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Twenty cities from all around South Asia came together in Cochin on October 30th, 2013 to learn from each other on the issue of adaptation to climate change at the AsianCitiesAdapt: Learning Exchange, co-organized by Kochi Municipal Corporation and ICLEI South Asia.

DSC_0056The workshop, that took place on 30th-31st October 2013, gathered an impressive line-up of high level local representatives from India, the Philippines, Bhutan, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, Maldives and Nepal, who discussed solutions on how cities can adapt to climate change, together with climate experts and other practitioners from India, Southeast Asia and Europe.

Dignitaries included Mayor Maizan Ali Manik, Male city (Maldives); Mayor Zulfikar Ali, Mongla and Mayor Shamim Al Razi, Singra (Bangladesh) and Deputy Mayor Tikender S Panwar, from Shimla (India).

DSC_0348The workshop, a forerunner to the closure of the project “AsianCitiesAdapt – Impacts of Climate Change in Target Cities in India and the Philippines and Local Adaptation Strategies” – brought together science, policy and practice to help four cities in India (Howrah, Madurai,Vishakapatnam and Kochi) and four cities in the Philippines (Baguio, Dagupan, San Fernando, Tuguegarao) take the first steps towards developing an appropriate adaptation strategy.

The entire programme was coordinated by c-hed for the Kochi Municipal Corporation.