavilion (blue zone COP27 venue) and online | Hearing the voice of subnational governments: learning from the Edinburgh Declaration for biodiversity | Biodiversity | This session will trace the links and connections from COP27 to COP15, the world summit on biodiversity that will take place in Montreal, Canada, in December. It will highlight the main challenges, solutions, and common recommendations, to enable the development of integrated resilience and nature-based solutions, at the regional and state levels. |
The full agenda of Regions4 at COP27 can be found here.
The voice of the regions
Regions4, which brings together more than 40 regional governments from about twenty countries on four continents, reaching nearly 200 others, is the voice of regions in UN negotiations, European Union initiatives and discussions in the fields of climate change, biodiversity, and sustainable development. It was born in 2002 during the World Summit in Johannesburg as the Network of Regional Governments for Sustainable Development (nrg4SD) and, in 2019, became Regions4. On its way to COP27 in Sharm El Sheikh, Egypt, it will be followed by a delegation of 26 regional governments from all over the world.