Derry City and Strabane Council has announced a series of events to tackle environmental issues and action being taken locally to combat them.

Two pop up roadshows will take place in November highlighting the risk of severe weather such as flooding, storms, heatwaves, ice and snow with a range of practical advice on how to prepare. The roadshows will take place on Monday 08 November from 10am – 2pm in Foyleside Shopping Centre Derry and Asda Store in Strabane. Derry City and Strabane District Council officers and resilience specialists will be on hand to provide information on measures to protect people, homes and communities in the event of severe weather emergencies. Making homes more energy efficient will also be a focus, as well as the appropriate contacts to have to hand in an emergency situation, depending on the type of severe weather event and local impact. A full digital campaign will coincide with the roadshows to broaden the reach across the City and District.

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The Council will also be sharing its learnings on a wider stage next month, when the Mayor leads a delegation to the Glasgow Food and Climate Declaration Food Systems event taking place during the United Nations Climate Change Conference of the Parties (COP26). The event takes place on 06 November celebrating the launch of the Glasgow Food and Climate Declaration. The Council will showcase some of its recent initiatives promoting food sustainability, including the launch of the Sustainable Food Places network which is a growing collaboration between local food producers and manufacturers.

Council's Climate Programme Manager Cathy Burns will also have the opportunity to present some of Council's work regarding local Climate Action in a live online discussion on 11 November, involving Belfast City Council, NILGA and Climate NI. The event is part of the COP26 Green Zone which will be open to the public at the Glasgow Science Centre. In recent weeks Cathy has also been working on putting together a series of Climate Action case studies, which capture some of the amazing work going on across Derry and Strabane, including projects led by local communities, businesses, NGOs and Council. These will feature on the Carboncopy website, DAERA platforms and a special NI Climate Action Video being produced by NILGA.

Mayor of Derry City and Strabane District, Alderman Graham Warke, said: "November will be a busy month for us but I'm really looking forward to attending the COP26 conference and having the opportunity to find out more about the very latest developments in the Climate Action campaign, which will help us shape our approaches going forwards. We can't afford to stand still on this issue so it's reassuring to see so much activity locally and so much community support for change."