Climate change is no longer a distant threat for cities. Heatwaves, flooding, drought and wildfires are putting increasing pressure on infrastructure, public health, essential services and local economies. Against this backdrop, GCH and ICLEI brought together around 70 mayors, representatives of international organisations and experts. Organised with UNECE, UNEP, UNDRR and the IFSS Coalition, the event Nature as Urban Infrastructure: Local Solutions to Heat, Flooding and Fires explored how nature can strengthen urban resilience and what cities need from national and international partners to bring local solutions to scale.
Nature as essential urban infrastructure
With the 6th UN Forum of Mayors focusing on Objectif de développement durable 11 (Sustainable Cities and Communities), the discussion addressed two key targets: reducing human and economic losses caused by disasters (Target 11.5) and ensuring access to safe, inclusive and accessible green and public spaces (Target 11.7). Opening the event, Sharon Weinblum, on behalf of Wallonia, Belgium, set the scene by sharing Wallonia’s regional approach to climate adaptation and resilience.
A central message from the discussion was that nature can no longer be treated as a ‘nice to have’. Urban forests, trees, green spaces, green roofs, permeable streets and water-sensitive urban design can form an essential part of a city’s infrastructure, helping to reduce heat, manage flooding, support biodiversity and improve quality of life. These approaches can complement traditional grey infrastructure, helping cities manage heat and water while potentially reducing long-term infrastructure and disaster-response costs. At the same time, urban nature can contribute to public health, biodiversity, social cohesion, local economic activity and more liveable neighbourhoods. Many of the choices that shape the climate future are made locally: how cities build homes, move people, cool buildings, manage waste and protect urban nature. Yet cities do not make these choices in isolation: their ability to act depends heavily on national frameworks, access to finance and international commitments.
The discussion also addressed the growing threat posed by wildfires. The IFSS Coalition stressed that green infrastructure does not automatically reduce fire risk: where and what cities plant, and how landscapes are managed, matter. Better management of forests and landscapes, including drawing on the knowledge of Indigenous peoples who have lived with fire for thousands of years, can complement technological responses. More broadly, participants stressed the importance of an integrated approach combining prevention, preparedness, risk reduction and climate adaptation, while strengthening local government capacity, including by equipping and training municipal staff to respond to floods, fires, heatwaves, droughts and other climate-related hazards.
Local solutions need national and international support
While cities are increasingly developing practical responses to these challenges, mayors made clear that local ambition alone is not enough and called for stronger national and international support to bring locally developed solutions to scale. Local and regional governments are often closest to affected communities and have first-hand knowledge of local risks and possible solutions, but often lack the financial resources, access to finance or political authority needed to act at the necessary scale. The many mayors who took the floor to share their experiences and challenges underscored the strong interest in the issue. Their interventions highlighted the need for practical expertise, knowledge-sharing, stronger partnerships and better connections between local action and national and international decision-making.
Several speakers also stressed that extreme heat, flooding and fires are no longer solely environmental issues. They increasingly affect public health, social equity, economic stability and sustainable development. Balakhsher Qazi, the Mayor of Turbat, for example described extreme heat not simply as a weather problem, but as a public health and economic crisis and an obstacle to development. This reinforced a broader message from the session: resilience policies need to reflect how climate risks affect different parts of urban life and, particularly, the most vulnerable communities.
Mayors repeatedly called for national governments to listen more closely to the experiences and challenges articulated by local and regional leaders. National governments negotiate international climate commitments and shape many of the policies and funding mechanisms within which cities operate, while local and regional governments translate many of those commitments into action on the ground. As Jane Meagher, Council Leader of Edinburgh, put it: “Between us all, we know what the problems are. We know to some extent what the solutions are. And working in collaboration, in partnership, is the only answer.” Creating stronger links between these levels can help move successful approaches from individual projects into mainstream urban planning and investment.
Connecting international frameworks, tools and local action
International organisations and initiatives have an important role to play in helping make those connections. UNECE’s Trees in Cities Challenge supports cities in integrating urban forestry and green networks into planning, financing and climate resilience. Practical resources such as the Trees for Resilient Green Cities Toolkit et Funding and Financing Strategies for Urban Forests provide cities with additional knowledge and tools to develop more systemic approaches to urban nature.
UNEP’s work on sustainable cooling similarly links international climate ambitions to concrete urban challenges such as extreme heat. The Engagement en faveur du refroidissement global provides an international framework for advancing sustainable cooling and strengthening action on this agenda. The discussion on sustainable cooling continued during the UN Forum of Mayors plenary session, available to watch ici. UNEP’s Sharon Gil emphasized the importance of connecting action across levels of government: “The UN does not have the solutions, but we are a mechanism to scale and co-create. The solutions are in this room.” Her intervention stressed that mitigation and adaptation can no longer be treated as separate agendas. Cities and regions have a critical role to play in both limiting emissions and protecting people and nature from climate impacts.
ICLEI similarly supports cities and regions in advancing systemic approaches to nature-based solutions and urban resilience, including through its role as focal point for local and subnational governments in the UN Convention on Biological Diversity process. This includes the city-led Berlin Urban Nature Pact, which seeks to strengthen cities’ contributions to the Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework and advance urban nature and biodiversity through collective action.
Scaling local solutions through stronger partnerships
Turning these approaches into action will also require a broader coalition. In concluding the session, participants were invited to consider who was underrepresented in the room, pointing in particular to insurers, banks and national governments. Without adequate access to finance and enabling national frameworks, even proven resilience measures can remain difficult to implement at scale. This is also where international exchange can add value: connecting cities not only with knowledge and tools, but with the institutions, partners and funders that can help turn locally developed solutions into lasting change.
For the Global Cities Hub, which has traditionally helped convene this environmental exchange alongside the UN Forum of Mayors, the discussion reflected precisely why cities and regions need a stronger place in international conversations. Local governments bring practical experience, direct knowledge of community needs and solutions that are already being tested on the ground. International organisations can provide expertise, tools and platforms for cooperation, while national governments and financial actors can help create the enabling conditions to turn local solutions into action at scale. By bringing these perspectives together, the UN Forum of Mayors can help narrow the gap between global commitments and local realities. The Global Cities Hub will continue to support this exchange, helping bring the experiences, solutions and needs expressed by mayors into international dialogue and decision-making.
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