Towards COP31: Local Climate Action Policy Dialogue “Local Leadership, Inclusive Urban Resilience and Sustainable Transformation Muğla Round Table

Excellencies,

Mr. Ahmet Aras, Mayor of Muğla Metropolitan Municipality and President of the Union of Coastal Municipalities,

Mr. Uğur İbrahim Altay, President of UCLG and COP31 Cities and Local Governments Envoy,

Dr. Mehmet Duman, Secretary-General of UCLG-MEWA,

Dr. İdris Akbıyık, Governor of Muğla,

Distinguished mayors and representatives of national and local authorities,

Colleagues from the United Nations, development partners, financial institutions, academia, civil society and the private sector,

Ladies and Gentlemen,

It is a great pleasure to join you here in beautiful Muğla for this important Local Climate Action Policy Dialogue, as we advance together towards COP31.

Let me begin with a message that lies at the heart of the United Nations’ work on sustainable development, namely that global commitments are ultimately delivered locally, or they are not delivered at all.

As the Secretary-General has recently emphasized, cities and communities are where global ambition meets daily reality. They are where climate shocks are experienced, where inequalities become visible, but also where innovation, solidarity and practical solutions can take root.

This is why today's dialogue matters.

The 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development places cities and human settlements at the centre of our collective effort through SDG 11: to make cities and human settlements inclusive, safe, resilient and sustainable.

But SDG 11 is not a stand-alone goal. It is deeply connected to virtually every dimension of the 2030 Agenda, poverty, health, decent work, gender equality, climate action, food and water security, sustainable consumption and production, and reduced inequalities.

And importantly, SDG 11 Target 11.b explicitly connects inclusive urban development, climate adaptation and disaster resilience with the Sendai Framework for Disaster Risk Reduction.

This reminds us that climate action, disaster risk reduction and sustainable development must be pursued, not separately, but together in the places where people live.

Cities and municipalities are therefore not simply implementers of climate policy. They are essential partners in shaping it.

Ladies and Gentlemen,

Climate change is increasingly a question of development, resilience, human security and social inclusion.

For a municipality, climate change is not an abstract future scenario.

It is a heatwave affecting older people and outdoor workers.

It is drought putting pressure on water resources and agriculture.

It is flooding threatening homes, infrastructure and livelihoods.

It is the disruption of essential services.

And it is the unequal distribution of these impacts.

This is why our commitment to Leaving No One Behind must be at the centre of local climate action. Women, children, older persons, persons with disabilities, low-income households, migrants and other vulnerable groups often have fewer resources to adapt to climate shocks.

A resilient city, therefore, is not simply a city with stronger infrastructure. It is a city that protects people, reduces inequalities and ensures that everyone has a voice in shaping its future.

This is also where the Sendai Framework provides an important lens: resilience requires understanding risk, reducing existing vulnerabilities, preventing the creation of new risks and strengthening preparedness and early action.

The climate and development agendas therefore converge very clearly at the local level.

Excellencies,

Türkiye's hosting of COP31 gives us an important opportunity to strengthen this connection between global ambition, national policy and local implementation.

I particularly welcome the fact that this initiative does not envisage a single, stand-alone event.

Instead, Muğla, Gaziantep and Konya will serve as regional hubs, bringing together municipalities and partners around the different realities and priorities of their regions.

Here in Muğla, the focus on coastal resilience, tourism, water security, biodiversity and nature-based solutions reflects the opportunities and vulnerabilities of this region.

Gaziantep will bring perspectives on resilient cities, green industry, circularity and inclusive transition.

Konya will contribute important experience on water security, climate-smart agriculture, renewable energy and urban-rural linkages.

Different contexts, but a shared national challenge:

How do we turn climate ambition into action that is locally owned, financially viable, inclusive and measurable?

The thematic architecture of this dialogue strongly enables us to address that question, from multi-level governance and urban resilience to climate finance, just and inclusive transition, water-food-nature systems, and innovation, technology and data.

I want to particularly underscore the importance of finance.

Municipalities are being asked to deliver more resilient infrastructure, stronger public services and greener local economies. But ambition must be matched by the means of implementation.

We therefore need to strengthen the connection between municipal priorities and development finance institutions, climate funds, commercial finance, project-preparation facilities and private investment.

We also need to move beyond identifying projects towards developing investment-ready pipelines that can be financed and implemented. Cities need to have the power and resources to deliver, including better access to finance, stronger partnerships with central governments and better recognition of subnational authorities as essential partners.

Ladies and Gentlemen,

The United Nations sees its role in this process as that of a convener, connector, and partner.

We are here to help connect local priorities with national and global commitments; to facilitate partnerships; to bring together public and private actors; to support evidence-based policy dialogue; and to help ensure that successful local solutions can be shared, replicated, and scaled.

But let us also make sure that this is a policy dialogue for implementation.

The ambition should be that every discussion produces a small number of concrete priorities, recommendations or actions that will not remain in Muğla.

They should feed into a wider national process involving Gaziantep and Konya and ultimately come together in Antalya at COP31.

The proposed Local Climate Action Call to COP31 can give Türkiye's municipalities a collective voice in the international climate conversation, highlighting priorities, solutions, financing needs and practical recommendations. In doing so, we can help demonstrate an important principle:

Climate action is strongest when it is connected across levels, from the global to the national, from the national to the local, and from policy to implementation.

Excellencies, colleagues and friends,

The Secretary-General has reminded us that the climate fight will not be won in negotiating rooms alone, but through action in our communities.

As we enter this era of accelerated implementation, the role of cities and local governments becomes ever more important.

Let us therefore use this dialogue to strengthen local leadership, deepen multi-level cooperation, mobilize finance, advance inclusive resilience, and identify solutions that can be taken to scale.

Let us ensure that, on the road to COP31, no city is left behind, no community is left behind, and no one is left behind.

The United Nations in Türkiye is proud to stand with municipalities and all our partners in this effort.

I wish you very productive discussions over the coming two days, and, above all, concrete outcomes that can make a difference in the lives of people and communities.

Thank you.