On Monday, 7 December 2015, a side event highlighting experiences and achievements of the compact of mayors; the world's largest coalition on local climate action was organized by Local Governments for Sustainability (ICLEI) and the United Cities and Local Governments (UCLG).

The Commonwealth Peoples Forum held in Malta on 23-26 November brought forward the views of civil society across a range of Commonwealth countries on building resilient societies. The Forum led to the Malta Declaration on Governance for Resilience featured below.

The Global Network for the Study of Human Rights and the Environment (GNHRE), a major network of international human rights scholars, has issued around the world in a Draft Declaration on Human Rights and Climate Change ("The Declaration") ahead of the Paris Climate Summit beginning on 30 November.

*** Deadline for submission of papers: 15 December 2015 ***

This special issue will focus on strategic knowledge-based development frontiers in employment, migration, health, food security and climate change, and cultural engagement. These global issues pose problems at every level, down to micro-districts. They are strategic because what happens will determine the kind of cities and regions in which we will live. They are on the frontier because they generate conflict or could lead to greater co-operation. And they are critical to knowledge-based development because we do not know how to solve them; indeed, we do not even know how to cope with them very well, unsolved.