ICLEI South Asia - November 2018

ICLEI South Asia E-News

November 2018

Emani Kumar
Deputy Secretary General, ICLEI and Executive Director, ICLEI South Asia

Warm greetings to all our readers!

We are extremely grateful for all the achievements and progress made in the past month. We feel privileged to have facilitated the Talanoa Dialogue in India, with support from the Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change, on the occasion of World Cities Day. The Dialogue brought stakeholders from diverse backgrounds under one roof to discuss our commitments to achieving India's NDC. It was a great pleasure to see the enthusiasm among the participants.

At the same event, a kick-off meeting for the EcoLogistics - Low Carbon Freight for Sustainable Cities project was also organised. The project is supported by the Federal Ministry for the Environment, Nature Conservation and Nuclear Safety (BMU), Germany through its International Climate Initiative (IKI) program.

City representatives from CapaCITIES project cites, participated in the Local Renewables Conference 2018 in Freiburg, Germany. The project is supported by the Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation. The session focused on renewable energy and circular economy. The cities also went on a study tour to Zurich's Waste Incineration Plant, Waste Water Treatment with Energy Production and Biogas Plant.

Besides, ICLEI South Asia supported the Green Cities Conference in Melaka, Malaysia as a technical partner. The conference aimed to address climate change impacts and other challenges faced by the ASEAN cities. The conference was supported by the Asian Development Bank and organised by the Centre for IMT-GT Cooperation and the Green Growth Foundation.

We would also like to take this opportunity to invite you for the upcoming launch of Climate and Development Knowledge Network’s new phase in India and Bangladesh, details of which are provided in the e-news.

Happy reading!

Stakeholders Come Together for Talanoa Dialogue in India

The Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change (MoEFCC), Government of India and ICLEI South Asia jointly organised the Cities and Regions Talanoa Dialogue in New Delhi. The one-day workshop brought together stakeholders from government, academia, international community, private sector and civil society. The aim was to strengthen aspects of multi-level governance to enable accelerated and effective on-ground action aimed at achieving NDC commitments. Mr. A. K. Mehta, Additional Secretary, MoEFCC in his keynote address emphasised that Talanoa is about the spirit of camaraderie and India as a country has great success stories to share. He also said that sustainability is part of our culture. The dialogue was attended by representatives from various cities and states.

EcoLogistics - Low Carbon Freight for Sustainable Cities Kicks Off in India

The national kick-off workshop for the project EcoLogistics - Low Carbon Freight for Sustainable Cities was organised in New Delhi. The project aims to prioritise strategies that will focus on promoting the transportation of goods with reduced GHG emissions and minimised impacts on air quality, noise, health, fatalities and injuries, traffic congestion. Experts gathered to discuss the status of freight sector in India and ways to improve it. The representatives from all three project cities (Kochi, Shimla and Panaji) also elaborated on the existing status of the urban freight and problems faced by them in their respective cities. The project is supported by the Federal Ministry for the Environment, Nature Conservation and Nuclear Safety (BMU), Germany through its International Climate Initiative (IKI) program.

Cities Discuss Development of Sustainable Cities at the Green Cities Conference

ICLEI South Asia, as a technical partner, supported the Green Cities Conference in Melaka. The Conference hosted by the Melaka province in Malaysia, was supported by the Asian Development Bank and organised by the Centre for IMT-GT Cooperation and the Green Growth Foundation. ASEAN cities, technical partners and funders gathered at the event and called for a collaborative effort to address the ever increasing challenges faced by ASEAN cities with respect to addressing climate change impacts and managing scarce resources in a sustainable and environmentally friendly manner.

