Symposium Roadmapfromparis
Total Page:16
File Type:pdf, Size:1020Kb
1 /// BACKGROUND The new climate agreement reached by 195 governments at the 21st Conference of the Parties of the UN Convention on Climate Change (COP 21) in Paris on 12th December 2015 is a turning point in respect of global efforts to tackle climate change. Many countries in the Baltic Sea region have been actively involved and provided inputs in the negotiations. The time has now come to work towards the implementation. The Baltic Sea region is especially vulnerable to climate change. Many municipalities already suffer the impacts of extreme events such as floods and droughts, which shows that action in this field is necessary. The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) has also clearly pointed out the need for scenarios at the regional and local scales, to enable appropriate action. Many cities and regions are leading the fight against global warming, calling for the EU to step up its emissions reduction efforts. A number of them, across the Baltic Sea region, are already engaged in climate change mitigation and adaptation initiatives. Many organisations across the Baltic Sea region are engaged in climate change initiatives, both in respect of mitigation and adaptation. They are thus well placed to become instrumental in implementing many of the measures the Paris Agreement entails. There are relatively few events where a cross-sectoral overview of efforts and projects on climate change mitigation and adaptation specifically focusing on the cities and municipalities in Baltic Sea region can be showcased. In particular, there is a paucity of events where stakeholders from across sectors, i.e. academia, national and local governments, industry and NGOs can have the opportunity to come together to discuss strategies and approaches to implement climate change mitigation and adaptation in cities and regions across the Baltic. The developments seen at COP 21 means that this gap needs to be bridged. It is against this background that the Symposium “The Road from Paris: Implementing Climate Change Management and Strategies in Cities and Municipalities in the Baltic Sea Region” is being organized by Uppsala University, Sweden and HAW Hamburg, Germany in the Baltic University Programme (BUP), together with Union of Baltic Cities (UBC, and Uppsala municipality under the auspices of the International Climate Change Information Programme (ICCIP). Cooperation partners include the Council of European Regions and Council of Baltic Sea States (CBSS). 2 The Symposium is a timely event, held six months after COP21, and will involve stakeholders in the field of climate change in the widest sense, not only from local and national governments, but also from academia, NGOs and enterprises from across the Baltic. The Symposium will focus on the contributions of cities and municipalities in addressing the mitigation and adaptation challenges they face, and will contribute to the further development of this fast-growing field. /// AIMS The aims of the Symposium are as follows: i. to provide representatives from local and national governments, as well as academia, NGOs and enterprises from across the Baltic Sea Region with an opportunity to debate the influence of climate change to cities and municipalities, and introduce on-going and planned projects and strategies aimed at addressing it; ii. to foster the exchange of information, ideas and experiences acquired in the execution of projects, especially successful initiatives and good practice; iii. to discuss methodological approaches and projects which aim to facilitate the implementation of climate change strategies at local level and; iv. to network the participants and provide a platform so they can explore possibilities for further cooperation. The networking and personal interactions enabled by the Symposium will be very positive for participant organizations interested in international collaboration on climate change, helping them to foster partnerships. Those planning to initiate new projects in the field of climate change and looking for new partners, will also find the Symposium very useful. Moreover, a further aim of the event will be to document and disseminate the wealth of experiences on climate change taking place in the Baltic Sea region today. To this purpose, a peer-reviewed publication titled “The Road from Paris: Implementing Climate Change Strategies in Cities and Municipalities in the Baltic Sea Region” will be published, with all accepted papers. This will be a unique, state-of-the-art publication, which will document and promote the climate change initiatives taking place across the Baltic Sea Region. The publication will be part of the award-winning “Climate Change Management Sustainability Series” (launched in 2008), published by Springer, one of the world´s top five scientific publishers. /// PROFILE OF THE PARTICIPANTS Delegates attending the Symposium will come from a cross-sectoral range of areas. These are: i. Representatives from regional and local governments, ii. NGOs working with climate change and