ICLEI South Asia - January 2018

ICLEI South Asia E-News

January 2018

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

Greetings!

A very happy 2018 to all our readers!

We concluded the year with the Resilient Cities Asia Pacific (RCAP) 2017 and Asia LEDS Forum (ALP) 2017, organised by ICLEI offices in Asia and the Pacific along with the Ministry of Planning and Investment, Government of Vietnam, Asia LEDS Partnership, LEDS Global Partnership in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam in December. The events drew to a successful close with good participation and well-received sessions. In this newsletter, we present the summary and highlights from both the forums.

Coming to our projects, there has been significant progress in the SUNYA pilot projects, being implemented as part of CapaCITIES project which is supported by the Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation (SDC). The pilot was formally launched in Coimbatore by the Municipal Commissioner. Awareness generation activities and meetings have been initiated for the same in Siliguri. Quantification and characterisation of municipal solid waste has been conducted in three zones of Rajkot city to support sustainable waste management in the city.

In addition, a workshop on ‘Financing Sustainable and Resilient Infrastructure in India’ was conducted in New Delhi. The discussions focused on sustainability and resilience in infrastructure, financing infrastructure, project structuring and concrete actions.

Do not miss out on our actors of change this time as it is an ALP 2017 special. And do read our latest blogs on sustainable goals, and share your feedback with us.

Read on to know more about our activities from the last month.

Asia LEDS Forum 2017

The ALP 2017 was organised by the Ministry of Planning and Investment, Government of Vietnam, along with Asia LEDS Partnership on the 5th and 6th of December in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam. The two-day forum, with the theme 'Resource mobilization for NDC implementation in Asia', recognised the importance of the implementation and monitoring of NDCs in Asia, and created a platform for the participants to share knowledge, learning, solutions, and resources that have proven effective in their respective contexts.

Resilient Cities Asia Pacific 2017

ICLEI offices in Asia and Pacific in partnership with Ministry of Planning and Investment, Government of Vietnam, Asia LEDS Partnership, and LEDS Global Partnership (GP) hosted the two-day Resilient Cities Asia Pacific 2017 on the 7th and 8th of December in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam. The aim of the forum was to forge partnerships, identify implementable solutions and create lasting impacts for cities in the region. The event witnessed over 200 participants from 25 countries and 40 cities including 20 mayors. In addition, over 60 speakers participated in five plenary and nine parallel sessions.

Initiation of Awareness Generation Activities for SUNYA Project Implementation in Siliguri

As part of the CapaCITIES project, ICLEI South Asia, in coordination with Siliguri Municipal Corporation has initiated a pilot project on Zero Waste (SUNYA) in wards 2 and 17. One of the components of this initiative focuses on awareness generation, and the same was conducted in ward 17 in the Siliguri Girls’ High School on the 19th of December, 2017. More such awareness generation activities will be carried out in schools and colonies in wards 2 and 17 during the implementation of SUNYA initiative, as public participation is critical for the success of SUNYA.

Initiation of Ward Level Meetings in Siliguri for the SUNYA Initiative

SUNYA initiative is being undertaken in wards 2 and 17 in Siliguri city. Detailed ward level meetings were carried out in both these wards. These meetings were attended by the solid waste management committees in both the wards, along with the local councilor, borough chairperson and borough officer. Both the interactive meetings focused on clearing the doubts of the ward level committees with regard to the implementation of SUNYA.

SUNYA Project Launched in Coimbatore

The official launch of the SUNYA project in Coimbatore was held on the 29th of December, 2017 by the Commissioner Dr. K. Vijayakarthikeyan, IAS. The Commissioner and Deputy Commissioner commenced the door to door awareness campaign and distributed Information, Education and Communication pamphlets to the public along with CCMC officials, local NGOs, Ladies Association of ward 22 and ICLEI South Asia staff.

