EXCHANGE AND LEARNING : Framework for addressing climate threats to cities
This week we will be looking at centralised city-level climate change plans and policies. In Latin America we are seeing more and more cities developing comprehensive city-level climate change strategies that are backed up with policies and supported by governmental institutions. We are interested to see whether this is a trend across the global south, and whether such plans are genuinely improving climate resilience in cities. We would like to begin the discussion by sharing cases from the capital cities of Mexico and Ecuador. Mexico City implemented it’s Climate Action Program in 2008 [please see Executive Summary], and in 2012 published a report detailing emissions reductions and achievements from the first four years. The city of Quito developed it’s Climate Change Strategy and Action Plan in 2009, which used a holistic inclusive approach and is considered a benchmark in terms of city level climate change planning [please see the MIT news article].
In order to provide direct insights on the cases of Quito and Mexico City we carried out interviews with two fundamental actors in the development and implementation of these plans. We are very grateful to Carolina Zambrano-Barragán from the city of Quito, and Martha Delgado from Mexico City for taking the time to share their experiences with us. Carolina Zambrano-Barragán was the Metropolitan Director of Environmental Policy and Planning for the City of Quito and previously served as Undersecretary of Climate Change at the Ministry of Environment of Ecuador. Martha Delgado was the Minister of Environment for Mexico City during the administration of Mayor Marcelo Ebrard (2006-2012), where they developed ambitious environmental policies like the Green Plan of Mexico City and the Climate Action Program. We would like to invite you to read these interviews and engage in the following discussion:
1) Does your city have a government mandated climate change strategy?
If yes, how was it developed (who was involved) and how successful is it in achieving its mandate?
If no, what do you perceive to be the barriers for developing one?
2) To what extent do your city governments invest in improving climate resilience?
3) Can cities become resilient to climate change without centralised support?
Should you have any questions for either of our experts this week, please let us know and we will be happy to contact them. We would like to encourage you once again to please engage in the discussion and analyse the experiences of other participants, building upon each others’ contributions. For participants that do have city plans and policies, please identify the enabling factors so that other participants may learn from your examples. Let’s work together!
| THIS WEEK'S KEY MATERIALS |
ELLA Learning Alliance on Climate Resilient Cities: Mexico City and Quito Climate Change Plans from ELLA Programme
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