1
ACCCRN
NEWSLETTER
2 LE SSONS FROM DISASTER RISK RE DUCTION 4 MAKING CITIE S CLIMATE SMART
6 ACCCRN PARTICIPATION IN UN - HABITAT WORLD URBAN FORUM 5 7 Q & A
8 UPCOMING E VENTS
2
LESSONS FROM
DISASTER RISK
REDUCTION
ADDRESSING EXPOSURE AND VULNERABILITY:
Nargis. Ketsana. Mirinae. Parma. These
names conjure up images of loss, devastation,
destruction. In the past five years alone, we
have seen countless images captured amidst
the chaos and aftershocks of natural disasters,
from cyclones to typhoons to hurricanes to
earthquakes. The Centre for Research on
Epidemiology of Disasters (CRED)1 recently revealed that natural disasters affected
nearly two billion people between 2000 and
2009, the vast majority affected by droughts,
hurricanes, and floods. Disasters in this time
period killed more than 780,000 people (60%
due to earthquakes), and economic costs
reached a minimum of US$960 billion.
Asia, in particular, has suffered from massive
losses: the continent accounted for 85% of
all fatalities. In fact, a person living in Asia is
four times more likely to be affected by natural
disasters than someone in Africa, and 25
times more likely than someone in Europe
or North America, according to the UN
Economic and Social Commission for Asia and
the Pacific (ESCAP).
So, why is Asia so disproportionally affected?
Natural disasters are the product of a complex FEATURE ARTICLE
The emerging field of urban
climate change resilience has
much to learn from the field of
disaster risk reduction and the
ability to reduce losses even in
the face of a rising number of
events. However, more work
is needed to build long term
resilience to the impacts that
climate change will bring to
urban communities over longer
periods of time.
ASIAN DISASTER TRENDS
"Natural disasters
are the product of a
complex relationship
between exposure to
natural hazards and
vulnerability."
1 UNLESS OTHERWISE MENTIONED, ALL STATISTICS IN
THIS ARTICLE ARE FROM CRED AND THE UNITED NATIONS INTERNATIONAL STRATEGY FOR DISASTER REDUCTION (UNISDR)'S JOINT JANUARY 28, 2010 PRESS RELEASE. relationship between exposure to natural
hazards and vulnerability. In terms of hazards,
for example, Indonesia sits on the Pacific
Ring of Fire, an area where a large number of
earthquakes and volcanic eruptions occur. In
addition, six out of eight of the world's most
populous cities that reside on earthquake fault
lines are Asian cities.
Vulnerability is a composite of many factors
(e.g., poverty, gender, physical location,
education, access to finance and credit). An
important dynamic influencing both exposure
and vulnerability in cities is the trend of
urbanization. According to ESCAP, the pace of
urbanization in Asia is unparalleled compared
to anywhere else in the world. Municipalities
face pressures to meet growing demands for
infrastructure and services - often at a pace that exceeds the capacity to respond. Poor
land-use and infrastructure planning in urban
contexts, coastal development, exclusionary
housing policies and practices, and use of
inappropriate construction materials can all
increase vulnerability and exacerbate damages
3
The emerging field of urban climate change
resilience (UCCR) has much to learn from the
field of disaster risk reduction (DRR) and the
ability to reduce losses even in the face of a
rising number of events. Measures taken from
DRR represent an important sub-set of activities
that can also build toward broader urban climate
change resilience - both those impacts that are
on the near-term horizon and those slower-onset
changes that are less perceptible but present
significant threats to livelihoods, health, and
social and cultural systems.
DRR also presents an entry point for city
governments and other urban leaders to
look at today's risks and exposure and how
to manage these, especially for vulnerable
populations and sectors. The focus of DRR
tends to be on resilience-building for near-term
shock events (e.g., flooding, storm surge,
even drought). Increasingly, communities,
governments (at different scales), civil society
groups are undertaking actions to reduce risk
from disasters.
More work is needed, however, to
demonstrate the suite of impacts that climate
change will bring to urban communities that
do not fit within the DRR framework - those
impacts that will occur over longer periods
of time, such as increasing salinity in coastal
aquifers, or changing disease vectors over
time. Many of the approaches developed
by the disaster risk reduction community
are applicable, and indeed critical to building
climate change resilience. For instance, while
the particulars are debated, experts agree on
the value of local community engagement
in DRR. Local involvement is crucial for a
number of reasons, but most importantly, for
the simple rationale that they are facing the
disaster threats, and often best equipped to
identify contextually relevant preventative
solutions. The UCCR field also recognizes
community engagement as a critical success
factor in preparing cities for climate change
impacts now and in the future.
