CEO Snapshots

Martin was a founding member of the Oceania Regional Secretariat of ICLEI - Local Governments for Sustainability in 1998 and has been responsible for providing political support to ICLEI campaigns and programs and high-level briefings to councils and management.

His role as CEO and Regional Director is to seek partnership opportunities to enable ICLEI to continue to support its Members and provide leadership across the sector for sustainable local communities.

Contact: martin.brennan@iclei.org or +61419355820

From the CEO Desk

We acknowledge our Host Agreement with the City of Melbourne. Our role in assisting in the delivery of key events and contribution to special projects is mutually beneficial. For example we partnered with the City of Melbourne in the C40 Sustainable Communities Workshop followed by a Local Government Forum.

Our hosting of the Thriving Neighbourhoods Conference in October 2013 will again be a pivotal event in our calendar next year as we build the local government constituency for thriving neighbourhoods with state based forums and the momentum for us to collaborate with planners, architects, developers, academia plus state and federal governments.

The aim is to create thriving neighbourhoods that have the resilience needed to adapt creatively to unexpected challenges such as climate change, population change, rapid technological change, social upheaval and economic crises.

We are currently putting in place high-level design workshops in many capital cities through 2013 in Australia and New Zealand to further develop the thriving neighbourhoods framework and process. Wayne Wescott who is developing the framework can be contacted for further information at wayne@w-wglobal.com

The learning that ICLEI can transfer across a region and around the worldwide ensures that we are able to act on words of the UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon spoken at the Rio+20 Global Town Hall, ‘The road to sustainability runs through the worlds’ towns and cities’.

I wish you well and look forward to 2013 when we will again seek collaborative approaches to our work both here and around the world.

2012 in Review

The election of our 5 Regional Executive Committee members will ensure that our work connects with local councils across this region. The ICLEI Oceania Board of Directors, with Chair, Bernie Cotter, Cr Peter Matic (City of Brisbane) and John Doull (former Councillor with the City of Greater Geelong) oversees the legal and financial obligations of the Company. Together with the RexCom we are provided with a diverse base of support that reflects the diversity that is local government.

We are fortunate to hold the global portfolios of Biodiversity (Mayor Troy Pickard and Water and Sanitation (Cr Cathy Oke). This provides us with an opportunity to share and receive knowledge on the work of our towns and cities around the world. The Global Executive Committee comprises a representative from each of the 9 regions together with key portfolio holders including both Mayor Pickard and Cr Oke. The International BiodiverCities Conference to be held in the City of Joondalup from 8 – 11 September with the theme ‘The nature of things to come’, will be an event that our region will benefit and we will be working to ensure that all Members and the wider local government sector receives information on the program and will therefore be encouraged to attend.

The second conference of the Thriving Neighbourhood Series, an initiative and hosted by ICLEI Oceania, was held at the Melbourne Convention in November. The Conference provided an opportunity for over 250 delegates, 3 keynote speakers - Fumi Masuda, Director Eco Design Tokyo, Pooran Desai, One Planet Living and Richard Florida, author the ‘The Rise or the Creative Class Revisited’ plus some 50 panelists to provide a multi- disciplinary and sectoral experience of the neighbourhood. If countries are the sum of cities then neighbourhoods are the building blocks to sustainable cities and countries!

The WA Minister for Water, Bill Marmion attended the ICLEI Recognition and Briefing Breakfast held at the WALGA Conference in August. Mayor Troy Pickard, President WALGA welcomed delegates. The event recognised those councils who had attained a milestone in their water consumption and quality goals and who had meet the requirements for Waterwise Council status. The 42 participating councils in the Water Campaign covers 80% of Western Australia’s population.

A Discussion Paper ‘Local Action for a Low Carbon Future’ released in June 2012 and prepared by the Australian Centre of Excellence for Local Government (ACELG) and the Council of Capital City Lord Mayors (CCCLM) identifies ways for the Federal Government to work more closely with local government in bringing about Australia’s move to a low carbon future. ICLEI Oceania as a co-author of the paper believes that the paper provides both a timely and critical input into the important role that local government has and continues to play in local climate action.

A highlight for ICLEI globally was the Triennial World Congress held in Belo Horizonte, Brazil followed by the Global Town Hall held at the Rio+20 Conference. The World Congress was attended by around 1200 Members and interested local government representatives and was a window into the diversity and richness of activities undertaken by councils and their communities around the world. Presentations by Oceania delegates from Gold Coast, Mandurah the ACT Government, together with representatives from ALGA and ACELG enabled us to present our work and also to learn from others.

