ICLEI South Asia - May 2018

ICLEI South Asia E-News

May 2018

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

Greetings!

The month of April has been extremely eventful and busy for us. We have made good progress in some of the projects, and also initiated a few new ones.

The Green City Action Plan (GCAP) project, funded by Asian Development Bank (ADB) and supported by The Indonesia-Malaysia-Thailand Growth Triangle (IMT-GT), is under implementation in Kota Kinabalu, Malaysia. The plan, developed through this project, will support Malaysia’s National Urban Policy and help in meeting the State of Sabah and Malaysia’s climate and green growth commitments. A team of international and national consultants visited the city for inception meetings and a workshop.

A project partner meeting was held recently in Bonn, Germany to plan activities for the EcoLogistics project. The project is supported by the German Federal Ministry for the Environment, Nature Conservation, Building and Nuclear Safety (BMU) through its International Climate Initiative (IKI). It is being implemented in nine cities across India, Columbia and Argentina. Kochi, Panaji, and Shimla are the selected Indian cities. The project aims to promote low carbon urban freight policies and practices, by highlighting EcoLogistics as a priority area for local and national governments.

We successfully organised a workshop in Karnal under the European Union (EU) funded PROMotion of Inclusive, Sustainable Growth and Diversity to Strengthen Local Governments (PROMISE) project. It was a good platform to discuss the project activities, learnings from other project cities and the draft toolkit that is being developed under the project.

Also, one of the key highlights from last month is the Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation (SDC) funded CapaCITIES e-rickshaw project anniversary. A two-day e-rickshaw promotional program was organised by ICLEI South Asia, and implemented jointly by Udaipur Municipal Corporation (UMC). As part of the program, a to and fro ride was given to the UMC officials among other activities.

In addition, we presented the Integrated Rural Urban Water Management for Climate based Adaptations in Indian Cities (IAdapt) project, funded by International Development Research Centre (IDRC), at Resilient Cities 2018 held in Bonn, Germany.

Read on to know more.

Consultants Visit Kota Kinabalu for Green City Action Plan

ICLEI South Asia has once again joined hands with ADB and IMT-GT to prepare the Green City Action Plan for the city of Kota Kinabalu. The team is following a multi-stakeholder consultative process for the same. International and national consultants, including experts from ICLEI South Asia, visited Kota Kinabalu for inception meetings and a workshop. The team met the Hon’ble Mayor, head of the concerned departments as well as technical staff of public and private sectors. Current developmental priorities and infrastructure projects were discussed in detail which revealed the need to identify, prioritise and implement low-carbon climate-resilient projects and access financing for the same.

Workshop Highlights Projects being implemented under National Schemes

First national exchange workshop was organised by ICLEI South Asia under its EU funded PROMISE project in Karnal, which is one of the project cities apart from Ajmer, Jabalpur, and Warangal. The workshop discussed the on-going project activities, sector specific work and learnings from the project cities, and the draft toolkit. The PROMISE toolkit is an excel based tool which is used to evaluate the existing service levels of the city, take ideas from the city authorities, and other stakeholders who are the end users. The final result helps municipalities decide which project to take up first. The project team emphasised the need for convergence between the ongoing national and state level schemes for improved infrastructure services in the Indian cities. The team demonstrated the need for capacity improvement of municipal staff and teams to enable them to connect with beneficiaries on ground.

ICLEI South Asia Presents IAdapt Project at Resilient Cities 2018

Mr. Emani Kumar, Executive Director, ICLEI South Asia participated at the Resilient Cities 2018 that was held in Bonn, Germany. The congress was organised by ICLEI World Secretariat. Mr. Kumar presented Integrated Rural Urban Water Management for Climate based Adaptations in Indian cities (IAdapt) project funded by International Development Research Centre (IDRC). He introduced the project, and explained the objectives to the participants. The session helped participants learn about the methods for adapting urban management in different urban environments involving various stakeholders. They also gained a better understanding of strategies for working with city governments to respond to the changing dynamics of resilient urban development in the context of climate change.

Study on Impact of Climate Change on Migration in Siliguri under CapaCITIES project

A study to understand the impact of climate change on migration has been initiated by the Indian Institute of Human Settlements (IIHS) in Siliguri. Focus group discussions were carried out in wards 4 and 24 out of the four selected wards namely 4, 20, 24, and 46. These discussions focused on separate interactions with men, women and the elderly. Detailed discussions to understand the policy and governance level issues have also been carried out with the mayor and other officials in Siliguri Municipal Corporation. The results from the same will complement the ongoing work under the SDC supported CapaCITIES project in the city.

CapaCITIES project captures Siliguri’s imagination through its Sunya initiative

The city of Siliguri held an awareness rally wherein common citizens walked alongside the elected representatives and city officials to raise awareness regarding a ‘Clean and Green Siliguri’. The walk and its huge participation can be attributed to SDC funded CapaCITIES project, through which intensive capacity building activities and awareness generation meetings have been undertaken in schools and societies over the past few weeks. The walk also indicates that the project has been able to bring the limelight on one of the key urban issues plaguing the city of Siliguri.

Singra Municipality of Bangladesh wins the First TUMI Global Urban Mobility Challenge 2018

Singra Municipality of Bangladesh has been selected as a winning candidate of the first Transformative Urban Mobility Initiative (TUMI) Global Urban Mobility Challenge 2018. A project entitled ‘Promoting e-Rickshaws as a Public Transport and Emergency Health Supporting Services’, submitted by the municipality in collaboration with ICLEI South Asia, has been selected and qualified in the first round. The overall objective of the project is to promote modernised, low-cost and eco-friendly public transportation system. Singra city has been invited at the TUMI Event of International Transport Forum, to be held on the 22nd of May, 2018 in Leipzig, Germany for the award ceremony.

