Many events featuring landscape architects at COP28 in Dubai will be livestreamed via the UN Climate Change website or YouTube. Recordings will also be available.

ASLA is sending two delegates to COP28 in Dubai, and eight virtual delegates will join online. This is the second year ASLA has been an NGO observer to the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) Conference of Parties (COP) process.

Landscape architect delegates will make the case for maximizing nature-based solutions through design.

ASLA delegates attending:

• Torey Carter-Conneen, CEO, American Society of Landscape Architects
• Pamela Conrad, ASLA, LEED AP, Founder, Climate Positive Design; Senior Fellow, Architecture 2030; Faculty Lecturer, Harvard Graduate School of Design; Vice Chair, Climate and Biodiversity Group Working Group, International Federation of Landscape Architects (IFLA)

Additional landscape architect and landscape architecture educator delegates:

• Kotchakorn Voraakhom, International ASLA, Founder, Landprocess; Chair, Climate and Biodiversity Group Working Group, IFLA; Faculty Design Critic, Harvard Graduate School of Design; Visiting Fellow, University of Pennsylvania.
• Kongjian Yu, FASLA, Founder, Turenscape, and Professor and Dean, College of Architecture and Landscape Architecture, Peking University
• Catherine Seavitt, FASLA, Professor and Chair, Landscape Architecture, University of Pennsylvania

And learn more about the eight ASLA virtual delegates joining online.

Events featuring landscape architect delegates at COP28:

Enhancing Urban Water Resilience through Nature-based Solutions in Public Places
Tuesday, December 5
6.30 AM EST – 8:00 AM EST / 3:30 PM -5:00 PM GST
UN-Habitat
Water Pavilion, Blue Zone

This workshop “focuses on empowering local stakeholders to enhance urban water resilience through nature-based solutions in public space.” The goal is to “combine insights from local experiences and existing methodologies and toolkits.”

Co-Moderators:

• Pamela Conrad, ASLA
• Kotchakorn Voraakhom, International ASLA

Driving Higher Education for Global Action
Tuesday, December 5
5.30 AM EST – 6.30 AM EST / 2:30 PM – 3:30 PM GST
Thailand Pavilion, Blue Zone
Livestream; Meeting ID: 845 1635 5789; Pass code: 300886

“Students are demanding it. Our world needs it. How is higher education responding to changing curriculum that addresses climate change? What are new methods and techniques for pedagogy, and how should it evolve? Which approaches can be translated for all parts of the world?”

Speakers:

• Pamela Conrad, ASLA
• Beth Martin, Washington University in St. Louis
• Harleen Marwah, University of Pennsylvania
• Dr. Pisut Painmanakul, Chula Engineering
• Kotchakorn Voraakhom, International ASLA

Nature-Base Solutions and Climate Finance Mechanisms
Wednesday, December 6
7.00 AM – 9.00 AM EST / 4:00PM – 5:00 PM GST
Thailand Pavilion, Blue Zone
Livestream; Meeting ID: 845 1635 5789; Pass code: 300886

“Cities in the Global South are continuously growing, and all strive to enhance adaptation and nature-based solutions. One obstacle is the lack of financial incentives for implementation. Experts from all sectors will highlight how public and private-sector leadership can mobilize action and re-direct financial flows towards nature and climate.”

Speakers:

• Eugenie Birch, University of Pennsylvania
• Torey Carter-Conneen CEO, ASLA
• Mauricio Rodas Ecuadorian lawyer, social policy consultant and politician
• Kotchakorn Vorraakhom, International ASLA
• Anna Wellenstein, Sustainable Development Regional Director for East Asia and the Pacific, World Bank

Scaling Up Nature-Based Solutions in Urban Environments
Wednesday, December 6
4.15 AM – 5.15 AM EST / 1:15 PM – 2:15 PM GST
International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) Pavilion, Blue Zone
Hosted with the American Society of Landscape Architects (ASLA)
IUCN Livestream

“Cities are an overlooked but critical opportunity to deploy nature-based solutions. Urban infrastructure built with nature supports biodiversity, builds resilience, and accelerates carbon mitigation.”

Speakers:

• Torey Carter-Conneen, CEO, American Society of Landscape Architects
• Pamela Conrad, ASLA
• Kotchakorn Voraakhom, International ASLA
• Claudia Robles, Presidential Advisor & Former First Lady, Costa Rica
• Lisa Richmond, Senior Fellow, Architecture 2030

Nature-based Solutions and the Built Environment: Designing for Resilience, Drawdown and Biodiversity
Friday, December 8
7.45 AM – 9.15 AM EST / 4.45 PM – 6.15 PM GST
Official COP28 Side Event, SE Room 9, Blue Zone

“Nature-based infrastructure solutions support resilience, equity, public health, and biodiversity, and accelerate carbon mitigation. Designing with nature can help global communities reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 50 percent by 2030 and protect and conserve 30 percent of ecosystems by 2030.”

