Promoting Urban Low Emission Development Strategies
Description
Programme implementation has focused on capacity building and training to build a solid base for LED strategy development. ICLEI World Secretariat and its Regional Offices are the principal implementing offices of the Urban-LEDS Project. UN-Habitat has administrative responsibilities and participated in focused technical activities through associated project support. Each of the Country Teams successfully followed a similar Project implementation start up process. The Project objective is to be accomplished through the preparation of LED strategies in Model Cities and where possible in Satellite Cities through capacity building, city-to-city exchanges, hands-on actions including emissions inventories to identify priority areas for interventions, and to understand, assess, design, and implement LED technical and behaviour change action activities in target cities. In each of the Project countries the approaches are comprehensive and strategic, designed to build the political and technical base for sustainable low emissions development initiatives by programmatically engaging mayors, key personnel in local and national government and technical support organizations and the civil society. Staff recruiting was accomplished through existing ICLEI Regional Office staff and contracting additional personnel to fill positions in required areas of technical expertise. “Champion” cities have been identified and support is provided to them as the face of innovation and project development.
The LED transition is being accomplished through policy and practice – preparation of LED strategies and demonstration projects; guidance provided by ICLEI methodologies, training and capacity building based on the ‘GreenClimateCities’ (GCG) 27 steps; training in emissions inventory skills, sustainable procurement and waste management, energy efficiency in street lighting and municipal buildings, low emissions mobility planning and building climate change awareness and understanding; employing the Solutions Gateway; sponsoring national and international exchanges and study tours; and from understanding that the project was to function in a vertically integrated manner. Study tours have broadened the perspective of partners and local officials through international travel to sel ected European cities and cities in their regions. The following core training has been carried out for ICLEI and Model City staff, national government, NGOs and private sector partners. The training events include:The new Global Protocol for Community-Scale Greenhouse Gas Emission Inventories (GPC) and - HEAT+ training – Harmonized Emissions Analysis Tools plus – software to support local GHG and air pollution emission reduction planning, 23-24 September 2013 led by DNPI National Council for Climate Change, Jakarta, Indonesia for all ICLEI staff & city staff. - GRIP training – Greenhouse Gas Regional Inventory Process – tool to help cities explore energy & GHG emission reduction scenarios, November 2013 in Nelson Mandela Bay, South Africa (ICLEI staff and interested cities).- CLIMACT Prio – Climate Actions Prioritization – tool for screening and prioritizing local climate change actions, April 2014 in Hannover, Germany (ICLEI staff).
In each country, project partners worked closely with the national, regional and local governments, interpreted and benefited from the clarity of purpose of the Project design that focused on strategy development. The Project established a focused vertically integrated programme, and was implemented through a set of seven “Work Packages”. UN-Habitat responsibilities included project management, quality control and M&E to monitor the progress of the Project. The four Project countries have established regular communications between the ICLEI World Secretariat and each other through monthly steering meetings, the Networking Seminars and informally through the Urban-LEDS Website and emails. The secretariat with the different Country Teams monitors progress, provide input on Country Project design and development, partner relationships and critical tools to be employed as part of the Project, especially the ICLEI Tool Kit and the new GPC. The ICLEI Tool Kit and methodologies constitute a major pillar in the Country Team’ Project structures as well as serve as a major support for training, capacity building and substantive input to the partnership frameworks that include government sector offices and departments, private sector entities, LED and Climate Change technical organizations and NGOs and community groups.
