Last Friday (4), the city of Quito, in Ecuador, hosted the “Talanoa Cities and Regions Dialogues”, which brought together representatives of the national government and local governments of Ecuador, along with key national and international actors on the climate agenda. The Dialogue aimed to ensure that cities are included in the revised version of Ecuador’s Nationally Determined Contribution (NDC).

The “Talanoa Cities Regions Dialogues” are a series of climate consultations in the country, designed to initiate a collaborative process involving all levels of government. As part of the global Talanoa process, the dialogues are a growing, proactive, and immediate response from local and regional governments to the global call for multi-stakeholder conversations on climate action worldwide.

Hosted by the city of Quito, under the leadership of Mayor Mauricio Rodas, the “Tanaloa Cities and Regions Dialogues” in Ecuador involved representatives from the local and national levels, including the Minister of the Environment, Tarcisio Granizo, and the Vice-Minister of Transport and Infrastructure, Boris Palacios. The meeting was the starting point for future collaborations aimed at raising the level of ambition in Ecuador's NDC.

The process culminated in the signing of a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) that established the Ecuadorian National Advisory Committee of the Global Covenant of Mayors for Climate and Energy (GCoM), to serve as a coordination mechanism for cities and a climate change strategy in the country. The group includes the Association of Municipalities of Ecuador (AME), the Metropolitan District of Quito, the Ministry of the Environment, and WWF, and has the support of ICLEI - Local Governments for Sustainability and the C40 Cities Climate Leadership Group.

This Committee is a mechanism to institutionalize the vertical integration of climate action between different levels of government and other stakeholders, and will become a working group in which its members can influence the inclusion of local climate action in the NDCs and support local governments in their commitments to climate action.

Mayor Mauricio Rodas highlighted the importance of integrating climate finance into national investment plans: “It is essential to improve coordination between local governments and national development banks to facilitate access to international development banks and strengthen local climate action. However, this coordination requires political will and the support of national governments, which are subject to the particular political contexts of each country.”.

Mayor Rodas has been a strong voice in driving local climate action at a global level, helping to lay the groundwork for the “Talanoa Cities and Regions Dialogues” through his involvement in the adoption of the Bonn-Fiji Local and Regional Leaders' Commitment at COP23, signed by over 300 leaders. The Bonn-Fiji Commitment, along with the call for local and regional engagement in the Paris Agreement, clearly demanded inclusive and multi-level collaboration. Now, through the “Talanoa Cities and Regions Dialogues,” which establishes the platform for greater ambition and collaboration, Quito is leading the way in achieving these goals.

Last December, at the One Planet Summit, the Global Covenant of Mayors for Climate and Energy (GCoM) launched a Call to Action for the Vertical Integration of Local Authorities in National Climate Investment Plans, led by Mayor Rodas in his capacity as a member of the Global Council of Mayors, and in collaboration with the mayors of Buenos Aires, Medellín, Mexico City, and Seville.

Cities are making concrete contributions to climate action that can strengthen and help raise the ambition of the NDCs. For example, Quito was one of the first cities in the region to measure its carbon footprint, conduct a vulnerability study, and develop its climate action plan, which includes building a metro system as a form of zero-emission transportation and aims to convert the city's historic center into an emission-free zone by 2020.

Learn more about the “Tanaloa Cities and Regions Dialogues”., here.