The Cape Town Climate Change Coalition was launched on Wednesday at a Climate Change evening held at the Kirstenbosch National Botanical Garden.

The Cape Town Climate Change evening is part of the Local Climate Solutions for Africa 2011 Conference (LOCS2011) coordinated by ICLEI – Local Governments for Sustainability and co-hosted by the City of Cape Town. Leaders of African cities and local governments, and world climate change experts have been meeting in Cape Town this week at the congress which is aimed at enhancing the capacity of African local authorities in respect of climate change issues and preparing African leaders for their active participation at COP 17 in Durban at the end of the year.

This coalition represents an alliance of organisations and partners, including private sector organisations, governmental and non-governmental organisations, researchers and educators, who came together to support Cape Town’s bid to host the Conference of the Parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (COP 17).

These partners have agreed that they will continue to work together towards ensuring that Cape Town and the Western Cape region take full advantage of the hosting of COP 17 in Durban at the end of the year, and to building Cape Town citizens’ understanding of and commitment to managing energy and climate change issues in a resilient manner.

They will also work towards proactively positioning Cape Town as a leading environmentally sustainable city, committed to practices that enable the city to adapt to and mitigate the effects of climate change, so protecting and enhancing the natural, cultural, social and economic environment.