The explicit, vertical integration of Urban-LEDS was perceived as value-added to country project initiatives by the evaluator and the Country Teams for its broad audience. It served as stimulus to communicate and document with others issues and ideas in and learning from workshops and conferences. <br />
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<br>The Project has successfully created opportunities to convene groups to address the political, administrative, financial and technical aspects of an urban LEDS initiative. Team South Africa organized the mayors from the seven Model Cities and Satellite towns in a leadership development programme to “Walk the Talk” where the mayors take the lead in improving their own homes demonstrating practical, cost effective improvements for their constituencies. In Balikpapan, Indonesia, the mayor allocated IDR 150 million (USD 11,000) in the city budget for the emissions inventory, increasing the inventory budget with the Urban-LEDS budget. The enthusiasm of Project partners for and engagement in developing the understanding, skills, policies and demonstration activities bodes well for the project and future growth of the Project Model Cities. <br />
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<br>The challenge resides in consolidating and scaling up the successes accomplished during this Phase 1 of the Project. That each country has identified secondary, middle-sized cities as their Model and Satellite cities to broaden the awareness of LED is an important accomplishment as secondary cities are now expected to grow rapidly, rather than the mega-cities that usually capture programme attention. The Country Teams are especially successful at establishing substantive partnerships with national advisory groups, NGOs and national and municipal officials. <br />
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SDGS & Targets
Goal 11
Make cities and human settlements inclusive, safe, resilient and sustainable
11.1
By 2030, ensure access for all to adequate, safe and affordable housing and basic services and upgrade slums
11.1.1
Proportion of urban population living in slums, informal settlements or inadequate housing
11.2
11.2.1
Proportion of population that has convenient access to public transport, by sex, age and persons with disabilities
11.3
11.3.1
Ratio of land consumption rate to population growth rate
11.3.2
Proportion of cities with a direct participation structure of civil society in urban planning and management that operate regularly and democratically
11.4
Strengthen efforts to protect and safeguard the world’s cultural and natural heritage
11.4.1
Total per capita expenditure on the preservation, protection and conservation of all cultural and natural heritage, by source of funding (public, private), type of heritage (cultural, natural) and level of government (national, regional, and local/municipal)
11.5
By 2030, significantly reduce the number of deaths and the number of people affected and substantially decrease the direct economic losses relative to global gross domestic product caused by disasters, including water-related disasters, with a focus on protecting the poor and people in vulnerable situations
11.5.1
Number of deaths, missing persons and directly affected persons attributed to disasters per 100,000 population
11.5.2
Direct economic loss attributed to disasters in relation to global domestic product (GDP)
11.5.3
(a) Damage to critical infrastructure and (b) number of disruptions to basic services, attributed to disasters
11.6
By 2030, reduce the adverse per capita environmental impact of cities, including by paying special attention to air quality and municipal and other waste management
11.6.1
Proportion of municipal solid waste collected and managed in controlled facilities out of total municipal waste generated, by cities
11.6.2
Annual mean levels of fine particulate matter (e.g. PM2.5 and PM10) in cities (population weighted)
11.7
11.7.1
Average share of the built-up area of cities that is open space for public use for all, by sex, age and persons with disabilities
11.7.2
Proportion of persons victim of non-sexual or sexual harassment, by sex, age, disability status and place of occurrence, in the previous 12 months
11.a
Support positive economic, social and environmental links between urban, peri-urban and rural areas by strengthening national and regional development planning
11.a.1
Number of countries that have national urban policies or regional development plans that (a) respond to population dynamics; (b) ensure balanced territorial development; and (c) increase local fiscal space
11.b
By 2020, substantially increase the number of cities and human settlements adopting and implementing integrated policies and plans towards inclusion, resource efficiency, mitigation and adaptation to climate change, resilience to disasters, and develop and implement, in line with the Sendai Framework for Disaster Risk Reduction 2015-2030, holistic disaster risk management at all levels
11.b.1
Number of countries that adopt and implement national disaster risk reduction strategies in line with the Sendai Framework for Disaster Risk Reduction 2015–2030
11.b.2
Proportion of local governments that adopt and implement local disaster risk reduction strategies in line with national disaster risk reduction strategies
11.c
Support least developed countries, including through financial and technical assistance, in building sustainable and resilient buildings utilizing local materials
Goal 13
Take urgent action to combat climate change and its impacts
13.1
Strengthen resilience and adaptive capacity to climate-related hazards and natural disasters in all countries
13.1.1
Number of deaths, missing persons and directly affected persons attributed to disasters per 100,000 population
13.1.2
Number of countries that adopt and implement national disaster risk reduction strategies in line with the Sendai Framework for Disaster Risk Reduction 2015–2030
13.1.3
Proportion of local governments that adopt and implement local disaster risk reduction strategies in line with national disaster risk reduction strategies
13.2
Integrate climate change measures into national policies, strategies and planning
13.2.1
Number of countries with nationally determined contributions, long-term strategies, national adaptation plans and adaptation communications, as reported to the secretariat of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change
13.2.2
Total greenhouse gas emissions per year
13.3
Improve education, awareness-raising and human and institutional capacity on climate change mitigation, adaptation, impact reduction and early warning
13.3.1
Extent to which (i) global citizenship education and (ii) education for sustainable development are mainstreamed in (a) national education policies; (b) curricula; (c) teacher education; and (d) student assessment
13.a
Implement the commitment undertaken by developed-country parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change to a goal of mobilizing jointly $100 billion annually by 2020 from all sources to address the needs of developing countries in the context of meaningful mitigation actions and transparency on implementation and fully operationalize the Green Climate Fund through its capitalization as soon as possible
13.a.1
Amounts provided and mobilized in United States dollars per year in relation to the continued existing collective mobilization goal of the $100 billion commitment through to 2025
13.b
Promote mechanisms for raising capacity for effective climate change-related planning and management in least developed countries and small island developing States, including focusing on women, youth and local and marginalized communities
13.b.1
Number of least developed countries and small island developing States with nationally determined contributions, long-term strategies, national adaptation plans and adaptation communications, as reported to the secretariat of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change
SDG 14 targets covered
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Contact Information
Raf Tuts, Coordinator Urban Planning and Design Branch