Eng. Hussain Nasser Lootah, Director General of Dubai Municipality along with the mayors of 15 other cities of the world has signed a joint declaration in the German city of Frankfurt recently on “Partnering for Mitigating and Adapting to Climate Change.”
The declaration was signed during the Partner Cities Colloquium, held as part of the Cities Summit organized by the city of Frankfurt to celebrate the golden jubilee of its signing twinning agreements with other cities in the world, including Dubai.
Frankfurt, which is celebrating 2010 as the Anniversary Year of City Partnership, had organized a variety of activities during 10-12 June, including two international symposia, “The Partner Cities’ Strategies for Mitigating and Adapting to Climate Change” and “Metropolises in international competition- How do the metropolis regions in the world position themselves?”
The Dubai Municipality delegation also included Eng. Salah Amiri, Assistant Director General for Environmental and Public Health Services Sector and Khalid Mohammed Badri, Director of Corporate Marketing and Relations Department.
The joint declaration on climate change was signed by the mayors of Birmingham, Budapest, Cairo, Deuil-la-Barre, Granada, Guangzhou, Krakow, Leipzig, Lyon, Milan, Prague, Toronto and Yokohama in the presence of Dr. Petra Roth, Mayor of Frankfurt.
The joint declaration vowed to make climate change a priority in local policies, assess the risks and adapt to the threats caused by climate change at the individual city level, assume the role model in key policy areas such as green buildings and promotion of renewable energies and regularly exchange experiences and offer lessons learned.
The declaration acknowledged the reality and implications of climate change and the serious current and future threats that the earth and human beings will be facing through extreme weather events, heat waves, water scarcity or newly emerging diseases.
It recognised the responsibility to address the challenge pf climate change by taking immediate and collective actions based on the principles of co-existence, mutual benefit and common but differentiated responsibilities.
It recalled that cities are a central part of the solution for a low-carbon future and therefore it needs to recognise their role in terms of legal framework conditions, financial support and involvement in the decision making processes at national and international levels.
During the Cities Forum, the partner cities exchanged experiences in the educational, environmental and economic fields. The delegates from the partner cities were present during the inauguration of the artistic illumination by partner city Lyon at the “Oktogon” fountain in the Palmengarten. The Milan Mayor Letizia Moratti opened an exhibition called “Raggi Verdi” where the cities presented their experiences in carbon emission reducing initiatives. They were also taken to a study visit to the headquarters of KfW Banking Group, which was a best practice presentation on green building concept, in addition to a city tour to visit the recent city development projects.
Lootah along with the mayors of the cities and representatives of silver jubilee twinning cities also signed the Golden Book of the city of Frankfurt commemorating the Cities Summit.