ASIAN CITIES CLIMATE CHANGE RESILIENCE NETWORK
DISASTER RISK REDUCTION: A CRITICAL ENTRY POINT TO URBAN
CLIMATE CHANGE RESILIENCE
"Measures taken from
DRR represent an
important sub-set of
activities that can also
build toward broader
urban climate change
resilience"
The Asian Cities Climate Change Resilience
Network (ACCCRN) incorporates the existing
principles and best practices from urban
development and management, climate
adaptation, and DRR and aims to support
poor and vulnerable Asian urban communities
and systems to deal with current and future
climate change related threats in a realistic
and actionable way.
ACCCRN cities are exploring their current
and future vulnerabilities, identifying the
vulnerable populations and sectors, and are
beginning to develop an urban resilience
strategy and an action plan. They are using a
combination of methods and tools centered
on Shared Learning Dialogues (SLDs) and
climate Vulnerability Assessments (VAs)
(see the February 2010 ACCCRN newsletter
for more information). Through VAs, cities
are exploring what existing capacities can
enhance their ability to adapt and be more
resilient to climate change. These results
will feed into the iterative SLD and resilience
planning processes. SLDs are designed to
ensure that vulnerable populations in each
city have the opportunity to build their
ACCCRN partner city Gorakhpur is situated on a plain in Northern India. The city is divided by two rivers and bordered by a lake. The results of the city's SLDs and VAs showed these geographical characteristics are combining with urban expansion to create high water logging conditions (prolonged incidence of standing water). In addition, since 90% of the city's drains are open, solid waste often enters and chokes the drainage systems, further exacerbating the issue.
One pilot project currently underway aims to reduce this solid waste dumping in open drains. This project is a joint collaboration of the municipality, a local college, and the project team itself. A series of leaflets will encourage residents to change their own habits regarding waste and recycling, and to actively participate in city government to solicit better services. The door-to-door collection of waste from 300 households is currently being composted on the college campus, and research is simultaneously being conducted for the production of bacteria to enhance the pace of composting.
Pilot Projects in
Gorakhpur City
FEATURE ARTICLE
adaptive capacity and participate in the urban
climate resilience process.
The cities will then test small pilot projects to
explore specific vulnerability needs or areas,
which also help build and deepen stakeholder
engagement. For example, in ACCCRN
Vietnam partner city Quy Nhon, the VAs and
SLDs have led to pilot projects that aim to
increase their climate change preparedness.
The city is modifying housing construction
by raising floor heights to respond to flooding
risks. Climate impact assessment of Quy
Nhon project sea level rise within the current
city boundaries.
Through these actions and drawing upon both
international and local experiences, the cities
are developing climate resilience strategies
and action plans that will enable them to
better prepare for challenges of current and
4
This has evolved over the years into an
understanding that the nexus of government,
civil society and the private sector that occurs
at the local level is a vital platform for the
implementation of key international multilateral
environmental agreements (MEAs) - such as
the United Nations Framework Convention
on Climate Change. Cities in particular, as key
drivers of global consumption and production,
offer significant opportunities for constructive
action in addressing the global climate change
reduce greenhouse gas emissions through a
range of energy efficiency and clean energy
programs. The growing concern that the
now unavoidable elements of climate change
will continue to create severe challenges
for the developmental aspirations of local
communities has been comparatively
neglected. As a result, there is an emerging
call from a small but growing number of
local governments for equal recognition and
support to be given to the issue of climate
change adaptation.
Climate change is, of course, not the
only challenge faced by cities. Other
significant driving forces include poverty and
underdevelopment; economic and social
change; depletion and pollution of natural
resources; violence and criminality, to name
but a few. The variable combination of these
factors in different locales means that the
world's cities face an increasingly uncertain
and unpredictable future and that we must
respond to climate change within the context
of a host of social-economic-ecological drivers.
In essence we need to re-conceptualize our
cities as places and spaces that can survive
and continue to function appropriately under a
wide variety of ever-changing, and often more
hazardous, climatic conditions. Our cities need
to become "climate smart."
