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Cities on the frontlines: Navigating the climate–conflict nexus

26 September 2025
New York City, New York, USA or Hybrid

The NYC Climate Week event, ‘Cities on the frontlines: Navigating the climate–conflict nexus’, will launch the new UN-Habitat and GCoM publication and facilitate a discussion on cities as agents of transformation for joined-up climate resilience and peace. Bringing together global experts with government representatives and urban practitioners, it will examine climate and urban conflict trends, pressing challenges and innovative solutions, from resilient housing and basic services to urban and multilevel governance and bolstered climate finance for fragile- and conflict-affected cities. Anchored in ongoing efforts by UN-Habitat and GCoM to support the IPCC Special Report on Climate Change and Cities process, the event will be designed to catalyze insights and collaboration and to shape the urban climate-conflict agenda ahead of major milestones including COP30, WUF13, and the Innovate4Cities 2026 conference.

Our world is increasingly volatile, violent and vulnerable. 2024 was not only the hottest year on record but also saw a doubling of the number of both conflict events and forcibly displaced persons compared to five and ten years ago, respectively. Although these trends are playing out in parallel to unprecedented urbanization and amid a global housing crisis – with 2.8 billion people experiencing some form of housing inadequacy – cities remain largely absent from research and action on the climate-conflict nexus.

A new publication by UN-Habitat, supported by the Global Covenant of Mayors for Climate and Energy (GCoM) under the aegis of the Innovate4Cities initiative, highlights how climate change and urban conflict are deeply interlinked, especially through pressures on housing and basic services. It positions cities as important arenas for knowledge generation and progress toward integrated climate resilience, peace and security. 

This NYC Climate Week event forms part of ongoing Innovate4Cities efforts to promote insights and innovation to help cities dial up climate ambition and implementation, and it supports the forthcoming IPCC Special Report on Climate Change and Cities in elevating the under-explored urban climate-conflict nexus. The event will launch the new publication and convene dialogue among experts, practitioners and government representatives: examining the links between cities, climate change and conflict and the responses they urgently call for, thereby helping to shape the agenda ahead of COP30, WUF13 and Innovate4Cities2026.   

Event location (in person): UN-Habitat New York Office, 2 United Nations Plaza, Room DC2-0943, New York, N.Y. 10017. [Please note this event is also available online]

***Please note: In-person registrations close 23.59 on Monday 22 September or when the maximum in-person capacity - 20 - has been reached. In-person attendees will receive separate instructions and will be asked to bring valid identification***

Register Here


The description was extracted from climateweeknyc.org

 

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