EcoLogistics Project Begins in Three Indian Cities to Streamline Urban Freight Movement

With the aim to streamline urban freight movement and to reduce emission from urban freight sector, EcoLogistics project has been started, supported by the BMU through its IKI program, in three Indian Cities – Kochi, Panaji, and Shimla. A project partner’s kick-off meeting was held at ICLEI World Secretariat, Germany and was attended by project partners - ICLEI South Asia, ICLEI South America Secretariat, Smart Freight Centre and Zaragoza Logistics Center, Despacio. During the meeting, the team discussed work plan to initiate the project activities. As a next step, ICLEI South Asia team will visit project cities, and work closely with the city administration and stakeholders including transport department, industry and business groups to assess the current situation.

Udaipur City Promotes E-rickshaws on CapaCITIES Project Anniversary

A two-day e-rickshaw promotional program was organised by ICLEI South Asia, and it was implemented jointly by Udaipur Municipal Corporation (UMC) on the occasion of the anniversary of CapaCITIES e-rickshaw project. As part of the program, e-rickshaw ride to MCU officials from their home to office and vice versa were given on day one by ICLEI South Asia. Officials including Commissioner, Mayor, Deputy Commissioner, Deputy Mayor, and other senior officials were part of the activity. The idea behind this was to generate a buzz about e-rickshaws. On day two, a city-wide e-rickshaw rally with various awareness messages pasted on the e-rickshaws was carried out. School children were also given free ride in passenger e-rickshaws.

Visit of Landfill Expert to Siliguri under CapaCITIES Project

Mr. Stephan Textor from Textor Engineering, Switzerland carried out a visit to Siliguri to understand the situation of the dumpsite in the city, and help in better management of the same. During the visit, Mr. Textor had detailed discussions with the Siliguri Municipal Corporation (SMC) staff who are involved in the management of the dumpsite. Mr. Textor also presented his findings and initial recommendations to the officials of SMC, which have been very well received. A detailed report, along with engineering drawings will be developed by the expert over the next month. In addition, Mr. Textor emphasised on the need to reduce the amount of waste reaching the landfill through waste recycling and reuse.

Second Annual Partners Meeting for IAdapt Project

The Second Annual Partners Meeting for the IAdapt project, supported by IDRC, was conducted at ICLEI South Asia’s office in New Delhi. The meeting was attended by representatives of the different project partners, including ICLEI South Asia, Athena Infonomics, IIT Madras, in person with representatives from IWMI joining online. The meeting updated all partners on project activities implemented at the selected micro catchments and overall project achievements. The project activities to be implemented in the selected two micro catchments in Solapur and Vijayawada were also planned. Project based learnings and challenges in the two cities were shared by ICLEI South Asia and Athena Infonomics.

Workshop on National Biodiversity Strategy Action Plan and Local Biodiversity Strategy Action Plan Development Guidelines

With support from the Kochi Municipal Corporation and the Centre for Heritage, Environment and Development, a workshop on National Biodiversity Strategy Action Plan and Local Biodiversity Strategy Action Plan development guidelines was organised under the INTERACT-Bio project. The workshop aimed to introduce the concepts of national, state and local biodiversity strategy action plans to the participants and highlight the need for the same. It was attended by participants from 18 Indian cities, 3 state government departments, 4 state biodiversity boards, and National Biodiversity Authority. The project is funded by BMU and supported by Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change (MoEFCC) and National Biodiversity Authority.

Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank Workshop on Engagement with CSOs and NGOs

A stakeholder engagement meeting is being organised by Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB) with cooperation from ICLEI South Asia on the 16th of May, 2018 in New Delhi. The workshop has been convened to reach out to the CSOs and NGOs and understand their views on the bank’s overall development as well as business operations in India.

ICLEI World Congress 2018

ICLEI World Congress 2018 will be hosted by the Ville de Montréal on the 19th to 22nd of June, 2018 in Montreal, Canada. At the Congress, the Cities Biodiversity Centre (CBC), scientists, urban planners, policymakers, conservationists and other key stakeholders will explore nature as a key tool for more sustainable urbanisation.

ICLEI South Asia E-News

May 2018

Consultants Visit Kota Kinabalu for Green City Action Plan

Workshop Highlights Projects being implemented under National Schemes

ICLEI South Asia Presents IAdapt Project at Resilient Cities 2018

Study on Impact of Climate Change on Migration in Siliguri under CapaCITIES project

CapaCITIES project captures Siliguri’s imagination through its Sunya initiative

Singra Municipality of Bangladesh wins the First TUMI Global Urban Mobility Challenge 2018

EcoLogistics Project Begins in Three Indian Cities to Streamline Urban Freight Movement

Udaipur City Promotes E-rickshaws on CapaCITIES Project Anniversary

Visit of Landfill Expert to Siliguri under CapaCITIES Project

Second Annual Partners Meeting for IAdapt Project

Workshop on National Biodiversity Strategy Action Plan and Local Biodiversity Strategy Action Plan Development Guidelines

Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank Workshop on Engagement with CSOs and NGOs

ICLEI World Congress 2018

ICLEI South Asia Secretariat

Connect with Us:

About ICLEI-Local Governments for Sustainability