Nowhere is this challenge greater than in the
cities of the developing world, where large,
poor, urbanizing populations exist under
conditions of service delivery deficit, climatic
variability and high levels of social, economic COLUMN
Since the Earth Summit in Rio de Janeiro in 1992, much has been
made of the importance of local government as the sphere of
government that is closest to the people.
Making Cities
Climate Smart
and ecological vulnerability. It is the location of
ACCCRN, at this nexus of climate vulnerability
and poverty, that makes it unique. ACCCRN
has taken the threads of local-level action,
poverty, vulnerability and climate variability
and woven them together into the complex
tapestry of climate change resilience. It has
created a program which has moved beyond
the rhetoric of global climate negotiations
into the real world of people's day-to-day
existence. It focuses on understanding the
extraordinary complexity and variability of
local circumstances and uses this knowledge
to draw out common themes of purposeful
activity that can be used to design a replicable,
action-based framework across a range of
Asian city contexts.
Certainly for local stakeholders worldwide,
and local governments specifically, the
outcomes (or the lack thereof) of COP15 in
Copenhagen are a bitter disappointment. Yet,
this is counteracted to some extent by the
emergence of programs such as ACCCRN,
which are beginning to craft new paths
and visions for cities, creating new tools,
reinvigorating old processes, forming new
networks and partnerships, and facilitating
meaningful and relevant local action. As
such ACCCRN is unquestionably a brave
and pioneering effort. Given the range of
challenges we face, particularly in the cities
of the Global South, it is precisely these sorts
of bold, new interventions that are required
to support the critical local alliance of local
government, civil society and the private
sector. Only in this way will it be possible to
ensure that existing development gains, and
long-term aspirations of a more sustainable
development path, are not lost on the rubbish
heap of global climate change.
Dr. Debra Roberts (Ethekwini Municipality-
Durban, South Africa and ACCCRN Advisory
Board Member).
robertsd@durban.gov.za
“we need to
re-conceptualize our
cities as places and
spaces that can survive
and continue to function
appropriately"
"ACCCRN is
unquestionably a brave
and pioneering effort."
challenge through the establishment of local
partnerships and focused local action.
While figures may vary, current estimates are
that cities account for more than half of global
greenhouse gas emissions and for about
two thirds of global energy use. Pioneering
initiatives such as the C40 (a group of large
cities tackling climate change) and Clinton
Climate Initiative have been established to
respond to this challenge. In most cases,
however, these new interventions echo the
existing international bias towards mitigation
5
Spotlight On Thailand
Thailand's Participation in ACCCRN
Selected in 2009, the cities of Chiang Rai
and Hat Yai in Thailand are the latest
additions to the ACCCRN network.
Hat Yai, located in Thailand's south, is highly urbanized and is prone to flooding. Chiang Rai, in the north and more rural, faces challenges from water and air pollution, as well as severe landslides.
Three other cities, Udon Thani, Samut Sakorn, and Phuket are participating as observers in this process in order to construct their own understanding of concepts, frameworks, and applied methodologies for shared learning and resilience planning.
The two core cities are off to a great start in the ACCCRN program. In January 2010, with the help of local partner the Thai Environmental Institute (TEI), both cities held a project kick-off event, designed to raise awareness of ACCCRN and climate change issues in general. Both events were well-attended by various stakeholders, the general public, and the local media. The mayor and deputy governor of Chiang Rai delivered opening remarks, with over 50 participants attending the event. In Hat Yai, the city's mayor gave the opening remarks, and over 150 participants attended.
Chiang Rai and Hat Yai have also selected core working groups comprised of provincial and local government officials, academics, businesses, local NGOs, and members of the community. These groups attended their respective city's first Shared Learning Dialogue, at which participants identified
DEBRA ROBERTS
Debra Roberts, PhD, heads the Environmental Planning and Climate Protection Department of Ethekwini Municipality in Durban, South Africa. Dr. Roberts is also vice-chair of UN-Habitat's HS-NET Advisory Board, which is currently working on the 2011 "Cities and Climate Change" Global Report. Dr. Roberts has also written widely in the fields of environmental management and climate protection and has received numerous awards for her work.
SPOTLIGHT
"As newcomers to the
ACCCRN program,
these two cities have
the benefit of learning
best practices from the
ACCCRN's other
urban centers."
critical systems for the functioning of the city, as well as vulnerable populations and areas. Hat Yai participants specifically identified the city's critical systems as water supply and waste management, for example. TEI reports that city partners and working groups have been fully engaged throughout this process.