Speakers:

• Torey Carter-Conneen, CEO, American Society of Landscape Architects
• Pamela Conrad, ASLA
• Dr. Siddharth Narayan, Assistant Professor, Integrated Coastal Programs, Eastern Carolina University
• Dr. Sandeep Sengupta, Global Coordinator for Climate Change, International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN)
• Kotchakorn Voraakhom, International ASLA
• Moderator: Lisa Richmond, Senior Fellow, Architecture 2030

Investing in Nature
Saturday, December 9
2:00 AM – 3:00 AM EST / 11:00 AM – 12:00 AM GST
Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank Pavilion, Blue Zone

“Nature plays a critical role in providing valuable resources and services that underpin and support sustainable development and the well-being of people and the planet. Well-functioning and diverse ecosystems regulate the Earth’s climate, build resilience to the impacts of climate change, and enhance the sustainable management of water and land. Forests, wetlands, coral reefs can effectively provide infrastructure functions while delivering additional climate and biodiversity co-benefits.

To achieve the goals and targets of the Kunming – Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework, both increasing nature-positive financial flows and reducing nature-negative flows will be needed. International financial institutions play a key role in closing the $700 billion annual global biodiversity finance gap and helping countries meet their commitments.”

This high-level side event will “bring together representatives from international financial institutions, governments, the private sector, think tanks, and academia to discuss the opportunities and challenges associated with scaling up nature-positive and biodiversity financing.”

Speaker:

• Kongjian Yu, FASLA

Accelerating Finance for Nature-based Solutions: Unlocking Opportunities for Sustainable Development
Saturday, December 9
5:30 AM – 6:45 AM EST / 2:30 PM – 3:45 PM GST
International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) Pavilion Pavilion, Blue Zone
Co-hosted by the French Development Agency (AFD) and The International Development Finance Club (IDFC)
IUCN Livestream

“Despite increasing global interest in nature-based solutions, lack of financing remains a major barrier to implementing these solutions at scale. This event will will bring together development partners and government officials at the ministerial level alongside IUCN to discuss and launch initiatives that could potentially accelerate financing for nature-based solutions to implement plans at national and sub-national levels.”

Keynote speaker:

• Kongjian Yu, FASLA

Innovative Governance for Flood and Drought Risk Management
Sunday, December 10
1:00 AM EST – 2:00 AM EST / 10:00 AM – 11:00 AM GST
Thailand Pavilion, Blue Zone
Livestream; Meeting ID: 845 1635 5789; Pass code: 300886

“Rising sea levels, more extreme storms, and increased drought risk are impacting people now. Societies have long struggled to prepare for and respond to floods and droughts — two hydrological extremes that can happen to the same country at the same time. Better management of water resources can help reduce climate change risks and adapt to its impacts.

While climate change is compounding many challenges, it also presents an unprecedented opportunity. We have a chance to leverage these investments towards green, resilient, and inclusive development that reduces rather than further exacerbates our societies’ vulnerability to climate risks.”

Speakers:

• Allison Lassiter, University of Pennsylvania
• Simon Richter, University of Pennsylvania
• Jennifer Sarah, Global Director, Climate Change Group at World Bank
• Kotchakorn Voraakhom, International ASLA

In 2023, temperatures were the hottest on record. This is because the current level of heat-trapping greenhouse gases in the atmosphere hasn’t been seen in 3-5 million years. A slew of United Nations (UN) climate reports released over the past few months tell the same story: the world’s governments are taking action to reduce global temperatures but are not moving fast enough. The lack of progress is only increasing climate risks.

The latest Emissions Gap Report from the UN Environment Program (UNEP) finds that current pledges by countries that signed on to the Paris Agreement will lead to a 2.5°C (4.5°F) to 2.9°C (5.2°F°) temperature rise this century, far surpassing the goal of a 1.5°C (2.7°F) temperature increase. And last year, global greenhouse gas emissions increased by 1.2 per cent to reach a new high of 57.4 billion tonnes of carbon dioxide (GtCO2e). This means governments, particularly the largest historical polluters, need to dramatically scale up their emission reduction efforts.

