Ladies and Gentlemen, welcome to Kaohsiung! Thank you for attending the “2015 ICEO&SI and ICLEI Resilience Forum”, hosted by Taiwan Group on Earth Observations, National Kaohsiung Marine University and ICLEI Kaohsiung Capacity Center.

    ICLEI is the world's leading association of cities and local governments dedicated to sustainable development, which was founded in 1990 by 200 local governments from 43 countries who convened for the first World Congress of Local Governments for a Sustainable Future at the United Nations headquarters in New York. Nowadays it is a powerful movement of more than 1,200 cities, towns and metropolises in 86 countries. It impacts over 20% of the world's urban population. A total of eleven cities in Taiwan have joined ICLEI, which currently cover more than 80% of population.

    Located in the south of Taiwan Island, Kaohsiung has been a longtime supporter in ICLEI's work in sustainable development. The City has a long history of heavy industry, and once the amount of carbon emission was twice higher than the Island's average. Given the urgency and severity of global warming, we have devoted to adopt a variety of carbon-reduction and adaptation actions in response to strengthen the city's resilience capabilities. The efforts had been appreciated and then ICLEI Kaohsiung Capacity Center (ICLEI KCC) was established in 2012, which is the only ICLEI-recognized capacity center except the one in the ICLEI headquarter.

    The initiatives of ICLEI are fully consistent with the themes of this event, which include making cities sustainable,​ low carbon, resilient, biodiverse, resource-efficient, healthy and happy, with a green economy and smart infrastructure. It's an honor to host this event and to forge greater connections, exchange, and engagement in the theme of making city resilient among the experts, academia and local government officials. Kaohsiung welcomes you with warm hospitality.

Chair of ICLEI Kaohsiung Capacity Center/ Mayor of Kaohsiung City