Sharing between the two cities is going well, too. Two representatives from Chiang Rai have visited Hat Yai, and there is a plan for the reverse, as well. They shared insights regarding the process of the program, as well as similar environmental hazards.
Chiang Rai, Hat Yai, and local academic institutions will take the next step of conducting Vulnerability Assessments (VA), so they can more concretely determine the population groups and systems most at risk from climate change. Following that, technical partner SEA START will carry out a climate VA, and both assessments will be presented at the second SLD scheduled for May.
A meeting with national-level stakeholders will also take place in May, where the working groups from Chiang Rai and Hat Yai will present the results of their assessments and SLDs.
As newcomers to the ACCCRN program, these two cities have the benefit of learning best practices from the ACCCRN's other urban centers. TEI reports that the regional ACCCRN meeting held this past March helped the Thai cities understand the program's bigger picture. Thai city partners are also looking forward to utilizing the networking fund that ISET has made available to visit other city partners in different countries.
6
The fifth session of the World
Urban Forum (WUF) took place
in March in Rio de Janeiro,
Brazil, and had a record 21,000
delegates from around the world.
ACCCRN Participation In UN-Habitat
World Urban Forum 5
MEMBERS OF THE MERCY CORPS INDONESIA DELEGATION AT THE WORLD URBAN FORUM. PHOTO: MICHELLE KOOY MERCY CORPS
only a pathway and a motivation towards
environmental sustainability, but climate
change also provides a pathway to renew
the call for provision of basic needs to urban
poor communities' as lack of urban services,
decreased mobility, living on marginal lands,
inadequate shelter, and lack of participation in
the political systems and decision making all
make poor communities more vulnerable." WORLD URBAN FORUM
“climate change also
provides a pathway
to renew the call for
provision of basic needs to
urban poor communities”
The theme of the forum was 'Bridging the
Urban Divide.' Its aim was to narrow the gaps
between wealthy and poor people, national
and city authorities, gender and youth issues
in urban settings. At WUF, ACCCRN hosted
a networking event entitled 'Lessons from
Practice: Toward Climate Change Resilient
Cities.' The event included panelists who are
representatives of ACCCRN and the North
American Urban Leaders Adaptation Initiative
(led by Center for Clean Air Policy). The
session, which included presentations and
audience discussion, provided a forum to share
processes, methods, and tools that cities are
employing to build climate change resilience.
In addition, ACCCRN partner Mercy Corp
participated in another WUF session:
'Thematic Open Debate for Dialogue 6
'Sustainable Urbanization: Cities in a Changing
Climate. 'At this event, Michelle Kooy, Urban
Program Director of Mercy Corp Indonesia
and ACCCRN partner, discussed the work of
Mercy Corps Indonesia in relation to reducing
vulnerabilities to climate change.
Ms. Kooy shared that the participants of
the ACCCRN network have learned to look
beyond direct climate change impacts, such
as flooding, to indirect effects on systems and
populations. They have also realized that they
must move beyond physical interventions to
examine more structural issues. Instead of
working in isolation, they should mainstream
effective strategies. Or as Ms. Kooy said
in her concluding remarks during the panel
7 Q&A
Da Nang is one of three cities in Vietnam selected
to participate in ACCCRN, along with Can Tho, and
Quy Nhon. In each city, project leadership rests
with the People's Committee. A vice-chairman
leads the Project Steering Committee, which is
comprised of relevant technical departments and
civil society organizations, with the participation
of Challenge to Change (CtC) and the Institute for
Social and Environment Transition (ISET). Climate
Working Groups provide technical support.
Q&A
INTRODUCTION
The city of Da Nang synthesized four technical climate
vulnerability studies into one easy-to-understand report, which was then presented to the Peoples' Committee, the city of Da Nang's executive body.
This report was the city's own initiative (raised after the 2nd Shared Learning Dialogue), undertaken by the City Climate Working Group (WG), to help increase political leadership of the issues, and increase awareness for climate resilience actions. The result has been greater local ownership and buy-in for the resilience planning process.
In Da Nang, the WG leads the city-level planning and implementation activities for ACCCRN. ACCCRN's communications partner APCO Worldwide posed questions about the WG to Ms. Hanh, Deputy Director of the Department of Foreign Affairs (DoFA), the ACCCRN City-level Coordinator:
Q: WHAT EXACTLY IS DOFA’S ROLE
IN ACCCRN?
