ARISE Cities Forum opens in New Delhi to frame a Delhi Declaration for presentation at COP31 in Antalya
27 October 2026
The ARISE Cities Forum 2026 opened at the India Habitat Centre, New Delhi, with the theme 'From Bharat to Antalya - Commit. Implement. Deliver'. It is organised by ICLEI South Asia with the National Institute of Urban Affairs and supported by the Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs, and was opened by Minister of State Shri Tokhan Sahu. The two-day forum brings together over 200 delegates from more than 50 cities in over 18 countries of the Global South, with three technical plenaries and fourteen technical sessions. Its discussions feed into the Delhi Declaration on Local Action for Global Climate Goals 2026, which will be adopted at the close and presented at COP31 in Antalya, Turkiye, where COP31 Climate Champion Samed Agirbas will receive it. The forum also saw the launch of the Centre for Sustainable Urban Mobility and Integrated Transportation, and mayors of Kochi, Fuvahmulah, Karjanha and Samdrup Jongkhar took part.
In plain words
NIUA National Institute of Urban Affairs — An urban research and capacity-building institute under the Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs.
ICLEI Local Governments for Sustainability — A global network of cities and local governments working on sustainability; its South Asia secretariat is in New Delhi.