On June 7th, the State of São Paulo, in partnership with ICLEI South America, hosted for the first time in Brazil the “"Talanoa Cities and Regions Dialogues"”. The event, held at the São Paulo State Secretariat for the Environment (SMA), brought together authorities from all three levels of government, representatives of civil society, and climate change experts to discuss the importance of including subnational governments in the National Strategy for Implementing Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs) and ways to increase the level of climate ambition in Brazil.

You “"Talanoa Cities Regions Dialogues"” These are inclusive and participatory spaces for climate discussions with all levels of government and represent a growing, proactive, and immediate response from local and regional governments to the global call for climate action worldwide. The platform is a result of the last Conference of the Parties (COP23) led by Fiji, held in Bonn, Germany, at the end of 2017.

In addition to the Secretary of the Environment of the State of São Paulo, Mauricio Brusadin, and the representative of the Fiji Islands in Brazil, Ambassador Cama Tuiloma, the event was also attended by the representative of the Secretariat for Climate Change and Forests of the Ministry of the Environment, Alexandra Maciel; the Ambassador and Undersecretary General for the Environment, Energy, Science and Technology of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, José Antônio Marcondes; the CEO of CETESB, Carlos Roberto dos Santos; the Executive Secretary of ICLEI South America, Rodrigo Perpétuo; the executive coordinator of the Brazilian Forum on Climate Change, Alfredo Sirkis; and the president of the National Association of Municipal Environmental Agencies (ANAMMA), Rogério Meneses.

According to Mauricio Brusadin, based on the event's results, a letter will be sent by local and state government entities to the Federal Government through the Brazilian Forum on Climate Change. The document will contain the recommendations gathered during the event, which will allow for greater engagement of these actors in Brazilian Climate Governance and in the Implementation and Financing Strategy of Brazil's NDC.

The meeting was the third to be held in South America – the first was hosted by the Metropolitan Area of Valle de Aburrá, in Colombia, and the second in Quito, Ecuador – and represented the starting point in Brazil for discussions on the participation of subnational governments in the implementation of Brazil's NDC, aiming to broaden the ambition of national plans established under the Paris Agreement. The three Talanoa Dialogues held in the region were led by the ICLEI Secretariat for South America, which continues to promote these forums.

See here the schedule for the upcoming Talanoa Dialogues.

According to Rodrigo Perpétuo, Executive Secretary of ICLEI South America, the Talanoa Dialogues of cities and regions are important for consolidating international recognition of the role of local power in the ongoing global discussions on sustainability.

“The discussion format provided by the Talanoa Dialogues is extremely important because it allows us to talk with the sectors of the Brazilian economy that produce the most emissions and identify best practices that are already being developed in order to achieve Brazil's goal of reducing emissions by 37% by 2025, compared to the baseline year of 2005,” stated Alexandra Maciel, Secretary of Climate Change and Forests at the Ministry of the Environment.

During the meeting, the Undersecretary General for Environment, Energy, Science and Technology of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, José Antônio Marcondes de Carvalho, announced that, following discussions with the Ministry of the Environment, the Brazilian Government will promote a high-level national Talanoa Dialogue.