Speaker: Annel Hernandez

Climate change is acknowledged as the largest threat to our societies in the coming decades. As urban areas house highly diverse people with differing vulnerabilities, climate change is likely to shift the focus of discussions from a general urban perspective to who in cities will be affected by climate change, adaptation and mitigation, and how. This brings the urban equity question to the forefront. This session highlights pressing equity and environmental justice issues in cities under climate change. This involves key inputs from research (e.g. UCCRN), communities (UPROSE, NY, Métis and First Nations Indigenous peoples, the urban energy disadvantaged), and policy informants (NYC-EJA, Métis and First Nations Indigenous governments). These key inputs are discussed among presenters, and the audience using the guiding questions. This session identifies major research and knowledge gaps related to equity issues under climate change. For example, a key research gap is the sustainable transformation of the urban energy systems in a manner that avoids exacerbating impacts on groups that already have a limited capacity to adapt. This session also touches on the challenges and gaps in the solution space between indigenous communities, indigenous traditional knowledge, and policy-making.