The Global Town Hall was certainly a highlight for local governments to present their stories. The attendance of the UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon along with many country officials reflected both the interest and the understanding of the important role that towns and cities have and will play in the future of the planet. ‘The country is the sum of its towns and cities’, proclaimed the UN Secretary General in his call for us to keep on keeping on!

And finally, the Water Campaign is celebrating ‘A Decade of Action’. The publication ‘A Decade of Action’ is now available on line and identifies the achievements of our councils, host cities and the funders of the Campaign. However more importantly the publication identifies the priorities for the next generation of the Water Campaign with an emphasis on water as a resource. The co-benefits of connecting water to broader sustainability outcomes encompassing liveability, health, well being, productivity and resilience sees water as an enabler. As a result we will be conducting in 2013 a series of High Level Design Forums in each state to identify pathways to thriving neighbourhoods based on a framework and assessment tool being developed in collaboration with City West Water.

The year ahead will have many challenges but the opportunities are there if we as an association of committed Members can develop collaborative approaches with the wider LG sector, other spheres of government together with the private sector, community, the professions and academia and harness the expertise, skills and experience to influence and support thriving neighbourhoods.

TN Conversations

: Lis Sturrock, Greg Hales and Martin Brennan share time at the Booth.

The TN Conference series hosted by ICLEI Oceania will be announcing shortly a series of TN Conversations to take place around Australia in all States. Much information was shared at the TN Conference held in Melbourne 12 - 14 November. Planning is underway to conduct conversations to disseminate this information and to gather additional information on how we can create thriving and resilient neighbourhoods at the 2013 Conference.

Seoul, Korea ICLEI Asia Days

: Dr Justin Lee, Ambassador Climate Change

: Mayor Park welcomes delegates

: ICLEI Korea Office

ICLEI meetings taking place in Seoul have included the Global Executive Committee, World Mayors Council on Climate Change and the World Mayors Dialogue plus the opening of the ICLEI East Asia (Seoul) and ICLEI Korea (Suwon) offices. Attending the Mayors Dialogue was the Ambassador for Climate Change, Dr Justin Lee, Australian Government.

Viet Nam Vox Pops

Electric scooters Viet Nam style Ho Chi Minh University students are innovating a new electric scooter, wheelchair and solar vehicles. The solar vehicle is one metre wide and can speed up to 25km and cover 45 km. It has a storage battery capacity for cloudy days. The electric scooter in a city that is dominated by scooter transport will be of benefit to the environment. Its uniqueness is that it can run automatically and does not require pedaling! It has a maximum speed of 20 km and can cover 25 km and will cost around VND7 million or around $375AUD.

Australia joins the Asia Europe Parliamentary Partnership. ASEP-7 opened in Laos capital with the theme ‘Asia-Europe Parliamentary Partnership for Sustainable Development the conference focused its discussion on food security and climate change and public engagement in disaster risk management.

Women tackle climate change The Viet Nam News reported that there was a need to recognize women and girls for their contributions to climate change adaptation and disaster risk reduction. This was the message at a conference held in Ha Noi on the occasion of International Day for Disaster Reduction.

‘Women have been seen as victims instead of crucial actors in disaster management’ stated Nguyen Thi Tuyet, Vice President, Viet Nam Womens Union. Lousie Chamberlain UNDP Country Director said ‘Women and girls hardly voiced their needs or talked about their skills and experience in protecting their families and communities in disaster situations’.

Figures from the UN showed that between 1990- 2010 Viet Nam ranked 6^th among countries suffering the biggest losses from disasters with 445 deaths and damages worth $1.8 billion USD. Seven storms, accompanied with prolonged heavy downpours had occurred since early this year leaving about 200 dead and missing and causing losses of $210 million USD.

Are we represented?

The Australian Centre of Excellence for Local Government and the Victorian Local Governance Association will undertake a comparative study of representative governance arrangements for local governments across Australia.

The research project – Representative local democracy: an analysis of experience in Australia – started earlier this year and a draft working paper will be produced for consultation by November.

It is based around a set of themes including representative structure; voting structure; Mayor and Deputy Mayor; Role and Responsibilities of Councillors; and Relationship between council administration and elected members.

The current elections in Victoria highlight the need to look closely at local governance. We may be seeing a surge in localism (hopeful!) but the number of candidates standing in some municipalities could reflect a new election battle line being created....dumby candidates!

Like him or .....