Quantification and Characterisation of Municipal Solid Waste conducted in Rajkot

ICLEI South Asia, under the CapaCITIES project, supported by the SDC, conducted quantification and characterisation of municipal solid waste generated in three zones of Rajkot city in order to support the city in its larger objective of sustainable waste management, with focus on the reduction of GHG emissions from waste disposal. In addition to this, an awareness generation programme was also conducted in three wards namely – Ramnagar colony of ward 15, Geeta Nagar colony of ward 14 and Prakash society of ward 10.

Capacity Building workshop on ‘Financing Sustainable and Resilient Infrastructure in India’

The Global Infrastructure Basel, Switzerland, with support from ICLEI South Asia, convened a capacity building workshop ‘Financing Sustainable and Resilient Infrastructure in India’ on the 20th of December, 2017 in New Delhi. The workshop witnessed constructive discussions among various working groups on the four salient topics including the need for sustainability and resilience in infrastructure, financing infrastructure, project structuring and taking concrete actions.

Technical review of the pilot projects implemented under AdoptIUWM

An external review was conducted by Professor V. Srinivas Chary, Director of Centre for Energy, Environment, Urban Governance and Infrastructure Development at Administrative Staff College of India (ASCI), Hyderabad, in Solapur and Ichalkaranji (Maharashtra) and Kishangarh (Rajasthan). The discussion was focused on AdoptIUWM project, capacity building among stakeholders and way forward through different initiatives, schemes and missions. He also discussed the components of Swachh Survekshan 2018 launched to assess sanitation in Indian cities and helped the engineers to work efficiently on the important components.

Some of the national representatives, who spoke on ‘Impact on Accelerating Low Emission Development in Asia’ at the ALP Forum 2017, shared their experience at the forum with us. Catch them talking candidly behind the scenes.

Ron Benioff, Director of LEDS Global Partnership

“We are really honoured to work with ICLEI and all the countries in Asia... It is a very dynamic forum for peer learnings and technical collaboration, and accessing advisory techniques and tools."

Sandee G Recabar, Planning Officer V and Chief, Implementation Oversight Division, Climate Change Commission, Philippines

"I am happy to see how far we have come, and how the ALP 2017 has grown because now there are more partners. Also happy to see now we are trying to engage more sub-nationals because national governments only provide targets and policies. In terms of implementation, looking at the theme which was NDC implementation, local governments can really do mitigation actions and climate actions".

Sustainable Development Goals: a long way to go

The Vietnamese were more explicit in mentioning their national perspective of integrating climate change, sustainability together and thus laying the path for development which is less carbon and more equitable, writes Tikender Panwar.

Read blog

Lessons in sustainability from India's past: Water, water everywhere?

Agriculture has played a significant role in human evolution. As human beings evolved from hunting-gathering to farming, agricultural societies began to expand into lands used by hunter-gatherers, writes Rithika Fernandes.

Read blog

Resilient Cities 2018

Resilient Cities 2018, the 9th Global Forum on Urban Resilience and Adaptation, will be organised from the 26th of April to the 28th of April 2018 in Bonn, Germany. The annual forum is organised by ICLEI - Local Governments for Sustainability and co-hosted by the City of Bonn, Germany.

ICLEI World Congress 2018

ICLEI World Congress 2018 will be hosted by the Ville de Montréal on the 19th to 22nd June, 2018 in Montreal, Canada. At the Congress, the 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

January 2018

Asia LEDS Forum 2017

Resilient Cities Asia Pacific 2017

Initiation of Awareness Generation Activities for SUNYA Project Implementation in Siliguri

Initiation of Ward Level Meetings in Siliguri for the SUNYA Initiative

SUNYA Project Launched in Coimbatore

Quantification and Characterisation of Municipal Solid Waste conducted in Rajkot

Capacity Building workshop on ‘Financing Sustainable and Resilient Infrastructure in India’

Technical review of the pilot projects implemented under AdoptIUWM

Ron Benioff, Director of LEDS Global Partnership

Sandee G Recabar, Planning Officer V and Chief, Implementation Oversight Division, Climate Change Commission, Philippines

Sustainable Development Goals: a long way to go

Lessons in sustainability from India's past: Water, water everywhere?

Resilient Cities 2018

ICLEI World Congress 2018

ICLEI South Asia Secretariat

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