From 23 to 24 November 2021, the International Forum on Low Carbon Cities organized by UNESCAP East and North-East Asia Office and Incheon Metropolitan City in collaboration with Incheon Climate and Environment Research Center, ICLEI, Innovative Green Development Program and Green Climate Fund was held. The conference was held online on the Zoom platform.
The forum mainly focused on sharing Carbon Neutrality and successful Low Carbon Cities (LCC) Initiatives in different regions. In Session 5, “Stakeholder engagement for inclusive and participatory climate action,” Yookyung Oh, Operations Officer at CityNet Secretariat, presented on “Inter-City Cooperation Project on Sustainable Urbanism” and introduced the International Urban and Regional Cooperation (IURC) programme. IURC, which is coordinated by CityNet in Korea, is an inter-city cooperation project between EU and non EU cities. During the presentation, Ms. Oh emphasized the fact that cities are at the forefront of climate change adaptation, mitigation and rapid urbanization, therefore building concrete cooperation and partnership between cities across the world is very important.
Currently, in the IURC programme, three cities from Republic of Korea (Seoul, Busan, Sejong) and three cities from the European Union (Dublin-Ireland, Rotterdam- Netherlands, Sofia-Bulgaria) are participating as paired cities. For more details, we invite you to visit the official IURC website at http://iurc.eu.
CityNet is an association of urban stakeholders committed to sustainable development in the Asia Pacific region. Established in 1987 with the support of UNESCAP, UNDP and UN-Habitat, the Network of cities has grown to include over 150 municipalities, NGOs, private companies and research centers. We connect actors, exchange knowledge and build commitment to establish more sustainable and resilient cities. Through capacity building, city-to-city cooperation and tangible projects, we help our members respond to Climate Change, Disaster, and the Sustainable Development Goals.