Richard Florida is one of the world’s pre-eminent thinkers on the dynamics between urban and economic development. He coined the expression ‘creative class’ in his bestseller, The Rise of the Creative Class. Cities wanting to succeed must have policies and infrastructure that tap the talent of the ‘creatives’.

http://www.theaustralian.com.au/arts/creativity-as-an-engine-of-prosperity-for-any-member-of-the-workforce/story-e6frg8n6-1226454407646

A decade of partnership

ICLEI Recognition and Briefing Breakfast

WALGA Convention - Perth

2 August 2012

Martin Brennan

CEO ICLEI Oceania

“The road to sustainability runs through the world’s towns and cities’ stated UN Secretary- General Ban Ki-moon at the UN Conference on Sustainable Development in Rio de Janerio last month. The Secretary General was speaking at the ICLEI Rio+20 Global Town Hall where over 5000 local government representatives from towns and cities around the world participated in Global Town Hall proceedings. The UN Conference was the largest gathering of world leaders with 40,000 delegates from local government, sub regional government, NGOs, business and civil society, but failed to set national governments on a common pathway to sustainability. Whilst an international agreement still seems a long way off there is increasing bipartisan recognition at the national level that no response is not an option. To remain unsustainable is not viable economically, socially, environmentally nor will it be politically. Read on...

'Thriving Neighbourhoods' taking shape

There is increasing interest and attention being played to the role of local government in facilitating, supporting and leveraging to attain sustainability communities. In fact the Global Town Hall recognised that the 'local is global and the global is local'; one of the many grabs made by the UN Secretary General, Ban Ki-moon. But he was not just talking rhetoric. He was alerting us in local government to continue and in fact to deepen our collaboration with community, business, industry and NGOs and to build thriving and resilient communities.

The Thriving Neighbourhoods Conference is a multi-sectoral / interest fora for government, local leaders, business, planners, designers, and those engaged in the health, parks and recreation sectors to come together and identify where we are blurring the sustainability agenda. To register go to http://www.thrivingneighbourhoods.org/

Reflections on the state of the national mood!

Returning from the UN Conference on Sustainable Development in Rio de Janerio and the ICLEI World Congress one cannot but be both frustrated at the response to the introduction of a price on carbon leading to the adoption of an emissions trading scheme.

The many delegates to whom I spoke from cities around the world expressed amazement in the standing of a Government that was the envy of governments around the world in its response to the global financial crisis and its move toward a green economy through the introduction of a price on carbon.

In a nation that is by comparison weathering the economic ills and climate change impacted storms being experienced in other places we are well placed to make the changes necessary to move to a cleaner and greener economy. This will enable us to a future on less carbon intensive production and renewable energy consumption.

The Future We Want! - says Ban Ki-Moon

"Twenty years ago, there was the Earth Summit. Gathering in Rio de Janiero, world leaders agreed on an ambitious blueprint for a more secure future. They sought to balance the imperatives of robust economic growth and the needs of a growing population against the ecological necessity to conserve our planet’s most precious resources — land, air and water. And they agreed that the only way to do this was to break with the old economic model and invent a new one. They called it sustainable development". Read on.....

Federal Budget hits Green Buildings Program

The decision to axe the $1 billion Tax Breaks for Green Buildings program in the federal budget, has brought trenchant criticism from the Property Council chief executive Peter Verwer who stated the decision was sending a valuable program that could leverage $7 billion of investment to the “policy knackery”.

Tom Roper, chair of the Australian Sustainable Built Environment Council and chair of the industry roundtable convened to redesign of the program was also furious. “Scrapping the program altogether sends clear signals to a sector already fatigued by uncertainty around carbon pricing,” he said. “The industry had worked hard and in good faith to improve the framework of the program and make it more relevant and effective”.

Green Light Plan Axed!

On 1st May 2012, the $20m Green Light Plan was "realigned" by the Victorian State government. Dozens of councils have been preparing to apply for this funding and some relying on it as a required co-contribution for applications to the Federal Government’s Community Energy Efficiency Program (CEEP).

Given the years of advocacy from councils and local government organisations through the Give Our Streets The Green Light campaign, it is very disappointing. What’s more, it was an election promise by the Baillieu government confirmed on many occasions last year.

Ironbark Sustainablity

Stockholm+40

Stockholm+40 (23 - 25 April) celebrates the first UN Conference on the Human Environment held in Stockholm in 1972!

Stockholm+40 will be based on three main themes:

Sustainable innovations
Sustainable production
Sustainable living

The purpose of Stockholm+40 is to enable an international community dialogue on sustainable development and its challenges. Business, civil society, researchers, decision-makers and young people will discuss sustainable solutions in areas of technology, production and living. The aim is to bring together different perspectives and create a holistic view of what we can do to achieve sustainable development.

40 years since the first Stockholm conference

In 1972, the UN Conference on the Human Environment was held in Stockholm. It was the first of a series of conferences held every ten years - in Nairobi in 1982, in Rio de Janeiro in 1992 and in Johannesburg in 2002. It quickly became clear that environmental issues are linked to social and economic circumstances, and in 1987 the Brundtland Commission established the term 'sustainable development' - "development which meets the needs of current generations without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs".

