3 Cities Awarded for Environmental Performance by ICLEI SA and GTZ
ICLEI SA through GTZ ASEM awarded three cities for their performance on environmental and sustainability issues under the Urban Environmental Accords on 13th March in Coimbatore at the International Workshop on Improved Urban Environment.
The Urban Environment Accords were proposed on the World Environment Day 2005 in San Francisco and signed by over 100 cities across the world. 16 cities in India also signed the accords for improving the urban environment. In 2008, ICLEI-South Asia through ASEM, India – GTZ (the German Technical Corporation) had undertaken the first ever review of the status of UEA implementation covering all 16 Indian cities. The urban environment accords (UEAs) look at implementing reforms/projects to achieve improvements at the city level in seven areas including energy, waste reduction, urban design, urban nature, transportation, environmental health and water.
At the workshop, the final results of the assessment were presented by ICLEI SA. Dr. Regina Dube from GTZ ASEM also presented on the opportunities of implementing urban projects by Municipal Corporations. The Municipal Corporation of
Ahmedabad received the first prize, Hyderabad the second and Bhopal the third as the top performing cities according to the review conducted last year. It was also suggested that this review be made an annual affair and all cities were encouraged to participate in this process.
In this context, ICLEI SA has also launched an initiative to document good practices in different cities along with the National Institute of Urban Affairs. All cities are invited to send in their good practices to iclei-southasia@iclei.org. For more information please contact Ashish Rao Ghorpade at ashish.rao-ghorpade@iclei.org
The Urban Environment Accords were proposed on the World Environment Day 2005 in San Francisco and signed by over 100 cities across the world. 16 cities in India also signed the accords for improving the urban environment. In 2008, ICLEI-South Asia through ASEM, India – GTZ (the German Technical Corporation) had undertaken the first ever review of the status of UEA implementation covering all 16 Indian cities. The urban environment accords (UEAs) look at implementing reforms/projects to achieve improvements at the city level in seven areas including energy, waste reduction, urban design, urban nature, transportation, environmental health and water.At the workshop, the final results of the assessment were presented by ICLEI SA. Dr. Regina Dube from GTZ ASEM also presented on the opportunities of implementing urban projects by Municipal Corporations. The Municipal Corporation of Ahmedabad received the first prize, Hyderabad the second and Bhopal the third as the top performing cities according to the review conducted last year. It was also suggested that this review be made an annual affair and all cities were encouraged to participate in this process.In this context, ICLEI SA has also launched an initiative to document good practices in different cities along with the National Institute of Urban Affairs. All cities are invited to send in their good practices to iclei-southasia@iclei.org. For more information please contact Ashish Rao Ghorpade at ashish.rao-ghorpade@iclei.org
ICLEI-SA carried out the first review of implementation of Urban Environmental Accords in Indian Cities
ICLEI-SA carried out the first review of implementation of Urban Environmental Accords in Indian Cities. 16 Indian cities along with 99 other international cities had given commitment to implement the accords by signing a joint agreement on 5th June 2005 at San Francisco, USA with other participating mayors from various countries. The cities have been analysed for work done under the aspects covered under Urban Environmental Accords by a questionnaire filled out by the municipal corporations of the signatory cities. On the basis of the analysis of the questionnaire, six cities were selected who were at the top 5 positions according to the level of implementation of the accords. Site visits were conducted to these cities for detailed information collection regarding all the activities undertaken and information supplied in the questionnaire by the municipal corporations.
On the basis of analysis with the help of questionnaire survey and site visit information collection, three cities have been identified as the best performing cities under the Urban Environmental Accords. In this study, there has been an analysis of 29 actions taken by the cities, and it has been found that out of those 29 actions, Ahmedabad, Hyderabad and Bhopal are the best performing cities. Out of the 29 actions assessed, Ahmedabad has 20 actions which are well implemented, 6 which are poorly implemented and 2 which are in medium state of implementation. Hyderabad has 18 actions which are well implemented, 6 which are poorly implemented and 3 which are in medium state of implementation. Bhopal has 17 actions which are well implemented, 6 which are poorly implemented and 5 which are in medium state of implementation. Since it was envisaged in the Urban Environmental Accords that each aspect with three actions will be implemented over a period of 7 years, so that a total of 21 actions are spread out over this entire period, all the cities still have opportunities to improve their status of implementation of the actions and fulfill their global commitments.
