International Programs Update

By Steve Gawler, Director, International Programs

: Marcus Moench, ISET, and Dr Paul Chamniern from the Thai Environment Institute

Regional ACCCRN meeting

Asian Cities Climate Change Resilience Network (ACCCRN) supported by the Rockefeller Foundation.

A meeting of ACCCRN partners was held in Bangkok in mid-November to coordinate all of the components of this program – working directly with cities, capturing and documenting the learning and experiences, developing training packages and dissemination at global events. The ACCCRN climate planning approach is quite unique as it is based on assessing the impact of climate change on urban systems and the urban poor. The resultant strategies will build urban climate resilience, focusing on the poorest and most vulnerable groups. Under its new contract ICLEI will play a key role in scaling up this approach across Asia.

Gearing up for new ACCCRN contract

Since being awarded the 1.75 million USD grant to work with 40 Asian cities, ICLEI has been working intensively to prepare the four country teams. A workshop was held in Delhi in early November to review the adaptation planning process – the “toolkit” – which was trialled with three Indian cities. 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 office and Steve Gawler, supported by ACCCRN partners Arup International Development, TARU and Verulam. Three cities are being selected in each country to commence the rollout.

: ICLEI South Asia climate team and Steve Gawler

New grant to Oceania for ACCCRN

Wednesday 23 October

ICLEI has been awarded US$1.75 Million Grant to Expand Climate Change Resilience Program to 30-40 New Cities Rockefeller Foundation “Asian Cities Climate Change Resilience Network” (ACCCRN)

ICLEI Oceania, is one of the key partners involved with ACCCRN along with ICLEI South Asia and ICLEI South East Asia Secretariats. The funds will be used to ensure up to 40 more cities in Asia can benefit from ACCCRN’s urban climate change resilience initiatives and undergo resilience planning assessments to catalyze a range of new actions. The new cities targeted will be located in two countries which are already working with ACCCRN, India and Indonesia, as well as two new countries, Bangladesh and the Philippines.

"The grant allows us to significantly expand and scale up ACCCRN’s pioneering work in the field of urban climate change resilience,” said Steve Gawler, Director International Programs for ICLEI Oceania, who oversees ICLEI’s work for ACCCRN. "We will now be able to demonstrate that ACCCRN’s tools and methods can be adapted and used by others to enable large-scale adoption in new cities – both in core ACCCRN countries that already have a strong base of activity, but also in non-ACCCRN countries,” he said.

Martin Brennan, ICLEI Oceania, CEO said ICLEI is uniquely positioned to extend the experiences and processes developed under ACCCRN to other cities through our Asian and worldwide cities network.

Regional Climate Change get-together

6 August

Last week I attended a get-together of about 70 climate change practitioners from the Asian region. We spent 3 days looking at the various approaches for helping cities to adapt to climate change - become more resilient - and then focussed on what more can be done to systematize our approaches and to support this work. ICLEI is quite a prominent player in Asia, with adaptation programs in India, Philippines and Indonesia and more countries to come.

Blitar climate plan

July 2012

Blitar City in East Java conducted a climate planning Integration Workshop recently. The city’s climate change working group (POKJA) travelled to nearby Malang and spent the weekend “locked up” in a workshop to finalise their integrated climate change strategy. They started with a list of nearly 120 mitigation and adaptation actions and during the weekend screened all ideas and grouped them under strategic headings. By the end of the weekend the POKJA had arrived at a draft action plan, integrating low carbon with climate resilience actions, ready for public consultation. Blitar is one of ten cities on Java to have gone through the integrated climate planning process supported by GIZ and ICLEI Oceania.

Climate Change Quick Guide

: A working group from Asia Pacific

July 2012

Steve Gawler, Director International Programs for ICLEI Oceania, has been engaged to co-write a “Quick Guide” for climate change adaptation and resilience in urban poor communities in Asia Pacific. The Guide is being funded by UNESCAP, UNHabitat and the Rockefeller Foundation. An expert group meeting was held in Surabaya, Indonesia, in early July at which approximately 30 leading climate change thinkers and practitioners in the region worked through a draft version. The Guide will be in easy-to-read A5 format and available on the web and in hard copy. It is aimed at local and national government practitioners and policy makers who need to come up to speed quickly on the complexities of incorporating climate change impacts into city planning. The Guide will feature lots of practical examples and tips, you will be able to dive into any section and have a quick read. It is planned to launch the Quick Guide by the end of the year and to then translate it into training materials.

The latest from Jeju and Manila

Friday 17 February 2012

I travelled to Jeju, South Korea, in January to present a new 9-day climate change training program ICLEI has developed for the Jeju Training Centre. Then to Manila last week where I attended the Asia Pacific Adaptation Network training program and delivered some sessions on "framing mitigation and adaptation" and "climate vulnerability analysis". Philippines is subjected to several typhoons every season, flooding, landslides etc plus more than their fair share of earthquakes. So most cities in the Philippines are developing plans to cope with disasters and broader climate change impacts.

Highlights were the presentations from local government heads on their strategies to protect communities. The more courageous of them have adopted a "zero casualties" policy. Governor Joey Salceda from Albay Province was due to speak twice during the program on aspects of their disaster risk reduction program. However he had to leave early as the Negros region in his province had suffered yet another earthquake in the early hours, following a devastating earthquake one week before. No electricity, water or food in much of the affected area. He had to return home to oversee the relief operation.

Post Script: The newspaper next day reported that a relief ship carrying rice supplies to Negros sank, with 30 people drowned. One layer of disaster on top of another, and a blow to their zero casulaties target!