Working Group 4:

Urban Governance for Risk Reduction: Mainstreaming Adaptation into Urban

Planning and Development

Chair: Prof. Shabbir CheemaRapporteurs: Dr. Kris Ebi and Dr. Dushmanta Dutta

International Workshop onCities at Risk: Developing Adaptive Capacity for Climate Change in Asia’s Megacities

26-28 February, Bangkok, Thailand

Key question for the Working Group:

• How can adaptation and climate risk management best be mainstreamed and implemented in urban development planning and governance?

• Participants: 13 • Countries from the region: China, India,

Pakistan, Thailand and Taiwan

Framework for discussion

Mechanism to mainstream adaptation strategy to urban development planning process

Mechanism to mainstream adaptation strategy in urban governance structures and process.

Sub issues within development planning process:1. Land use planning2. Infrastructure planning 3. Financing 4. Planning for implementation5. Monitoring and evaluation

Sub issues within Urban governance structures and process:1. Human resources development2. Local government role/decentralization 3. Multilevel roles4. Coordination5. Transparency/accountability6. Civic engagement

Important issues in mainstreaming adaptation

1) Influencing factors on mainstreaming adaptation measures in planning (from the experiences of some Asia cities)– Leadership– Resources– Triggering event as entry point

2) Planning is ongoing process and gradual progress in key development planning sectors has enhanced adaptability of cities to cope with high frequency, low and medium scale disasters over time.

3) Increasing resilience of most vulnerable people• Development planning is relatively long-term process and the

implementation is a lengthy process and does not bring immediate benefit to the most vulnerable population. It is important to have effective urban governance mechanism to increase resilience of most vulnerable sectors that don’t get benefits from long-term adaptation measures.

• The role of government and civil society is improving the resilience of most vulnerable urban groups through on-site upgrading shelter, basic urban services is one of such examples.

4) Decisions making process• The process through which decisions about development

planning are made is an important determinant for mainstreaming the adaptation strategy for climate change. Where power is concentrated in few quarters and transparency and mechanism of accountability are not place, it becomes difficult to go beyond narrow and short term vested interest.

5) Role of market• Market forces have greatly influenced the urban

development planning in the past one or two decades in many Asian countries. The market forces can play significant role in influencing the climate risk adaptation measures in development planning and that should harnessed in mainstreaming adaptation strategy.

6) Convergence of public and private• The Private sector has led the infrastructure development in

many Asian cities, which were beyond the capability of the public sector. There needs to be convergence of the public and private sectors for mainstreaming climate risk adaptation measures in development planning. The role of the public sector in this regard is to identify and maintain the public standards, while the role of the private sector is resource generation to achieve the objectives.

7) Government roles• Governments at different levels need to act effectively and timely fashion to

address the climate change issue and adaptation measures. • The roles and responsibilities of governments at different levels (central,

state/province, district/local, etc) should be streamlined to clarify who would do what and how their actions to be harmonized.

• Implementation of adaptation measures at development plans can be made effective through appropriate new legislations.

• The governments need to ensure the effective implementation of the existing and new legislations.

• The governments at various levels need to enhance the capacity of the implementing organizations.

8) Role of Civil society including NGOs• NGOs can be key players in mainstreaming adaptation measures in several

important components of urban governance including:– Building awareness to create political wills– Increasing community awareness – Contributing to enhance resilience of most vulnerable poor population (not under the

radar of public or private sectors)• Even though the role of civil society has expanded over the years, there is still a

strong need for continued expansion of political critical space for civil society to perform its role in mainstreaming adaptation strategy as it has done in the past in particular in such issues as human rights and debt relief.

9) Agency for climate change• Lack of coordination among many agencies and

organizations has been detrimental in mainstreaming climate risk adaptation measures.

• There is a need to improve the structure and processes of coordination and harmonization and that can be done through a central coordinating mechanism/entity.

• This is especially important in prompt decision making processes for quick responses to disasters and hazard reduction strategies.

• Some countries have recently established a central agency to coordinate the activities of various responsible agencies.

• There was also alternative view point was to strengthen existing coordination structure and mechanism rather than creating a new one for adaptation strategy.

10) Effective governance at the systemic level is essential to mainstream adaptation strategies.

• development in the public sector especially concerning adaption strategy for climate change

• enhance capacity of urban local governments to provide urban shelters and services to vulnerable groups and protect the urban environment

• Expansion of democratization of governance process and decentralization of responsibilities to urban local governments to improve implementation of national policy, planning and strategies and to facilitate participation of civil society in local decision making process

• strengthening government and civil society relation and engagement of Civil Society to change from reactive to pro-active.

• transparency and accountability mechanism

11) Boundary issues• Hazards don’t follow administrative boundary.

Many urban vulnerable areas are at the fringe or outside of city administration boundaries in many countries. City based adaptation approach will not be affective and it requires an integrated approach of bring upstream and downstream together in adaptation measures.

12) Rehabilitation process in adaptation mechanism• There needs to be rehabilitation process in

adaptation measures that address the livelihood and cultural issues.

Assessments and Future Research

1. Need for looking at various Methods for assessments 2. Need for case studies on Comprehensive assessment

of improvement of adaptation capacity of cities through previous development plans various issues in cities/countries of different levels of economy, different governance structures and mechanism

3. Case studies on mainstreaming mechanisms for climatic risk adaptation (learning from practice)

4. How to effectively communicate with local governments

5. Common Indicators to measure resilience

Capacity building and Networking

• Research expertise• Regional centers of excellence for to work

with academics and networking• Continued education & training• Collaborative research encored in national

training and research institutes with strong network and linkages with regional and international institutions

Future research

• Case studies on mainstreaming mechanisms for climatic risk adaptation (learning from practice)

• How to effectively communicate with local governments

• Common Indicators to measure resilience