Moving Local Agenda 21 into the 22nd century

: Forum Panel: Cr Janet Bolitho, Cr Cathy Oke, Kerry Thompson, CEO City of Wyndham, Sam Sangster, CEO Places Victoria, Peter Seamer, CEO Growth Area Authority and Wayne Wescott, Facilitator

The ‘Sustainable Communities Local Government’ Forum on Friday 30 March, hosted by the City of Melbourne and Chaired by ICLEI, was a unique opportunity to follow on from the C40 Workshop that had taken place over the previous 2 days and to reflect on their learning and deliver a response grounded in our opportunities. As the author of Local Agenda 21 and its keeper, ICLEI has maintained for 2 decades a vigil and activities to deliver sustainable outcomes at the local level.

Local Agenda 21 was an outcome of the Earth Summit in Rio de Janerio in 1992 – LA21 is a local-government-led, community-based, participatory process to establish an action strategy for environmental protection, economic prosperity and community well-being. The key elements of community participation, the assessment of current conditions, target setting for achieving specific goals and monitoring and reporting are as relevant today as they were 20 years ago.

And as our name ‘ICLEI – Local Governments for Sustainability’, suggests, ‘sustainability’ is at the core of our work. We have an overriding mission – to support city and local governments in fostering and nurturing sustainable communities. This underpins our campaigns, our advocacy, our efforts locally and internationally.

The Forum therefore provided an opportunity to begin the transformation of LA21; to renew and to revitalize, and maybe even revolutionize the framework for the 22^nd century.

Does the local matter?

On Thursday evening the City of Melbourne conducted a Melbourne Conversations on the topic - Melbourne to Rio+20: Shaping our future telling our stories.The topic was introduced by Cr Cathy Oke, City of Melbourne and Chair ICLEI Oceania Board to a full house! Panelists included-

Dr. Kate Auty, Commissioner for Environmental Sustainability, State of Victoria

Prof. Robert Hill, National President UNAA, Chairman of the Carbon Trust and former Federal Minister for the Environment.

Geoff Lawler, Director City Planning and Infrastructure, City of Melbourne

Ellen Sandell, National Director, Australian Youth Climate Coalition

Emeritus Prof. Chris Wallace-Crabbe AM, poet, critic and academic at University of Melbourne

The moderator was Rob Gell, President Greening Australia.

I occupied one of the hot seats. The position I put to the panel was as follows -

"UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon says our current model for economic growth ‘is a global suicide pact’ and we need ‘revolutionary thinking and action that can lift people out of poverty while protecting ecosystems that support economic growth’.

ICLEI in its submission to the UN has included a call for -

UN Decade of Sustainable Urbanisation.

Cities to become hubs of green growth

Sustainable Development Goals

United Actors rather than United Nations

What ICLEI does not call for is ANOTHER DECLARATION!"

It was stimulating and enjoyable evening but begs the question how does the personal impact on the local and the local (government) impact on the international? Unless we can aggregate our responses to sustainability and climate change in particular both personally. professionally and politically we will continue to be frustrated by the singularity of our effort!

Greening the ghetto

“When Majora Carter was growing up, she got used to hearing newscasters refer to her South Bronx neighborhood as a war zone. And the slides that she showed an Indiana University Bloomington audience in a recent lecture suggested that the description wasn't overblown.

"This is what I grew up with," Carter said, clicking through photographs of desolate streetscapes, flaming apartment buildings torched for insurance money, block after block of vacant lots and rubble piles.

But Carter never resigned herself to living in a degraded environment. Starting as a volunteer with the Bronx's Point Community Development Corp. and continuing as a founder and leader of the organization Sustainable South Bronx, Carter became a leading advocate for environmental justice”. Indiana University News Room

Worth a look!

Lay off Durban...for now!

A great deal will be written about the pros and cons of what took place at COP17 in Durban. Some will say it was a hoax and others a cop out! The real test will be evident over time and although we don't have much of that, it does mean that city governments can get on with the job!

The Climate Spectator - "The United Nations ended their annual climate change talks in Durban on Sunday in much the same way they have done for the past 17 years – after all-night sittings and amid a cloud of conspiracy theories, accusations, frayed tempers, backflips and compromise. Only this time they managed to go into a second day of overtime and pluck from apparent failure an agreement that is being hailed as the most significant since Berlin in 1995.

Those talks in Berlin did not result in a new treaty, and nor were those in Durban expected to. But Berlin did lay the groundwork for the Kyoto Protocol that was concluded just two years later. Similar expectations are now held for the Durban mandate, only this time all countries will be bound by the same legal form in a new treaty that will be concluded by 2015, and come into force by the end of the decade".

Read on....