A decade committed towards local sustainable actions

Created in 2005 on April 25, the South Asian branch of ICLEI, aimed at building and serving a regional network of local governments to achieve tangible improvements in regional and global sustainability through local initiatives.

ICLEI South Asia’s journey towards making cities more sustainable began with just few local governments. Look at us now – More than 60 local governments, around 35 staff members and working with 6 countries in the South Asian region.

We enable cities to contribute to the global need for climate action with a number of local solutions, ranging from developing guidelines on low carbon growth, raising awareness about sustainable sanitation and solid waste management, supporting municipalities in implementing Renewable Energy & Energy Efficiency projects, identifying and implementing sustainable and environment-friendly transportation, helping cities become resilient and assisting them to gain finances for their resilience based projects and more.

Having begun with just two projects - Local Renewables and ecoBUDGET, we had almost 15 on-going projects in 2014-15. Find them here.

A message by Emani Kumar, Executive Director, ICLEI South Asia

Congratulations to ICLEI South Asia on its 10th Anniversary. I have visited your offices, met with your members and staff and talked about the urban challenges before us. Your region is one of the most critical in the world the young energy you exhibit can make the 21st century livable and sustainable. Invite new cities and citizens to join with ICLEI and become part of the sustainable solution.

- David Cadman, President 2006 - 2015, ICLEI - Local Governments for Sustainability
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Decades of growth have transformed South Asia into a dynamic region at the cusp of perhaps greater prosperity. However, certain practices that have attended this growth are no longer tenable. To me, therefore, South Asia’s potential represents something more than just being an investment haven or emerging market. Read more

- Gino Van Begin, Secretary General, ICLEI - Local Governments for Sustainability
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I have been working with ICLEI South Asia and its Director, Emani Kumar, since the time it was formed! It gives me immense pleasure to witness the growth and progress made throughout these past 10 years - the continuing good work in the South Asian region, the good anchoring within the members and numerous strong partnerships with governmental institutions. Read more

- Monika Zimmerman, Deputy Secretary General, ICLEI - Local Governments for Sustainability
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I have been closely associated with ICLEI since its beginning and have been actively associated with ICLEI South Asia too. I feel proud to be a part of ICLEI 10 year Anniversary Celebrations. Read more

- Hansa Patel, Chairperson, ICLEI - Local Governments for Sustainability, South Asia
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I am extremely pleased to be associated with ICLEI South Asia - Which is the South Asian branch of the world's largest organization which brings together more than 1000 cities from all over the world to work together and meet regularly to share experiences and knowledge and to establish links. Read more

- Hilmy Mohamed, Mayor, Matale Municipal Council, Sri Lanka
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Bangladesh is a disaster prone country, both natural and man-made disasters. We are facing a lot of urban challenges. Every Local leader is committed to overcome those challenges. Read more

- Shamim Al Razi, Mayor, Singra Municipality, Bangladesh
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Barisal City is facing numerous climate change impacts like floods and water logging. We have many challenges; like green city planning, sustainable infrastructure development, environment friendly solid waste management and finally making the city adaptive. Read more

- Dr. Md. Matiur Rahman, Chief Health Officer, Barisal City Corporation, Bangladesh

Spotlight on Solapur, India – An interview with Mayor Sushila Laxman Abute

“Solapur city, having water scarcity as a high priority issue, is finding new-fangled drives and paths with ICLEI- South Asia through the Adopting integrated Urban water Management. The Adopt IUWM is providing us with different opportunities to increase our efficiency, to find loopholes in the system and identifying new solutions for the basic facilities by integrating various aspects related to water cycle.”

Meet Keshav Jha – Senior Project Officer (Energy and Climate)

“With our work, we have brought a transformational shift over the last decade in the cities’ understanding and realization of climate change threats. I, along with my whole team, have been successful in raising the level of ambition among cities in the region to commit and implement tangible actions.”

Seoul City Mayor elected as new ICLEI President

Former ICLEI President David Cadman, at the ICLEI World Congress 2015, officially handed over his legacy to Mayor Park who is a keen enthusiast of sustainable approaches to climate change. As the new President, Mayor Park’s vision is to promote sustainability not only in Seoul but also in other cities worldwide.

“We have a responsibility to hand this green planet onto our children. A city’s problem is no longer the problem of one country or one city. These are global challenges that all cities must address, with Mayors taking the lead,” said Mayor Park.

100 Mayors adopt Seoul Declaration for sustainable cities

Together with ICLEI President Park Wonsoon (Mayor of Seoul), ICLEI First Vice President James Nxumalo (Mayor of Durban) and ICLEI Secretary General Gino Van Begin, 100 mayors from around the world have adopted the Seoul Declaration. The Seoul Declaration is a collaborative document that sets out a path to urban sustainability. It acknowledges the grave issues facing our world today and establishes how cities can change in response.

Solutions Gateway now open to all cities

The Solutions Gateway, an online platform on Low Carbon Solutions for Urban Development created for cities and towns, was launched at the ICLEI World Congress 2015 in April 2015. It is now available to all local governments, free of charge. This innovative platform, tailor-made for local governments, was developed to assist cities and towns in mainstreaming low emission development into urban plans, projects and processes.

Learning from implementation: 8 Pilot Projects selected for IUWM cities

Under the Adopting Integrated Urban Water Management in Indian Cities (AdoptIUWM) Project, a series of activities have been conducted over the past few months - State Level Review Meeting in Rajasthan and second Stakeholder workshops in all project cities where each city formulated an IUWM based vision for a sustainable Water Future and selected Pilot Projects for implementation (total 8 pilot Projects) through a participatory exercise.

Moving steadily towards building climate resilience

10 Indian cities namely, Leh, Dharamsala, Mandi, Dehradun, Nainital, Panaji, Nashik, Kurseong, Shillong and Gangtok and 3 cities of Bangladesh - Singra, Mongla and Barisal, are currently a part of the Rockefeller Foundation funded Asian Cities Climate Change Resilience Network (ACCCRN), working towards improving their climate resilience and protecting themselves from projected impacts of climate change.

Launches, partnerships and commitments – ICLEI World Congress 2015 witnessed it all!

The ICLEI World Congress 2015, held in Seoul, Korea from 8-12 April, has been, as of now, the biggest forum discussing the development of urban sustainability in 2015 worldwide. The congress welcomed over 2,500 participants from over 75 countries. There were over 37 sessions, and 10 MoUs signed by ICLEI during the Congress.  

All India Environmental Journalism Competition 2015

To steer the public and other stakeholders towards the path of sustainable development and to encourage environmental journalism in India, GIZ India along with IFAT India, and under the patronage of the German Embassy, has been organising the All India Environmental Journalism Competition since 2013. The third All India Environmental Journalism Competition 2015 is being organised in association with IFAT India, ICLEI South Asia, The Third Pole and Asian College of Journalism.