Following the four-themed meeting of COP Izmir, led by the President of the Turkish Healthy Cities Association and Izmir Metropolitan Municipality Mayor Dr. Cemil Tugay, the 35-article COP Izmir Climate Declaration was announced. The declaration, announced under four headings, highlighted many demands such as energy efficiency, efficient use of water resources, and reducing the environmental impact of urban transportation, while decisions such as the establishment of a “City Food Council” under the leadership of local governments in Izmir, the preparation of the Izmir Urban Food Strategy Document, and the implementation of the Climate Citizens’ Assembly model were included.
The final declaration of the “COP İzmir” series, initiated by the İzmir Metropolitan Municipality with the aim of developing concrete, applicable action plans at the local level against the climate crisis and transferring local experiences to the COP30 (Conference of the Parties) Climate Summit process to be convened in Brazil in November, has been announced. Within the scope of the program, which was launched as a COP organization at the local level for the first time in Türkiye, a total of four meetings were held with the themes of “Food Security and Access in the Face of the Climate Crisis,” “İzmir’s Green Energy Transformation Opportunities,” “Cities and Communities Resilient to the Climate Crisis” and “İzmir’s Future: Green Belts.” Following the workshop meetings, the introductory meeting where the COP İzmir Climate Declaration obtained was announced was held at the Ahmet Piriştina City Archive and Museum (APİKAM). The meeting was attended by World Health Organization (WHO) Healthy Cities, Health Promotion and Well-Being Regional Advisor Kira Fortune, İzmir Metropolitan Municipality Deputy Mayor Dr. Zafer Levent Yıldır, Konak Mayor Nilüfer Çınarlı Mutlu, Bergama Mayor Prof. Dr. Tanju Çelik, Kemalpaşa Mayor Mehmet Türkmen, İzmir Metropolitan Municipality Deputy Secretary General Prof. Dr. Pınar Okyay, İzmir Planning Agency President Prof. Dr. Koray Velibeyoğlu, local and international representatives of the WHO European Healthy Cities Network for Sustainability, bureaucrats of provincial and district municipalities, ambassadors and NGO representatives attended.
“If we cannot create a new nature, we need to protect the existing one”
The opening speech of the meeting was made by İzmir Metropolitan Municipality Deputy Mayor Dr. Zafer Levent Yıldır, who said, “Modern society has two claims. The first was that the future is bright and people are constantly advancing. The second was that we will overcome everything with science and technology. It turned out that the idea of the future being bright is a claim that has lost its validity after the 20th century. When we look at the second claim, we actually live in risky societies. All efforts in science and technology are trying to show that we live in a risky society. A solution we find for any problem today can become the biggest problem at hand tomorrow. If this is the case, it was decided that we need new concepts, such as sustainability. If we cannot create a new nature, we need to look at ways to protect what exists. I think everything we do today serves this. I think everything we do from now on will serve this. I think that even a study like İZMAR is included in this effort. All of our studies targeting students and those who have reached old age are included in this effort.”
Fortune: Very important steps are being taken in Izmir
Kira Fortune, World Health Organization (WHO) Regional Advisor for Healthy Cities, Health Promotion and Well-Being, said, “The time and place of this meeting was very appropriate. We brought those commitments back to the agenda after the meeting we held in Bursa. Localization of the COP is one of the issues that is given priority. We see that Izmir is taking the lead as a particularly exemplary city. Last year, we talked with Cemil Tugay about the importance of localization at the COP in Baku. Very important steps are being taken in Izmir.”
Arıkan: The fact that cities are so strong strengthens all of our hands
Yunus Arıkan, Global Advocacy Director of Local Governments (ICLEI), who attended the meeting via online connection, said, “I congratulate Mayor Cemil Tugay and the Izmir Metropolitan Municipality on the COP Izmir initiative. It was a source of pride to see Izmir and Muğla, two cities from Türkiye, here. As you know, climate change has entered a brand new phase. It has entered a framework that includes not only the Ministry of Environment, but all actors in society. It is important for local communities to come together on a neighborhood basis and for the work carried out to contribute to national goals. Such meetings sensitize the public on climate. COP Izmir once again contributed to climate sensitivity. Healthy cities will be even more prominent in new action plans. In this process, Izmir did not leave the lead to anyone. We will do our best for healthy cities together. The fact that cities are this strong strengthens all of our hands.”
