ICLEI UPDATE – AUGUST/SEPTEMBER 2008

The Building Resilient Indonesian Cities project team recently visited five major cities in Indonesia to talk with city representatives about how climate change is affecting their environments and communities.

Indonesia has 80,000 kilometres of coastline across its 17,000 islands, many of which are low lying.

Here, climate change is already happening. With 24 small islands now submerged, Indonesia could lose up to 2000 islands by 2030.

The five cities visited, Bandung, Bogor, Makassar, Palembang and Surabaya, are grappling with changing rainfall patterns and more frequent severe flooding.

These issues, along with increasingly stormy seas, are impacting upon Indonesia’s large fishing and farming communities. City water supply systems are overwhelmed and worsened by population pressures, unplanned development, denuding of water catchments and loss of green space.

There was a great turnout at ICLEI Oceania's Recognition Breakfast held during the Western Australian Local Government Association (WALGA) Local Government Convention on 31 July 2008.

Over 80 people attended the event representing a range of councils and stakeholders from across Western Australia.

Kim Taylor, Director General of the Department of Water, provided the keynote speech on behalf of the Hon. John Kobelke MLA, Minister for Water Resources.

Other speakers included Cr Bill Mitchell, President of WALGA; Mayor Paddi Creevey, City of Mandurah; and Dr Shane Silcox, CEO of the City of Melville.

Twenty-one councils were awarded at the event for their achievements in the Cities for Climate Protection Australia program and the Water Campaign™.

For event highlights visit the ICLEI Oceania events webpages.

Environment Minister Peter Garrett has announced that Perth is the latest Solar City.

“I am delighted to welcome Perth on board in this $94 million program. It makes an exciting final addition to the program and further expands the types of trials for households and businesses that these cities are all about – providing practical research into energy efficiency,” Mr Garrett said.


“More than 6000 homes and businesses are expected to take part in the Solar City trial and will receive access to low flow shower heads, energy efficient lighting, insulation, home energy assessments, smart meters and discounted solar panels and hot water systems.”

The project, to be delivered in partnership with local councils, industry and the Government of Western Australia, is expected to deliver carbon pollution reductions of more than 15,000 tonnes.

The six other Solar Cities are Central Victoria, Adelaide, Blacktown, Townsville, Alice Springs and Coburg.

See the Australian Government’s Solar Cities website for more information about the program.