CRIC project kicks off through online medium

Partners of UCLG ASPAC for the CRIC project include All India Institute of Local Self- Government (AIILSG), Association Des Cites Et Des Regions Pour La Gestion Durable Des Ressources, European network for community-led initiatives on climate change and sustainability (ECOLISE), PILOT4DEV and Universite Paris Est Marne La Valle. The third quarterly progress report of CRIC project (July-October 2020) details the status of the ongoing activities or output produced

he project funded by the European Commission under the European Aid Programme sets the framework to develop the tools to help cities in addressing resilience in their agenda and shape the project’s training activities. The goal of the project is also to contribute to sustainable integrated urban development, good governance, and climate adaptation/mitigation through long lasting partnerships, and tools such as sustainable local action plans, early warning tools and experts’ panels. The target groups of the Project include local governments, cities, urban stakeholders working on climate resilience, climate mitigation and adaptation, and good governance of inclusive cities.
The project works around three pillars including knowledge and exchange, local action plans for climate resilient and inclusive cities, and communication and capacity building. Association of Cities and Regions for sustainable resource management (ACR+) will be responsible for sharing its expertise and knowledge by contributing to expert reports and panels, providing indicators and recommendations for the urban analysis, and developing training, materials and tools. It will also support sectorial action plans and local sustainable action plans.
It is predicted that 68 per cent of the population will live in cities in the next ten years. Urban population densities exceed 15,000 habitants/km² in cities like Jakarta and more than 30,000 habs/km² in some inner-city areas. Cities are hard hit by climate change, although they could be seeds for solutions. Cities like Jakarta are sinking below sea level and could be expected to sink by 2050. Countries like Vietnam (36 per cent of urban population) and the Philippines (45 per cent) have concentration of large urban areas, with fast growing centres. Urban areas host most of the vulnerable populations, as well as vital and social infrastructure, and local governments have increased pressure to develop services, infrastructure, and employment (UN-Habitat).
Hundreds of millions of people in poorer urban areas are hit by pockets of deprivation, while lacking basic infrastructure (such as water and sanitation). Problems will worsen when the most fragile territories could be affected by rising sea levels, flooding, landslides, toxic peaks of air pollution, typhoons, storms, or periods of more extreme heats and droughts related to climate change. Cities and local governments are increasingly recognised as key actors in addressing climate challenges and SDGs. UCLG ASPAC is an association of the local governments and is the key actor as knowledge management hub on LGs’ issues in the Asia Pacific region. UCLG ASPAC has strong sources of leadership that require enabling frameworks and a combination of measures to achieve the changes that are needed.
During the opening ceremony in January 2020, Dr Bernadia Irawati Tjandradewi, Secretary-General, UCLG ASPAC said that the impacts of climate change are becoming more intense and frequent, and that we need to accelerate our work to help cities and local governments withstand the effects and protect citizens from future shocks and stresses. She added, “The local political leadership, networks and expertise that we pool together under this project will play a critical role in achieving the project’s aim to promote climate resilience and inclusive cities.” She also stressed that the most affected ones in climate calamities were women and children. Therefore, cities must re-double their efforts by making good collaboration as climate change is real.

Knowledge Production and Exchange

For strengthening the first pillar of knowledge production and exchange, capitalization of knowledge and tools on inclusive climate resilient cities has been done. Inventory of tools, knowledge reports, contacts and list of cities where they have been implemented is now complete. Knowledge reports have been prepared on climate, resilience, inclusiveness and Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) implementation in cities and provinces. Reports of comparative analysis of works in different cities under the project have been curated as well. As a representative of South Asia, AIILSG has recommended the names of experts to join the expert panel of the CRIC project. AIILSG has also recommended tools and provided reports on them.
As part of first pillar only, urban analysis has been done in eight cities or sub districts Pilot4dev, ACR+ and partners. Consultant and expert driven ten Urban Analysis Reports (UARs) have been prepared along with the policy briefs for Pilot4dev, to integrate the question of air pollution based on the UARs. AIILSG is currently working on developing input for ten cities with particular focus on policy recommendations and tool specific proposals.
UCLG ASPAC coordinated six public hearings for ten UARs with a panel of experts during the period September 14-18 and 22. The hearings were attended by partners including, Pilot4Dev, ACR+, UEG, ECOLISE, and AIILSG. Five panels have been organized, which comprise experts from local governments and researchers, with the goal to strengthen policy dialogue on urban policies and urban challenges.
Four thematic tools are being developed by Pilot4Dev, ACR+, UGE, and ECOLISE on air pollution, waste management, early warning system, and water and sanitation. AIILSG would contribute in the consultation, input, and review of tasks, and may also assist UCLAG ASPAC in testing and validating the tools of air pollution.

Local Action Plans for Climate and Sustainable Development

Work towards the second pillar of the project involves mapping of emissions of greenhouse gases (GHG) and development of sectorial action plans for five cities. The project has received commitment from nine cities for implementation of tools and creation of nodes for sustainable funding and working groups for the same have been established in five cities including, Bandar Lampung, Cirebon, Ternate, Gorontalo, and Pekanbaru by UCLG-ASPAC as coordinator and lead of
the project.

Communication and Capacity Building

Development of platform for online training course is in progress as a project based facility having UCLG-ASPAC as lead coordinator. Online training on Sustainable Urban Design and Development was completed through collaborative engagement of all partners with representations of more than ten delegations from India.As part of the project, an interactive website was launched, and is now being managed by UCLG-ASPAC and Pilot4Dev through continual inputs from partners feed.
CRIC project fact sheet, project release, and e-news were published as part of the project activity.