International Roundtable Exchange on Urban Adaptation Governance: Supporting Beijing Water Eco-Restoration Strategy
国际城市气候适应治理圆桌论坛——支持北京水生态修复战略
Event description:
Environmental pressures in China mainly manifest through water stress exacerbated by climate change, with Beijing being one of the most affected cities. Beijing is the first city in China to initiate land and space ecological restoration, using the five major rivers and canals across the city as green corridors to improve the water system’s connectivity and restore the river channel’s ecological function. The principles and research design for water restoration in Beijing can benefit from international lessons learned.
The Global Center on Adaptation, as a knowledge broker for adaptation solutions, is facilitating a knowledge exchange through a series of roundtable discussions between the city of Beijing and international experts to help inform and shape Beijing’s water restoration strategy. This roundtable discussion (the third in the series) featured experts who have participated in the planning and coordination of urban resilience initiatives and projects, as well as the Beijing partners, to share their experience with a special focus on governance and explore further collaboration opportunities.
中国的环境压力主要表现为由气候变化加剧导致的水资源压力，其中北京是受影响最为严重的城市之一。北京在中国率先启动国土空间生态修复规划编制，基于自然的解决方案修复流域水生态系统，改善水系连通性，提高滨水空间品质和城市韧性，推进生态保护修复与应对气候变化协同增效。北京也可以从国际案例中汲取有关水资源修复原则和设计理念等相关经验。
作为适应解决方案的知识平台，全球适应中心特此举办北京和国际专家之间的系列圆桌讨论，以推动知识交流，为北京水资源修复战略提供信息与经验。本次圆桌讨论会（本系列第三次）将邀请来自城市韧性倡议及项目的国际专家与北京合作伙伴，聚焦治理方面的经验分享，并探索进一步的合作机会。
The aims of this roundtable were:
- Exchange of knowledge and experience among cities globally on adaptation governance at the city level;
- Sharing of Beijing’s experience in governance using the example of the water eco-restoration plan project and beyond.
Program
Chair: Ede Ijjasz-Vasquez, Senior Advisor, Global Center on Adaptation
12:00-12:10 Opening & Introductions
- Short remarks by Joep Verhagen, Program Lead Water & Urban, and Aiping Chen, Regional Director of the China Office, GCA
- Short remarks by ZHAO Dan, Senior Engineer, BICP
- Introduction of key participants
12:10-12:55 Presentations by international experts
- Presentation by Mr. WEI, Baoyi, Senior Engineer, Deputy Head of the Institute of Ecological Planning, BICP: Beijing Water Ecological Restoration and Conservation Planning and Implementation under the Background of Climate Adaptation
- Presentation by Ms. Marina Trentin, City Resilience Department, Milan Municipality
- Presentation by Mr. Elijah Hutchinson, Vice President of Waterfronts, New York
12:55-13:10 Discussion with special guests
- Katrin Bruebach, Global Director Programs, Innovation & Impact, Resilient Cities Network
- Arnoud Molenaar, Chief Resilience Officer of the City of Rotterdam and lead cities at GCA
13:10-13:50 Facilitated discussion
Based on the presentations and framing questions, this section is for all participants to interact on topics of interest
13:50-14:00 Summary takeaways and closing