International Programs

In addition to our role in Australia and New Zealand, ICLEI Oceania is involved in a number of international programs, helping cities in the Asian region to become more resilient to the impacts of the changing climate.  Oceania works closely with the South Asia and South-East Asia ICLEI offices, providing opportunities to develop and exchange the latest approaches developed in the three regions.  Some current initiatives include:

Training Packages and Presentations

An important part of Oceania’s role has been outreach projects in the Asian region.  We have been working in Indonesia and other parts of the region, in partnership with our Manila and Delhi office, for nearly 5 years now and this work is gaining international recognition, particularly around innovative approaches to help cities prepare for climate change.  In 2012 Oceania developed and delivered training packages on climate change adaptation and mitigation to GIZ personnel in Bonn, to the Jeju Environmental Institute in Jeju, and to the Asia Pacific Adaptation Forum in Manila.

This year Steve Gawler has also been a keynote speaker at a number of international events including an OECD forum in Paris on financing urban adaptation, the UCLG biennial congress in Jakarta, and the Adaptation Partnership forum in Bangkok.

GIZ Policy Advice for Climate Change (PAKLIM)

ICLEI Oceania was engaged by GIZ in 2009-10 to design a methodology which Indonesian cities can follow to develop an Integrated Climate Change Strategy – a plan which helps them move to a low carbon economy while also adapting to the impacts of climate change.  ICLEI then won a further contract to form a pool of international and national experts to work with GIZ to support cities through the PAKLIM process.  In 2012 the ICLEI pool has assisted two cities in Java – Semarang and Blitar – to develop their integrated strategies.  This role will expand in 2013 and beyond to support more cities and regencies.

ACCCRN

ICLEI Oceania has been a partner to the ACCCRN program since 2008 when we were engaged to conduct a scoping study of cities and climate change in Indonesia.  ICLEI was then contracted to develop a streamlined version of the original ACCCRN methodology and to pilot this in several cities in India.  Since mid-2011 ICLEI South-Asia, supported by Oceania, has worked with Shimla, Bhubaneswar and Mysore to test the “ICLEI-ACCCRN” process.  Oceania has now been awarded a grant of $1.75 million USD to roll out this process in India, Indonesia, Bangladesh and the Philippines.  This work will be done via sub-grants to our South Asia and South-East Asia offices for India, Bangladesh and the Philippines, while Oceania will have direct responsibility for the Indonesian program.

A workshop was held in Delhi in early November to review the adaptation planning process and finalize the “toolkit”. This toolkit will then be adapted and translated for use in Bangladesh, Indonesia and the Philippines.  The workshop was conducted by the ICLEI South Asia adaptation office and Steve Gawler, supported by ACCCRN partners Arup International Development, TARU and Verulam.  Three cities are being selected in each country for the first phase of the rollout. 

Indonesian Project Office

Coinciding with Oceania’s new ACCCRN grant, ICLEI South-East Asia has now secured funding from the European Union and UN Habitat to work with several cities in Indonesia on a Low Emissions Development Strategy (LEDS) program.  So for the first time there is sufficient funding, workload and momentum to establish an ICLEI Project Office in Jakarta to serve the Indonesian archipelago. 

Working collaboratively between the two ICLEI offices we have now finalized a hosting agreement with the Indonesian cities association APEKSI.  The ICLEI office will be co-located with APEKSI and one APEKSI officer has been seconded to ICLEI.  A Team Leader has now been appointed and several project officers will be recruited in the next two months to support the ACCCRN and LEDS programs. 

Partnership with Indonesian Cities Association

ICLEI Oceania and the Indonesian Association of Municipalities APEKSI signed a Memorandum of Understanding in 2009.  Since this time ICLEI has supported APEKSI to establish a “climate alliance” of service providers working on climate change initiatives in Indonesia, and a Mayors Climate Network which provides policy advice to the national association.

Rockefeller Foundation Asian Cities Climate Change Resilience Network (ACCCRN)

ICLEI Oceania has been a partner in this project since 2008.  ACCCRN has been working with ten cities from India, Indonesia, Thailand and Vietnam to assist them to develop Climate Resilience Strategies and to undertake intervention projects to strengthen their climate resilience.  ICLEI is now analyzing the processes and outcomes developed with these pilot cities, to develop a streamlined step-by-step climate planning guide for Asian cities.  The guide is currently being trialled in three new Indian cities, in partnership with our South Asia Office, and will then be made available widely throughout the region, including Australia and New Zealand.

GIZ Policy Advice for Climate Change (PAKLIM)

Unlike the ACCCRN program which focuses on helping cities adapt to the changing climate, the PAKLIM program has a dual focus – to help cities prepare for and adapt to the changing climate, and to support cities to measure and reduce their greenhouse gas emissions.  The PAKLIM processes results in an Integrated Climate Action (ICA) plan, linking adaptation and mitigation.  ICLEI Oceania was initially engaged to develop the integrated planning process, drawing on experiences from our successful Cities for Climate Protection (CCP) and Adaptive and Resilient Communities (ARC) programs.  ICLEI has now been contracted to provide ongoing technical support as the PAKLIM program is rolled out to cities (kota) and regencies (kabupaten) in Indonesia.

United Nations International Strategy for Disaster Reduction (UNISDR)

A Memorandum of Understanding between ICLEI and UNISDR was signed in late 2010.  The main thrust of the MOU is to provide a vehicle for merging ICLEI’s extensive experience in preparing cities for climate change with ISDR’s experience in helping cities reduce their disaster risks.  ISDR launched a campaign in 2010 “My City is Getting Ready”, which provides cities with a checklist of Ten Essentials for increasing a city’s disaster readiness.  An online self assessment tool has now been developed for cities to document and report on their progress against the Ten Essentials.  ICLEI has been engaged by ISDR to trial the self assessment tool with ten cities in Asia and Africa.  ICLEI Oceania is providing the project management and technical support for this trial, which will culminate in a report to the United Nations on opportunities to strengthen the relationship between the two agencies and to provide further support to cities to be prepared for all types of disasters – both climate related and caused by other phenomena.