On the basis of analysis with the help of questionnaire survey and site visit information collection, three cities have been identified as the best performing cities under the Urban Environmental Accords. In this study, there has been an analysis of 29 actions taken by the cities, and it has been found that out of those 29 actions, Ahmedabad, Hyderabad and Bhopal are the best performing cities. Out of the 29 actions assessed, Ahmedabad has 20 actions which are well implemented, 6 which are poorly implemented and 2 which are in medium state of implementation. Hyderabad has 18 actions which are well implemented, 6 which are poorly implemented and 3 which are in medium state of implementation. Bhopal has 17 actions which are well implemented, 6 which are poorly implemented and 5 which are in medium state of implementation. Since it was envisaged in the Urban Environmental Accords that each aspect with three actions will be implemented over a period of 7 years, so that a total of 21 actions are spread out over this entire period, all the cities still have opportunities to improve their status of implementation of the actions and fulfill their global commitments.
Site visits for Urban Environmental Accords
The cities have been analysed for work done under the aspects covered under Urban Environmental Accords by a questionnaire filled out by the municipal corporations of the signatory cities. Out of the 16 cities, who were signatories, 14 cities have responded to it and have been analysed. All cities have been graded according to the implementation of the Urban Environmental Accords as reported in the questionnaire survey. According to the level of implementation, the cities have been colour coded into red showing low or poor level of implementation, orange showing medium level of implementation, and green showing good or high level of implementation. The initial analysis showed that the cities of Ahmedabad, Hyderabad, Gwalior, Bhopal, Bhilai, and Kota were in the top 5 places among the 14 cities. In order to verify their actions on ground before coming to any conclusion regarding the environmental consciousness of the municipal corporation, a visit to the cities who have reported the best activities was considered essential for the study.
As such site visits were organised to each of the high scoring cities by the project team over a period of three weeks. visit has been conducted for six cities of Ahmedabad, Hyderabad, Gwalior, Bhopal, Bhilai, and Kota. During the visit, meetings were conducted with the Mayors and the Municipal Commissioners of the cities as well as with the relevant officials in the municipal corporation who are in charge of the various environmental aspects of the Urban Environmental Accords.
Detailed information was collected on the activities undertaken and information supplied in the questionnaire by the municipal corporations. The cities have been analysed for actions taken since 2005.
As such site visits were organised to each of the high scoring cities by the project team over a period of three weeks. visit has been conducted for six cities of Ahmedabad, Hyderabad, Gwalior, Bhopal, Bhilai, and Kota. During the visit, meetings were conducted with the Mayors and the Municipal Commissioners of the cities as well as with the relevant officials in the municipal corporation who are in charge of the various environmental aspects of the Urban Environmental Accords.
Detailed information was collected on the activities undertaken and information supplied in the questionnaire by the municipal corporations. The cities have been analysed for actions taken since 2005.
Cities | Green Points | Red Points | Yellow Points |
Jammu, Jammu and Kashmir | 1 | 16 | 1 |
Darbhanga, Bihar | 2 | 16 | 4 |
Mysore, Karnataka | 8 | 11 | 5 |
Calicut, Kerala | 8 | 11 | 5 |
Aligarh, Uttar Pradesh | 9 | 7 | 6 |
Delhi, Delhi | 10 | 10 | 1 |
Jamnagar, Gujarat | 10 | 12 | 2 |
Lucknow, Uttar Pradesh | 11 | 11 | 4 |
Kota, Rajasthan | 12 | 16 | 1 |
Bhilai, Chattisgrah | 15 | 11 | 3 |
Gwalior, Madhya Pradesh | 15 | 10 | 4 |
Bhopal, Madhya Pradesh | 17 | 6 | 5 |
Hyderabad, Andhra Pradesh | 18 | 6 | 3 |
Ahmedabad, Gujarat | 20 | 6 | 2 |
Questionnaire Survey for Urban Environmental Accords
ICLEI South Asia prepared a questionnaire to get the information from the cities on actions taken under the Urban Environmental Accords issues in last two years. The questionnaire was sent to all the cities in both English and Hindi and responses collected from them. Out of the 16 cities that were sent the questionnaires, 14 cities have responded and sent back the filled up questionnaires. Mumbai and Muzaffarpur are the two cities who have not responded.
The cities have been analysed on the basis of their activities taken on seven environmental aspects:
These aspects have been analysed through a set of questions which have been answered by the cities themselves. According to the analysis, it is seen that the cities of Ahmedabad, Bhopal, Gwalior, Hyderabad, Bhilai and Kota have performed well in implementing actions as outlined in the Urban Environmental Accords.
The cities have been analysed on the basis of their activities taken on seven environmental aspects:
- Energy
- Waste
- Urban Design
- Urban Nature
- Transport
- Environmental Health
- Water
These aspects have been analysed through a set of questions which have been answered by the cities themselves. According to the analysis, it is seen that the cities of Ahmedabad, Bhopal, Gwalior, Hyderabad, Bhilai and Kota have performed well in implementing actions as outlined in the Urban Environmental Accords.