Workshop Discusses Gender Inclusive Framework under CDKN Programme

Monitoring, Evaluation and Learning (MEL) workshop was organised under the Climate and Development Knowledge Network (CDKN) programme in London. The event brought together the four alliance partners of CDKN: ICLEI South Asia, Fundacion Futuro LatinoAmericano (FFLA), SouthSouthNorth (SSN) and the Overseas Development Institute (ODI) to discuss and agree on the MEL Framework - which has been designed keeping in mind the gender approach of the project. CDKN is committed to supporting social inclusion and gender equality in its programme. This objective recognises that the way climate change is caused, experienced and remedied is not gender neutral and that social inequalities impede effective and sustainable climate compatible development. The goal of the workshop was to develop a process to ensure gender and social inclusion effectively in all aspects of the project.

Decision Support Tool Training and Exposure Visit under IAdapt Project

A training program for project partners was conducted by Athena Infonomics, under the International Development Research Centre supported IAdapt project, on the Decision Support Tool (DST) in Chennai. The DST, one of the major outputs of the project, is being developed to facilitate and support local governments and catchment managers to make climate informed decision for sustainable water management. The tool will be tested in the project cities to prioritise climate adaptive water management projects and disseminated after fine tuning. Read More.

An exposure visit for officials of Solapur Municipal Corporation to Nagpur city was also organised to showcase good practices for urban water management in Nagpur that could be replicated in Solapur. Read More.

CapaCITIES Project Cities Participate in Local Renewables Conference 2018

CapaCITIES project, supported by the Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation, organised a session at the Local Renewables Conference 2018 in Freiburg, Germany. City representatives from the project cities participated in the session which discussed initiatives focusing on renewable energy and circular economy that have been implemented by these cities. During the visit, a study tour to the Waste Incineration Plant, Waste Water Treatment with Energy Production and Biogas Plant in Zurich was also organised for the cities.

Why South Asia Still Has a Long Way to go in Resilience Planning

Many local and sub-national governments in South Asia are missing opportunities to invest in climate-resilient development: a step-change is needed in awareness and action, writes Bedoshruti Sadhukhan.

Even Half a Degree of Warming Matters for South Asia’s Urban Poor

Aditi Paul reflects on the revelations in the IPCC’s 1.5°C Special Report and its implications, including key messages for cities.

CDKN's New Phase to be launched in India and Bangladesh

ICLEI South Asia is one of the four supporting partners in CDKN’s new phase that will be launched in Bangladesh and India on the 19^th and 20^th of November, 2018 respectively. In the new phase, CDKN will focus on providing developing countries with enhanced knowledge resources to support ambitious climate action, as well as boost climate leadership and learning on climate compatible development.

Conference on Role of Cities in Addressing Climate Change

WWF-India, in partnership with ICLEI South Asia, is organising a conference on the Role of Cities in Addressing Climate Change in New Delhi on the 12^th of November, 2018. The conference aims to provide cities a platform for deliberation on their role in addressing climate change and related issues of air pollution and health.

Conference of the Parties (COP) 14

From the 17^th to 29^th of November, 2018, the United Nations will call on decision makers from more than 190 countries to step up efforts to halt the biodiversity loss and protect the ecosystems that support food and water security and health for billions of people. The UN Biodiversity Conference (14^th meeting of the Conference of the Parties to the Convention on Biological Diversity - COP 14) will be held in Sharm El-Sheikh, Egypt.

ICLEI South Asia E-News

November 2018

Stakeholders Come Together for Talanoa Dialogue in India

EcoLogistics - Low Carbon Freight for Sustainable Cities Kicks Off in India

Cities Discuss Development of Sustainable Cities at the Green Cities Conference

Workshop Discusses Gender Inclusive Framework under CDKN Programme

Decision Support Tool Training and Exposure Visit under IAdapt Project

CapaCITIES Project Cities Participate in Local Renewables Conference 2018

Why South Asia Still Has a Long Way to go in Resilience Planning

Even Half a Degree of Warming Matters for South Asia’s Urban Poor

CDKN's New Phase to be launched in India and Bangladesh

Conference on Role of Cities in Addressing Climate Change

Conference of the Parties (COP) 14

ICLEI South Asia Secretariat

Connect with Us:

About ICLEI-Local Governments for Sustainability