The 35-article COP Izmir Declaration was announced
Following the opening speeches, Izmir Metropolitan Municipality, Muğla Metropolitan Municipality and Manisa Metropolitan Municipality officials made presentations on the work carried out. Izmir Metropolitan Municipality announced the 35-article COP Izmir Climate Declaration prepared at the end of the workshops. Under the theme of the declaration “Food Security and Access in the Face of the Climate Crisis”, the establishment of an “Urban Food Council” under the leadership of local governments in Izmir, the preparation of the Izmir Urban Food Strategy Document, membership in the Milan Urban Food Policy Pact (MUFPP) in order to benefit from international experiences and increase collaborations, implementation of the Climate Citizens' Assembly model by the Izmir Metropolitan Municipality, promotion of urban food production and neighborhood gardens, increasing the added value of agricultural products and branding them, effective promotion of local and geographically indicated products, reducing the environmental impacts of the livestock sector and encouraging sustainable livestock practices, recycling food waste with compost production, implementation of practices such as rainwater harvesting and surface water diversion systems within the framework of the principle that water is common, protection and monitoring of water resources to prevent pollution, initiation of training and capacity building programs for producers by developing multiple collaboration models with local governments, universities, cooperatives and the like, establishment of regional distribution centers for food logistics; The demands included reducing food losses and carbon footprint by improving cold chain infrastructures, developing climate finance, agricultural finance and investment support mechanisms, and supporting retail sales models that support local producers and focus on reliable, healthy and affordable food supply.
Izmir's Green Transformation Opportunities in Energy
Under the title of “Izmir’s Green Transformation Opportunities in Energy”; in line with the global net-zero target of the EU Cities Mission Programme Climate Neutral and Smart Cities Mission, which envisages reducing carbon emissions, the demands were made for Izmir to become a climate-neutral city by 2030, to reduce the environmental impacts of urban transportation; to ensure safe, clean, accessible and sustainable urban mobility, to popularize renewable energy sources and increase energy efficiency, to integrate and sustain water, energy and waste management infrastructures, to develop a comprehensive urban transformation process that re-evaluates the existing building stock in terms of energy efficiency, green area arrangements and climate adaptation, to develop green transformation and smart agricultural practices in agriculture, to ensure participatory governance and social inclusiveness in green transformation, to develop new cooperation and financing models to support Izmir’s green transformation, and to popularize green transformation in industry; waste recycling and green/clean energy use.
Climate Resilient Cities and Communities
Under the title of “Climate Crisis Resilient Cities and Communities”, the following items were highlighted: protecting biodiversity in the city with green infrastructure applications and nature-based solutions, improving thermal comfort in the city, effective management of disasters caused by climate change and increasing urban resilience, ensuring climate justice in the city, strengthening inter-institutional coordination mechanisms in climate change mitigation and adaptation processes, and integrated management of water resources and basins against sea level rise and salinization.
Under the title of “İzmir’s Future: Green Belts”, the following topics were included: creating an integrated green belt system connecting İzmir’s natural waterways and green networks, creating a digital interface for mapping and monitoring blue-green infrastructure systems, designing blue-green infrastructure systems at the neighborhood scale, designing blue-green infrastructure systems at the city scale, increasing the city’s carbon absorption capacity, protecting agricultural areas and rural tissue from the effects of urban sprawl, and supporting rural development by encouraging nature-friendly and alternative tourism types.
Achieving Climate Justice in Cities
Under the title of “Climate Crisis Resilient Cities and Communities”, demands were made for the protection of biodiversity in the city through green infrastructure applications and nature-based solutions, improvement of thermal comfort in the city, effective management of disasters caused by climate change and increasing urban resilience, provision of climate justice in the city, strengthening of inter-institutional coordination mechanisms in climate change mitigation and adaptation processes, and integrated management of water resources and basins against sea level rise and salinization.
224 people participated
Representatives from local governments, NGOs, cooperatives, universities, professional organizations, city councils, private sector participants, municipal affiliates and foundations attended the events held under four themes. In light of the opinions and suggestions collected from the parties participating in the events, the 35-article COP Izmir Climate Declaration and the 256-article COP Izmir Action Plan, which describes activities in line with these objectives, were prepared. Izmir aims to develop concrete, applicable action plans against the climate crisis at the local level and to transfer these experiences to the COP30 Climate Summit process to be held in Belém, Brazil in November. The prepared declaration and action plan https://www.skb.gov.tr/kategori/yayinlar can be accessed from the publications section on the website.