A:The role of DoFA in this project is to be a facilitator. We coordinate activities, communicate amongst the different member departments, and make connections between donors (Rockefeller Foundation, ISET, CtC), country partners (National Institute for Science and Technology Policy and Strategic Studies [NISTPASS]), and the city of Da Nang.
At this point in the ACCCRN program, we are going to get more involved in the production of the city's resilience strategy.
Q: HOW DID THE CITY CLIMATE
WORKING GROUP (WG) COME ABOUT?
A: The city decided to establish a WG at the same time with the Project Management Board (PMB). The PMB is comprised of three parts: the steering board, the heads of key technical departments and agencies, and the WG.
Q: HOW DID YOU IDENTIFY THE
WG MEMBERS?
A: Actually, the WG has just been approved by the city to add more members so that it can serve as a cross-sector mechanism. It
ON THE ROLE OF CLIMATE WORKING GROUPS
currently consists of 11 membersfrom various departments; including, Foreign Affairs; Natural Resources and Environment; Construction; Agriculture and Rural Development; Planning and Investment; Health; Education and Training; Labor, Invalids and Social Affairs; Transportation; Culture, Sports and Tourism; and Institute of Planning and Construction.
The original mandate of the WG was to assist the PMB in carrying out ACCCRN project activities, so at that time, its members were chosen from the departments whose leaders were members of the PMB. However, the membership of the WG changed to include key players in the production of a city resilience strategy. The presence of these new representatives in the WG also meets the need to integrate climate change into cross-sector planning.
As members of WG come from the city's key departments, they will communicate and share information with one another, discover potential connections to their own development planning, and be able to make suggestions and raise issues and concerns to help shape and develop the city's resilience strategy.
Q: WHO DECIDES WHAT WILL BE ON
THE AGENDA?
A: The agenda of the WG will follow ACCCRN’s program schedule. As coordinator, DoFA will ensure that the WG meetings carry out these activities.
Q: HAS THE WG HAD ANY SPECIFIC
AND TANGIBLE OUTCOMES?
A: The most specific outcome that the WG has achieved is the city's
Synthesis Report.
Q:WHAT PROMPTED THE
PRODUCTION OF THE
SYNTHESIS REPORT?
The city conducted research and vulnerability assessments with the assistance of ISET, NISTPASS, CtC, and local Vietnamese institutes. The conclusions of the four technical reports that were produced during that phase are considered essential inputs in the city's resilience strategy, which will be developed under the direction of Dr. Nguyen Dinh Anh, Department of Natural Resources and Environment.
Developing the resilience strategy will also help us to provide the necessary components to develop additional adaptation proposals, and thus provide us with more opportunities to apply for climate-related funding.
The resilience strategy will also be used to serve future climate projects or adaptation activities in the future. We see that there is a need to make the research results of the synthesis report become a scientific basis, approved by the city, upon which the city's strategy will be built upon.
8
ACCCRN
PARTNERS
UPCOMING
ACTIVITIES
Public Events
VIETNAM INDONESIA INDIA THAILAND
Invitation Only Events
June 28-30
World Cities Summit, Singapore. May 28-30
ICLEI World Congress, Bonn.
ACCCRN will present a panel
on Building Urban Climate
Resilience: Lessons from Asian
Cities Climate Change Resilience
Network (ACCCRN).
May
Third round of Shared Learning
Dialogues in Da Nang, Quy Nhon,
and Can Tho.
End of June
National workshop on resilience
strategies and lessons learned.
The Rockefeller Foundation’s Climate Change Resilience Initiative
aims to catalyze attention, funding and action to support vulnerable
communities as they respond proactively in an effort to manage the
risks associated with climate change. The Initiative provides support for
the Asian Cities Climate Change Resilience Network, capacity building
in the agricultural sector in Africa, and strengthened adaptation policies
and resilience efforts by the United States.
The Asian Cities Climate Change Resilience Network supports
local communities to cope with and respond to climate change
impacts by developing their capacity to plan, finance, and implement
robust response models. The Network provides a platform for sharing
experience, knowledge, and resources among stakeholders on
effective practices, to promote the resilience concept and expansion of
response models in a growing number of cities. End of May
Two-day national resilience
strategy workshop.
End of May
Full day national workshop to
convene national stakeholders
involved in urban development
to discuss urban climate change
resilience and share project findings. May
National stakeholders meeting.
August
National Workshop.
For more information on these events please contact acccrn@rockfound.org UPCOMING ACTIVITIES
