![](https://assets.weforum.org/article/image/PzcERqx2sDMW_tHICWHkDr_uE4J3B-RxcRL8qs6-34A.jpg)
How leaning on nature can beat urban heat
By 2070, 3.5 billion people will be heavily affected by extreme heat, 1.6 billion of whom will live in urban areas. How can nature help reduce the effects of heat?
Mauricio Rodas was the Mayor of Quito, Ecuador (2014-2019). Currently, he is a Visiting Scholar at the University of Pennsylvania, where he lectures and coordinates the “Cities Climate-Resilient Infrastructure Financing Initiative”; Senior Fellow at the Adrienne Arsht-Rockefeller Foundation Resilience Center at the Atlantic Council, leading the “City Champions for Heat Action” initiative; and Co-chair of the World Economic Forum’s Global Commission on BiodiverCities by 2030. Rodas is also a member of the United Nations’ Committee of Experts on Public Administration; Distinguished Fellow on Global Cities at the Chicago Council on Global Affairs; and member of the Advisory Committee of the Global Parliament of Mayors. He is a partner of Meridio Consulting, an urban policy and city diplomacy consultancy firm, working with clients around the world. Rodas was a City Diplomacy and Climate Change Advisor for the 2020 Urban 20 Riyadh’s Chairmanship. In 2019, he was named one of the 100 Worlds’ Most Influential People on Climate Action by Apolitical; he also received the University of Pennsylvania’s World Urban Leadership Award. He is a former Young Global Leader and member of the Global Future Council on Cities and Urbanization of the World Economic Forum. During his Mayoral term in Quito, Rodas hosted the UN’s Conference on Urban Sustainable Development – Habitat III (2016), and had an active leadership role in the main city networks: two terms as world Co-President of UCLG, Vice-chair of C40 Cities Climate Leadership Group, and member of the global boards of ICLEI and the Global Covenant of Mayors for Climate and Energy. In 2013 he ran for president of Ecuador. In 2007, he founded and served as the Executive Director of Ethos Public Policy Lab, a think tank based in Mexico. Mauricio Rodas is a JD from Universidad Católica de Quito, and holds two master’s degrees in Government Administration and Political Science from the University of Pennsylvania (Fulbright Scholar).
https://www.linkedin.com/in/mauricio-rodas-8a41901aa/
By 2070, 3.5 billion people will be heavily affected by extreme heat, 1.6 billion of whom will live in urban areas. How can nature help reduce the effects of heat?
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