its impacts, iii. Enterprises, iv. Research staff at universities; vi. Project officers and consultants; 3 vii. Other people interested in the field. It is believed that this wide range of participants will help to outline the need for integrated approaches towards implementing climate change strategies, and hence contribute towards advancing this field of work even further. /// STRUCTURE OF THE EVENT The Symposium will be organized around two main strands: Strand 1: the poster displays Participating organizations will be able to put-up poster displays describing their works and projects and to distribute the relevant information to the participants. The posters will be the backbone of the event and will allow close, one-to-one contacts between the participants and the exhibitors. Strand 2: the presentations A set of presentations, divided into two main sections will be organized, dealing with issues of strategic value in reviewing the state of the art of research on climate change today. These are: Session 1: Implementing Climate Change Mitigation Strategies Session 2: Implementing Climate Change Adaptation Strategies Submitted papers will be structured around these two main sessions. /// DEADLINES Deadline for submission of abstracts: 20th February 2016 Deadline for submission of papers: 10th April 2016 Deadline for full, revised papers: 30th April 2016 Deadline for registrations: 30th April 2016 Since the book will be launched soon after the Symposium, the deadlines need to be followed. 4 /// REGISTRATION In order to register for the Symposium, please follow the link: http://www.balticuniv.uu.se/index.php/registration-the-road-from-paris 5 /// TIME-TABLE MONDAY 6th JUNE 2016 TUESDAY 7th JUNE 2016 Afternoon: Morning A. Plenary Session 15:00-18:00 – Arrival, registration and set-up Keynote 1: The Swedish Climate Strategy Anders Wijkman, of displays chairman of the Commission for the Swedish climate strategy, former member of EP. 19:00-20:30- Informal get together Keynote 2: Uppsala Climate Strategy, Björn Sigurdson, Climate strategist Uppsala Municipality. B. Parallel Sessions 1 and 2 Afternoon: A. Plenary Session Keynote 3: Climate actions in the Baltic Sea region municipalities, Björn Grönholm, Director, UBC Sustainable Cities Commission, Turku, Finland. Keynote 4: After Paris – global climate policies and the EU 20-20-20, Prof. Walter Leal, HAW, Hamburg, Germany. B. Parallel Sessions 3 and 4 Evening: Dinner on the invitation of the City of Uppsala WEDNESDAY 8th JUNE 2016 WEDNESDAY 8th JUNE 2016 Morning Afternoon A. Plenary Session Keynote 5: Divestment as a municipal strategy. tbc 14:00-16:00 Final plenary session and close of the event, Keynote 6: The UN SDGs and role of local authorities. tbc with the hand-over of the Best Paper Awards B. Parallel Sessions 5 and 6 16.00- Departure 13:00-14:00- Lunch In order to ensure an efficient use of the time, delegates are kindly asked to organize their travel in a way that allows them to arrive on time to attend the plenary session and travel back in the late afternoon of 8th June 2016, since the best papers awards will be handed over at around 14.30 on that day. 6 /// THE VENUE AND FEES AND CHARGES VENUE The Symposium “The Road from Paris: Implementing Climate Change Management and Strategies in Cities and Municipalities in the Baltic Sea Region” is hosted by and will be held at Uppsala University (UU) in Sweden. The meeting will be held at Uppsala University Centre for Earth Sciences at Villavägen 16, just close to the Botanical Garden. TRAVELS Uppsala is served by Stockholm Arlanda Airport, easily reachable from across the Baltic and elsewhere. The city is connected to the main railway lines and trains travel from Stockholm City and from Arlanda Airport to Uppsala at every 30 minutes. HOTELS The room reservation has been made at several hotels in Uppsala city centre, which are within a 25-30 minutes walking distance from the Symposium´s venue. List of the hotels together with the special codes will be sent to the participants after the registration. QUESTIONS RELATED TO POSTERS AND LOCAL DETAILS Lyudmyla Babak Baltic University Programme Secretariat, Uppsala University E-mail: [email protected] FEES AND CHARGES A discounted fee of € 250 (plus 19% VAT) will be charged to delegates who register until 30th March 2016 (early bird registration). After that, delegates will need to pay the full fee of € 300 (plus 19% VAT). The reduced fee for MSc/PhD students is € 100. The fee includes free lunches and coffee breaks on 16th-17th June 2016 and free electronic access to the publication “The Road from Paris: Implementing Climate Change Management and Strategies in Cities and Municipalities in the Baltic Sea Region”, expected to be launched soon after the Symposium. Organisations or individuals not able to pay this fee should contact the Secretariat so that it may be reduced in special cases. Interested people and organisations are encouraged to register by completing the application form provided. This is a self-funded event and the organisers are unable to pay any travel or accommodation costs of any kind.