World leaders are looking to the upcoming global climate summit — COP28 — in Dubai, United Arab Emirates, to build new momentum. There, countries will confirm the “global stocktake,” which analyzes emissions data from the past five years, and set new targets in 2025 to be achieved by 2035.

“Every fraction of a degree matters, but we are severely off track. COP28 is our time to change that,” said Simon Stiell, Executive Secretary of UN Climate Change. “It’s time to show the massive benefits now of bolder climate action: more jobs, higher wages, economic growth, opportunity and stability, less pollution and better health.”

The UN’s Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change found that countries need to cut global greenhouse gases 43 percent by 2030 in comparison with 2019 levels to keep goals in reach.

Unfortunately, countries are only taking “baby steps” in this direction, Stiell has said. The UN analyzed the nationally determined commitments (NDCs) of 195 countries that signed on to the Paris Agreement. They found that if current commitments are met, global greenhouse gas emissions will increase by 2 percent by 2030 in comparison with 2019 levels, which is very far from the 43 percent drop needed.

To speed up the peaking process and start making more dramatic cuts, countries need to invest more in transforming their economies and communities, particularly the transition to renewable energy. The International Energy Agency (IEA) says $4.5 trillion of investment in renewable energy is needed each year by 2030 to keep the 1.5°C temperature increase goal in reach. In 2023, renewable energy spending is anticipated to be $1.8 trillion, less than half what is required.

Greater investment in renewable energy also means more planning and design work will be needed to appropriately site the expansion of wind and solar power across landscapes. As Hood Design Studio demonstrated with the Solar Strand at the University at Buffalo, it can be done in a way that reduces impacts on wildlife and supports ecological restoration.

The risks of slow progress on reducing emissions are only becoming clearer. A report published in The Lancet by 114 scientists contends that “climate change continues to have a worsening effect on health and mortality around the world.” The New York Times reports: “One of the starkest findings is that heat-related deaths of people older than 65 have increased by 85 percent since the 1990s.”

The U.S. government also recently released its fifth national climate assessment. It states: “Across the country, efforts to adapt to climate change and reduce emissions have expanded since 2018, and U.S. emissions have fallen since peaking in 2007. However, without deeper cuts in global net greenhouse gas emissions and accelerated adaptation efforts, severe climate risks to the United States will continue to grow.”

The assessment finds that states, tribal authorities, and cities are taking advantage of new adaptation measures, including “nature-based solutions, such as restoring coastal wetlands and oyster reefs.” It also points to the growth of green infrastructure to tackle increased stormwater; efforts to manage vegetation to reduce wildfire risks; and the rise of urban heat plans, which leverage expanded tree canopies to reduce dangerous heat islands.

But they still conclude that even in a wealthy country like the U.S., “current adaptation efforts and investments are insufficient to reduce today’s climate-related risks and keep pace with future changes in the climate.”

Extreme weather events — longer heatwaves and droughts, worse floods and wildfires — have grown in number. In the 1980s, the U.S. experienced approximately 3 billion-dollar disasters per year. But over the past four years, that has skyrocketed to more than 22 billion-dollar events annually, and many of these events are highly costly. “Extreme events cost the U.S. close to $150 billion each year—a conservative estimate that does not account for loss of life, healthcare-related costs, or damages to ecosystem services.”

In this new era of increased climate impacts, landscape architects, planners, engineers, and architects are needed more than ever to envision new climate-resilient infrastructure that keep communities safe, and also pragmatic climate migration plans where this isn’t feasible.

Climate policymakers also see the need for new global goals for adaptation, an area where landscape architects can provide leadership and effective strategies.

For example, in China, 70 cities have joined the “Sponge City” movement led by landscape architect Kongjian Yu, FASLA, founder of Turenscape and the 2023 Cornelia Hahn Oberlander International Landscape Architecture Prize winner. The goal is that by 2030, 80 percent of these cities will absorb 70 percent of rainfall through green infrastructure approaches, reducing the impacts of sea level rise and flooding.

A range of adaptation targets, rooted in nature-based solutions, are needed to not only reduce damages from flooding and sea level rise, but also extreme heat, drought, and other climate health impacts.

Nature-based solutions are smart because they provide many additional benefits — increased biodiversity, greater carbon drawdown, improved health, and economic growth. At COP28, landscape architect delegates will press global leaders to increase investment in these solutions.

Close watchers of the climate negotiations expect to see progress at COP28 on developing new adaptation goals. These targets can help drive the creation of more accurate climate financing goals, and spur wealthy countries to donate more loss and damage funds to the people and communities already experiencing impacts.