BLOG: Resilient Cities Asia Pacific – Delegates Challenged to Think Long Term

This is a photo of ASI monument number .N-DL-127.

Resilient Cities Asia Pacific (RCAP) 2019 — the Asia Pacific Forum on Adaptation and Urban Resilience — took place in New Delhi, India from 15-17 April 2019. The RCAP is an annual forum organised by the Asia Pacific offices of ICLEI – Local Governments for Sustainability and hosting rotates among different cities in the Asia Pacific region.

This year, more than 200 participants from over 25 countries attended. India’s Vice President Mr. M Venkaiah Naidu, inaugurated the event by encouraging participants to take action on climate change and use the forum to learn from each other.

The Mayor of Thimphu, Mr. Kinlay Dorjee, followed this with the thought-provoking challenge that participants should judge whether they have been able to use the learning from previous RCAPs and can use those insights to make the 2019 event a success.

The running theme of the Congress was the role of local governments in contributing to the achievement of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and the Nationally Determined Contribution (NDC) targets under the UNFCCC. However, this time the Congress also had a major thrust on improved governance for effective resilience building.

Several plenary and parallel sessions focused on improving urban governance and using multi-level governance platforms to promote urban resilience actions. Two tools were also launched at the event, both of which aim to support local authorities in improving governance mechanisms for sustainable development.

Tools for improved local climate governance
The event saw the launch of the PROMISE toolkit as a means of participatory decision making for sustainable and inclusive urban development. This tool has been developed by ICLEI as part of a European Union supported project and will shortly be available online for use by local authorities. It is aimed at improving the governance processes of local authorities by making it transparent, accountable and participatory.

Another tool that has been developed by ICLEI with support of Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation, the Climate Resilient Cities Action Plan tool, was introduced as a step by step guide for local authorities to prepare an action plan for climate change, covering both mitigation and adaptation related actions. This tool also supports the involvement of multiple levels of governance in effective climate action planning.

These tools are relatively simply designed for local governments to be able to implement on their own. However, given the human and technical capacity limitations in south Asian local authorities, it is a concern whether these tools will be implemented without external support.

Nature-based solutions and climate-adaptive water management
In break-out sessions in this year’s Congress, discussions went far beyond the usual themes of urban nexus approaches, low carbon initiatives and sharing experience on urban resilience actions.

New themes were introduced on nature-based solutions and climate-adaptive water management. These occupied parallel sessions but it was clear to see that they were also taken up in cross-cutting learning and exchanges, too.
Deliberations on climate-adaptive water management centred on:

– the need to engage multiple stakeholder groups in integrated planning of water resources

– the need for downscaled climate information to support improved planning.

Participants recognised that since water resources are shared by urban and rural stakeholders, both groups should be involved for effective planning of these shared resources. ‘RURBAN platforms’ are needed to bring together rural and urban stakeholders for collaboration and cooperation.

To support better public engagement, there is a need for easier-to-use information about the impacts of climate change on water resources. Crispino Lobo from Watershed Organisation Trust (WOTR) made the case that simplified climate information could successfully be used to engage semi-literate and illiterate villagers to take actions on climate change.

Communicating climate information
A plenary on the final day highlighted the importance of communicating climate information to diverse stakeholders to promote climate action. ‘Communicating climate information’ was a new theme introduced to the RCAP series this year. CDKN Director Shehnaaz Moosa moderated the discussion, highlighting the particular need for multistakeholder engagement for effective climate action. Representatives from subnational government authorities, cities associations, research sector and mayors shared their own experiences of using climate information.

The Delhi Call
The RCAP ended with the tabling of and deliberations on the Delhi Call for Action, which reiterated the commitment of local governments to the SDGs, the NDC targets and the Sendai Framework. The role of local governments were also discussed in the UN Session with representatives from UNISDR, UNESCAP, UNHABITAT and UNDP. The Call was discussed in open plenary with the participants of the conference and was accepted by proclamation at the conference.

The Call and the outcomes of the conference will be discussed at the Global NDC Conference in Berlin and the Resilient Cities Congress in Bonn to be held the next month. It would be interesting to make an introspective assessment at the next RCAP to see actually how much learning was actually taken up and implemented by the participants as suggested by Mayor Dorjee at the outset of this year’s event.

ICLEI WORLD SECRETARIAT
Kaiser-Friedrich-Str. 7
53113 Bonn
Germany
T: +49-228/97 62 99-00
F.+49-228/97 62 99-01 Email: iclei.org
EUROPE
European Secretariat
Leopoldring 3
79098 Freiburg, Germany
www.iclei-europe.org
Brussels Office
Av. de Tervuren 35
1040 Bruxelles
Belgium
Berlin Office
St. Oberholz ROS Team Room 4.02 Rosenthaler Str. 72a 10119 Berlin, Germany
AFRICA SECRETARIAT
Physical address:
3 Knowledge Park
Century City
Cape Town
8001
South Africa
Postal address:
PO Box 5319
Tygervalley
7536
South Africa
www.iclei.org/africa
NORTH AMERICA
Canada Office
401 Richmond St. W
Studio 204
Toronto, Ontario
M5V 3A8, Canada
www.iclei.org/canada
USA Office
536 Wynkoop St.
Suite 901
Denver, Colorado
USA 80202
www.icleiusa.org
MEXICO, CENTRAL AMERICA AND THE CARIBBEAN
Mexico, Central American and Caribbean Secretariat
Eje Central Lazaro Cardenas 13 Building Miguel Abed, Floor 5 Office 506 and 507, Col. Centro, CP 06050 Del. Cuauhtemoc, Mexico City, Mexico
www.iclei.org.mx
Colombia Office
Área Metropolitana del Valle de Aburrá Carrera 53 N° 40A - 31 Medellín, Antioquia – Colombia
ICLEI Argentina
Boulevard Gálvez, 1150 Planta Alta. Santa Fe, Argentina
SOUTH AMERICA
South America Secretariat Brazil Project Office
Rua Ibiraçu, 226, Vila Madalena
São Paulo / SP - Brazil
CEP 05451-040
www.iclei.org.mx
SOUTH ASIA
South Asia Secretariat
Ground Floor, NSIC-STP Complex NSIC Bhawan, Okhla Industrial Estate New Delhi – 110020, India
southasia.iclei.org
EAST ASIA
East Asia Secretariat
14/F, Seoul Global Center Building, 38 Jongno, Jongno-gu, Seoul, South Korea (110-110)
eastasia.iclei.org
SOUTHEAST ASIA
Southeast Asia Secretariat
c/o The Manila Observatory Ateneo de Manila University Campus Loyola Heights, Quezon City 1101 Manila, Philippines
seas.iclei.org
ICLEI Indonesia Project Office
Rasuna Office Park III WO. 06-09 Komplek Rasuna Epicentrum Jl. Taman Rasuna Selatan, Kuningan DKI Jakarta, 12960, Indonesia
OCEANIA
Oceania Secretariat
Level 1, 200 Little Collins Street Melbourne, Victoria 3000, Australia
icleioceania.org
Advocacy
Training
Consultancy
Research
Associate Partnership
Associate Partnership
Associate Partnership
Associate Partnership
Associate Partnership
ICLEI membership application
ICLEI membership application
ICLEI membership application
ICLEI membership application
ICLEI membership application
Want to be a model?
Want to be a model?
Want to be a model?
Want to be a model?
Want to be a model?
ICLEI membership online application form
ICLEI membership online application form
ICLEI membership online application form
ICLEI membership online application form
ICLEI membership online application form