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GUIDELINE ON MAINSTREAMING CLIMATE RESPONSIVENESS AND RESILIENCE INTO URBAN PLANNING 15GUIDELINE ON MAINSTREAMING CLIMATE RESPONSIVENESS AND RESILIENCE INTO URBAN PLANNING 154.5.Engage internal and external stakeholders Climate change and its impacts are a cross-boundary concern and response requires coordination across spheres, scales, and planning mandates. It is difficult to get support in decision-making and planning processes in a multi-stakeholder and multi-sphere setting when dealing with long-term climate impacts which often have high levels of uncertainty. Crosssectoral, as well as intergovernmental planning alignment and coordination is needed to ensure CR&R on the city- and regional-level. Internal and external stakeholders and partners are identified (see Recommendations 2 and 3) and need to be continuously engaged and included to:%u2022 raise awareness, %u2022 communicate the mandate and sense of priority from high-level authority, %u2022 overcome issues of limited mandate,%u2022 share and validate the climate risk assessment and evidence, %u2022 involve stakeholders to prioritise risks and response measures, %u2022 identify documents that need to be revised to integrate adaptation measures, %u2022 identify resources to conduct the work, and %u2022 establish a baseline for future monitoring and evaluation.Bottom-up participatory approaches have shown to be effective in fostering networks and producing desired outcomes in the fields of climate change adaptation and mitigation, as well as disaster risk reduction. One example is the use of participatory media in collecting, reporting, analysing, and disseminating localised climate information, as well as to enable the active involvement of affected communities in climate change communication (Harris, 2014). Interdisciplinary and participatory approaches are useful for generating ideas and strategies, and allow for the inclusion of multiple perspectives (including those of marginalised groups), while bridging the gaps between experts, decision-makers, and stakeholders (Pulido-Velazquez, et al., 2022).4.6.Draw up a climate change response planA dedicated climate change response plan is required to serve as a guide for all other plans and instruments, by setting out the climate response and resilience agenda for the city. It is recommended that the city%u2019s adaptation and mitigation agenda be captured in this plan as there are many co-benefits that can be realised when adaptation and mitigation measures are considered together (see Box 1). The Climate Change Act (Act No. 22 of 2024) requires municipalities to develop a climate response plan, informed by a climate change needs and response assessment. Although this is a legislated requirement only for metropolitan and district municipalities, all local municipalities would benefit from having such a dedicated climate response plan. The purpose of such a climate response plan is to identify responses that will address the root causes of vulnerability, reduce exposure to protect investments from climate risks, contribute to mitigation efforts, and increase long-term resilience. The climate change responses set out in this plan, should be integrated into other sector plans (see Recommendation 8). For the responses to be implementable they must:%u2022 Be specific to a climate risk, a climate impact, a spatial area, and/or a sector,%u2022 Suggest a target or an indicator to measure progress, either quantitatively or qualitatively,