At our February 2022 Annual Meeting, the GCF Task Force signed a Memorandum of Partnership with the University of California’s AlianzaMX to help train the next generation of leaders in Mexico and California on sustainability, climate change, and natural resources management. Alianza MX is a systemwide initiative of the University of California (UC) that seeks to support the UC’s role as Mexico’s primary institutional research and scientific partner.
From April 19-20, 2023, AlianzaMX organized a gathering of academics and government officials from California and Mexico at the Casa de la Universidad de California in Mexico City for the California-Mexico 2030 Summit around the transition to a sustainable and climate-resilient binational economy. The GCF Task Force was honored to participate in this Summit both from the Secretariat side – with Project Director Jason Gray and Mexico Country Director Silvia Llamas – and through the incredible actions of several of our member jurisdictions, including California, Quintana Roo, and Yucatan. The full agenda of the Summit is available here: CA MX 2030 Summit Program (universityofcalifornia.edu).
Although tropical forests were not a specific agenda item for this Summit, multiple panelists discussed the importance of climate resiliency in the land, forest, and agriculture sectors, and there was a tremendous amount of research expertise between the UC and Mexico university participants that can support efforts within the GCF Task Force. In fact, developing academic research agendas to support governmental efforts to tackle these climate challenges was a big theme of the Summit.
For the final panel of the day, three of our member states were featured – California, Yucatan, and Quintana Roo – along with 7 other Mexican states. Each talked about challenges in decarbonizing the energy and transport sectors, the community efforts they are leading, and the need for more partnership.
We look forward to continuing to partner with AlianzaMX to develop a joint workplan that fosters student exchanges between UC students and universities in Mexico, including through internships on climate, forest, and governance topics; creates a longer-term research agenda that builds on the needs of GCF Task Force member states in Mexico; and supports civil servants and partners through universities in Mexico and the UC system on applied problem solving to reduce emissions, improve forest and other land-management governance, and create sustainable economic and environmental benefits for communities.