April 25, 2025

As ICLEI South Asia completes 20 years of work in advancing sustainable urban development in the region, it has announced the launch of its annual flagship convention – the ‘ARISE Cities Forum’. ARISE stands for Adaptive, Resilient, Innovative and Sustainable and Equitable (ARISE) development in cities.  

“We have completed 20 years in the region, working closely with over 100 cities and governments across the Asia Pacific. It was important for us to build a forum that cohesively stitches together the work and voices of local governments in the Asia Pacific region and enables dialogue, innovation, and collaboration across stakeholders in the Global South,” said Mr. Emani Kumar, Deputy Secretary General, ICLEI and Executive Director, ICLEI South Asia. 

This premier urban resilience flagship forum of local governments in the South Asia region will have India at its epicenter. Themed ‘2025: From Bharat to Belem’ in its first edition, it will take place in New Delhi on October 8 and 9, 2025. It will explore the dimensions of sustainable urbanisation, climate and energy, biodiversity, and equity, viewed through the lens of India, across the Asia Pacific and extending to the cities of the Global South.

Supported by national and international governments, multilateral agencies, and like-minded partners, the two-day flagship event will see over 200 dignitaries, and delegates – including Ministers, Mayors, Commissioners, thought leaders, young adults, urban experts and practitioners and many other stakeholders from cities of the Asia Pacific region and the Global South – converge for deliberating on issues of the urban commons. 

There will be a central plenary, followed by several breakout sessions that will be in the form of panel discussions, spotlights, roundtable discussions and café-style interactions which will see equal gender and youth representation. 

The ‘2025 Bharat-Belem Urban Climate Declaration’, which will be declared by Mayors and delegates based on the outcome of the deliberations at the end of the two days, will be a collaborative document – the voice of the Global South’s urban stakeholders –  that will be released and handed over to the COP 30 presidency at Belem. 

The forum promises two transformative days of dialogue, innovation, and collaboration with governments, thought leaders, urban practitioners and stakeholders from the Asia Pacific at the premier urban resilience forum of the year.