Review 2021
23 to 24 March: Urban Forestry Days 2021
The European Forest Institute (EFI), the European Forum on Urban Forestry (EFUF) and the Horizon 2020 CLEARING HOUSE project invited to two days of integrated activities on urban forestry.
Day one was themed on integrated urban forest management with a focus on the ‘sustainable transition of cities’ and ‘urban forestry and the pillars of sustainability’. In addition to keynote speakers, ‘a tour of management models’ with leading practitioners covered different European bioregions and beyond. You could also attend a ‘virtual fieldtrip’ with ‘live stream Q&A’ from the Kottenforst, a peri-urban forest near Bonn. Day two was themed on urban forests and health infrastructure. Keynote speakers outlined what medical science is telling us about forests as health infrastructure followed by a thematic workshop on ‘forests and urban greenspaces in pandemic times’.
25 to 26 March: SDG Global Festival of Action
Virtual conference
Let’s #TURNITAROUND for the people and for the planet
Hosted by the UNSDG Action Campaign
The 2021 virtual edition mobilized advocates, campaigners and change-makers, inspire leaders across sectors to “do things differently”, and connected SDG actors from across the world.
ICLEI Daring Cities
The Bonn Global Forum builds on the 10 years of experience gained at the ICLEI Resilient Cities Conference and repositions it in terms of content. The aim is to embed the topic of resilience more strongly in the overall context of climate protection and adaptation and to take account of current developments at the municipal level (including resolutions on climate emergency and climate neutrality). Furthermore, cooperative measures involving various levels of government are to be highlighted and the connections to related topics (e.g. climate financing) and sectors (e.g. science) are to be more strongly emphasized and linked more closely with the organizations based in Bonn (UN, science).
The conference is organized by the city network ICLEI with the support of the City of Bonn. Amongst other measures, the City of Bonn supports the conference through public relations activities, the offer of specialist excursions and networking events for conference participants.
14 to 16 June: 15th German Federal Conference on Municipal Development Policy
Hosted by Servicestelle Kommunen in der Einen Welt SKEW / Engagement Global (WCCB)
For more than three decades, the German Federal Conference on Municipal Development Policy has offered representatives from municipalities, the federal government, the states and civil society a forum for exchange and networking.
The 15th Buko from June 14-16, 2021, looked back on 20 years of development policy experience and develop joint perspectives for the future.
10 to 11 November: Bonn Symposium UN Campus Bonn
This Bonn Symposium, organized by the Development and Peace Foundation (sef), took a look at the new global nature protection treaty currently negotiated by the UN Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD). Its goal: to protect biodiversity and ecosystems as a central building block for achieving the 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).
Review 2020
Global Landscapes Forum
The GLF hosted one of the world’s first global digital conferences on integrated land use from its new digital broadcasting center in Bonn, Germany, marking a new era for global conversation without a carbon footprint. Experience the future of conferences and connect, share, learn and act through this three-day GLF event featuring inspirational talks, interactive sessions and idea exchange toward building more sustainable food systems.
Conference Highlights 2019
17 to 18 June 2019: Bonn Climate Change Conference
The annual meeting of the subsidiary bodies of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change was expected to bring some 3,000 delegates to Bonn in 2019. The conference served to prepare the 25th Conference of the Parties to the Climate Change Convention in Chile (COP25). Mayor Ashok Sridharan, also in his role as President of the international network of ICLEI - Local Governments for Sustainability, spoke at various agenda items of the conference. In cooperation with ICLEI, there were a thematic forum addressing the effects of climate change in cities as predicted by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC).
24 to 27 October 2019: IPC General Assembly
The International Paralympic Committee (IPC) celebrated its 30th anniversary in 2019 and the 20th anniversary of its establishment in Bonn. On this occasion, the IPC General Assembly and Board Meeting took place in Bonn from 24 to 27 October 2019 with around 400 participants from all over the world, including high-ranking representatives of the IPC member associations and the associated international federations.
The General Assembly of the IPC takes place every two years and has the function of a general meeting.
World Climate Conference 2017
The world visited Bonn: Around 22,000 people from more than 190 countries took part in the 23rd World Climate Conference (COP 23) from 6 to 17 November 2017. The City of Bonn did not only support the World Climate Secretariat in the organizational set-up of the conference and the necessary infrastructure in cooperation with the Federal Government and the State of North Rhine-Westphalia, but also made a large number of contributions of its own.
Together with the state of NRW, a Climate Summit of Cities and Regions took place with more than 1,000 participants. Its declaration supports the resolutions of COP 23 to initiate the next steps for climate protection before 2020 and calls for ambitious joint action.
The City of Bonn also accompanied the wide-ranging programme of events surrounding the World Climate Summit. There were cultural projects, art installations, lectures, workshops, exhibitions, city tours and many other events throughout the city.
30th Anniversary of the Right Livelihood Award in 2010
In September 2010, around 80 winners of the "Alternative Nobel Prize" met in Bonn. They discussed analyses and approaches to solutions relating to the current challenges of sustainable development under the main theme "Continuing as before? Changing course into the future".
The occasion was the 30th anniversary of the Right Livelihood Award (RLA), the "Alternative Nobel Prize", founded in 1980 by Jakob von Uexküll. The prize draws attention to people who have displayed an extraordinary commitment and have presented courageous solutions for problems of our time.
As of May 2014, the Global Secretariat of the Right Livelihood College (RLC) is located at the Center for Development Research at the University of Bonn. Since then, courses with RLA laureates have been held on a regular basis.
UN Decade of Education for Sustainable Development 2009 and 2014
The UN Decade of Education for Sustainable Development set an encouraging course in Bonn. The mid-term conference of 2009 with its forward-looking Bonn Declaration and its call for a reorientation of education systems already took place in Bonn. The World Conference was organized by about 750 participants, 50 of them at ministerial level, UNESCO and the Federal Ministry of Education and Research in cooperation with the German Commission for UNESCO.
A further national conference with around 500 participants from politics and civil society at the end of the Decade took stock and presented perspectives for German implementation in a joint declaration. The Federal Ministry of Education and Research and the German UNESCO Commission hosted this conference in Bonn in September 2014.
The conference participants adopted a joint final document on the UN Decade, the "Bonn Declaration 2014".
The UNESCO World Heritage Commission also met in Bonn in the summer of 2015.
UN Biodiversity Conference 2008
In May 2008, the 9th Conference of the Parties to the Convention on Biological Diversity and the Meeting of the Parties to the Cartagena Protocol on Biosafety took place in Bonn. Within three weeks, some 5,000 delegates came to the conference grounds around the Hotel Maritim and the WorldCCBonn. The main topics were the preservation of the diversity of life, the sustainable use of natural resources and more equitable access to and use of natural resources.
As the host city, Bonn was committed to the success of this conference in many ways - from support in traffic planning and logistics to city marketing and the hotel industry to protocol receptions and its own specialist contributions.
Thus 100 mayors from all over the world adopted a "Bonn Call for Action" within the framework of the mayor summit "Local Action for Biodiversity". It stood for self-commitment to action and cooperation, but also for the call for a global partnership between the local level, regions, national governments, science and civil society. This subsequently led both to a decision at the Conference of the Parties and to the establishment of a global alliance of action, which later led to an adopted action plan.
The Mayors' Conference was organized jointly by the City of Bonn, the city network "ICLEI" and the Service Agency Communities in One World (today: Engagement Global). The venue was the historic auditorium at the Federal Foreign Office.