Climate Change and the Urban Informal Economy: Pathways to Resilience

Despite contributing minimally to climate change, those living and working informally are on the frontlines of its impacts. In the second part of our webinar series on climate change and the urban informal economy, we will focus on strategies to build resilience through urban infrastructure, climate governance, and financing.

On November 5 at 8 am EST, experts will share three innovative cases:

• Mahila Housing Trust’s climate-resilient and livelihood-centred slum upgrading approach across nine Indian cities.
• Asiye eTafuleni’s initiatives to provide climate-resilient street trading infrastructure and implement zero-waste programs in inner-city Durban.
• New climate governance frameworks, featuring insights from the Brazilian Forum on Climate Change and local Climate Change Coordination offices in Belo Horizonte.

Each case exemplifies a co-created process to build resilience with workers in informal employment and people living in slum communities. Access to finance is critical to these efforts. The final input will analyze the extent to which urban poor communities currently access climate finance and identify ways to increase this access. The webinar will close with an interactive discussion on scaling grassroots adaptation efforts.

Don’t miss this session just days ahead of COP 30, where participants will also share perspectives and aspirations for the forthcoming IPCC Special Report on Climate Change and Cities.

Speakers

• Bijal Brahmbhatt (Director, Mahila Housing Trust).
• Vanishree Herlekar (Director, CityCollab).
• Richard Dobson (Director, Asiye eTafuleni).
• Dany Silvio Amaral (Deputy Coordinator, Climate Change Office, Belo Horizonte Municipal Authority).
• Sonia Dias (Waste Sector Specialist, WIEGO).
• Julie Greenwalt (Senior Climate Advisor, Cities Alliance).

The webinar will be moderated by Caroline Skinner (Director, Urban Policies Programme, WIEGO).