The meeting succeeded in articulating the participation of most of the member cities of the Network of Sustainable Cities and Mayors' Offices for Democracy, also consolidating the inclusion of the municipality of Arraiján in the network, which was presented with its diploma of honor.
The meeting was attended by 25 high-level participants from the following municipalities:
● Argentina: Córdoba and Villa María.
● Chile: Punta Arenas.
● Peru: Barranco, Machupicchu and Ollantaytambo.
● Colombia: Albania (La Guajira).
● Costa Rica: Dota and Belén.
● Mexico: Mérida-Yucatán.
● Panama: Arraiján.
On this fourth anniversary day, the Municipal Climate Change Adaptation Strategies, the management of the SDGs of the 2030 Agenda in each territory were discussed, and an informative and conversational panel was held on the future of the Network. In addition, participants were provided with knowledge and experiences leading to better strategic planning, political communication and media management in the face of the climate crisis with a workshop entitled “Political communication as a strategy in the face of the climate crisis” by professors from the Latin American Center for Relations with Europe (CELARE) and the Central University of Chile.
Thanks to the efforts of the current mayor of Arraiján, Stefany Peñalba, former EKLA KAS scholar, we were able to make field visits to the district she manages, where we learned about the work of the municipality in terms of economic reactivation. Subsequently, a tree planting was carried out in the framework of the conservation of the Panama Canal watershed and a visit to the Panama-Pacific Economic Zone where public-private cooperation efforts for the integral development of the region were observed.
Finally, at the request of the mayors of the Network, a working meeting was arranged with the regional headquarters of UN Environment to address the issues of waste and air pollution in Latin America. This took place in the institutional building and was attended by Juan Bello, regional director and representative for Latin America and the Caribbean of the United Nations Environment Program.
The event served to encourage interactions among the members of the Network, which generated several agreements to share knowledge, or to host future activities.
