Annual General Assembly

The Regions4 General Assembly is taking place on 4-5 March, 2019 in Bilbao, under the auspices of the Government of Basque Country in their capacity of Vice-President for Europe. In this framework, Regions4 is holding open thematic sessions on 5 March at 10:30 onwards.

The thematic sessions will touch base with the Network’s work and progress on its fields of action (sustainable development, biodiversity and climate change) and enrich the debate among members. More specifically, regarding sustainable development, Regions4 would like to propose communities of practices for the SDGs, as a mechanism to foster additional debates, exchanges and activities tailor-cut for the regional governments of a specific continent. Additionally, Regions4 advocacy and the engagement of regions in the 2030 Agenda fora will be reviewed and discussed.

Moreover, we will present our latest achievements as Coordinator of the Advisory Committee on Subnational Governments to the Convention on Biological Diversity, and COP 14 results as well as its next steps in preparation for SBSTTA 23 (October 2019) and COP 15 (October 2020). The Regions for Biodiversity Learning Platform will also present the platform’s next phase and explore synergies with the members’ ongoing initiatives. In both sessions, Regions4 will explore members’ interest in participating in such initiatives.

In regards to climate change, Regions4 will present and discuss with participants the new face of its RegionsAdapt initiative with different forms of capacity building, smaller and more effective working groups and guidelines on regional adaptation planning adapted to the realities of the different geographical regions represented in the initiative. Furthermore, we will explore how activities of RegionsAdapt can support the advocacy work of the network in light of the Paris Agreement.

Workshop: Subnational Cooperation on Climate Change

The International Conference on Climate Change, “Change the Change,” will take place on 6-8 March 2019 in Donostia/San Sebastian, back to back with the Regions4 annual General Assembly on 4-5 March 2019 in Bilbao. As part of the conference, Regions4 is co-organising the Workshop: Subnational Cooperation on Climate Change, taking place on 7 March, 15:30 – 17:00.

In the year after the adoption of the Paris Agreement Work Programme and the year before the Agreement’s implementation, 2019 is dedicated to once again raising ambition in the fight against climate change. On this matter, subnational governments are key stakeholders that have shown numerous times that innovative and ambitious action is possible. They already create exceptional solutions to climate issues in their territories, but when working together, they can become even more successful in fighting climate change, increasing resilience to its impacts, and creating political momentum for national action.

In this regard, the Workshop: Subnational cooperation on Climate Change will provide discussion on the potential of subnational cooperation on climate change. It will showcase successful cooperation examples of subnational governments worldwide, as well as discuss international initiatives and coalitions, such as the RegionsAdapt or the Under2 Coalition. By highlighting different experiences from around the world, and encouraging contributions from the audience, this workshop aims to identify the main characteristics of cooperation at the subnational level for meaningful climate actions and leadership, allowing participants to discuss these topics and learn from cases presented.