1. CITIES AND CLIMATE CHANGE INITIATIVE
NEWSLETTER
June 2011
Pilot Initiatives in Sorsogon City Address Climate Change
Following its climate change vulner-
ability assessment, Sorsogon City or-
ganized a city-wide consultation with
residents and stakeholders. This con-
sultation resulted in the formulation
of four multi-sectoral Issues Working
Groups, set up to address the key
issues identified by the city and the
local population. All four working
groups have developed comprehen-
sive plans to address climate change.
The housing and basic infrastructure
component focuses on developing
local minimum building standards
for Climate Change resilient low-
income housing and to apply these
in demonstration houses. Initial
research (on good practices, legisla-
tion and hydraulic hazards) resulted
in a workshop where experts and the
local community agreed on the basics Sorsogon City, Philippines ©UN-Habitat/Bernhard Barth
for the standards. Five hotspots were school buildings used as evacuation taxis, most of which have two-stroke
assessed to adapt the standards to the centers. engines. Technology for electric tri-
specific needs. Housing units are be- cycles (retrofitting) is available in the
ing retrofitted and at least 33 houses The fourth component focuses on Philippines and a Social Bank provides
will be built as pilots. Additional as- Climate Change mitigation, which loans for such a conversion. Sorsogon
sessments are underway to assess spe- is particularly remarkable given the is in negotiations to advance these
cific vulnerabilities of the basic water limited Greenhouse Gas emissions plans. For more information please
and sanitation infrastructure. associated with Sorsogon Cities. Early visit: www.unhabitat.org.ph/climate-
on the city had committed to convert change.
The livelihood component focuses on traditional light bulbs with CFL bulbs.
the most vulnerable sectors (fisheries However, after further investigation
and agriculture) and the identification the city decided to go through a
of alternative livelihoods. second procurement process when it
opted for LED lights: these were seen
The Climate and Disaster Risk Reduc- as better reflecting the city’s com-
tion component focuses on a com- mitment to high environmental and
bination of better information and climate change standards.
awareness of the community, better
coordination between different gov- The second key element of the miti-
ernment departments on the national gation plan is the conversion of the
and local level and on retrofitting of omnipresent motor tricycles, used as

2. ARTICLES June 2011
One Year After Conference, Green Building Movement
Struggles to Take Root in Africa
In May 2010, builders and stakeholders submitted expressions of interest to the for the South African context in Kenya and
from 19 countries in Africa assembled in World GBC; subsequently they have been elsewhere. Gremley plans an official launch
Nairobi, Kenya, and committed themselves recognized as ‘prospective’ GBCs. Ghana of their GBC in July, and a conference in
to promoting building practices that are also submitted an EOI to the World GBC November 2011. A challenge for the com-
environmentally friendly and reduce green- but currently holds the less advanced ‘as- munity in Kenya is orchestrating the merger
house gas (GHG) emissions. Participants in sociated’ status. (Botswana, which did not of two separate groups that at different
the “Conference on Green Building Rating participate in the Conference, also contact- times submitted EOIs to the World GBC.
in Africa” particularly favoured establishing ed the World GBC and holds ‘associated’
green building councils as a means to pro- status.) A year after the Conference, partici- Ghana. In the long term of Ghana GBC
mote green building practices. One year af- pants report on the status of their efforts: sees its objective as “developing a build-
ter that Conference, which was sponsored ing rating tool system that is recognized in
by UN-Habitat’s Cities and Climate Change Nigeria. Akin Akindoyeni, Chair of the Ghana and accepted internationally”. In the
Initiative, we survey progress around the Council of Registered Builders of Nigeria, short term, however, this GBC has focused
region in establishing these Councils and reports that he has been “doing his best on sensitizing professional builders and
promoting green building practices. to midwife” the GBC Nigeria. After be- officials about green building theory and
ing recognized as a ‘prospective’ GBC in practice. They recently held a public forum
Green building councils (GBCs) advance August 2010, their group quickly identi- on “The Principles and Technology of Green
greener building practices by sponsoring fied potential members for their Board Buildings”, and in the future plan a seminar
professional development about such tech- of Directors, held a series of meetings, on a similar topic targeted at national and
nologies. They also develop, adapt to local finalised their constitution, and drafted local officials. Meanwhile they have estab-
conditions and promote the use of tools business and marketing plans. They have, lished a web presence at www.ghgbc.org.
such as LEED or Green Star that measure or however, run into a snag in getting their
rate the environmental friendliness of build- group officially registered as a corporate These countries are not alone. Participants
ings. They can also lobby governments. entity and hope to resolve this soon. in the Nairobi Conference committed
Such councils thus can catalyze profound themselves to establishing a regional net-
changes in the building industry – a sector Kenya. Architect Andrew Gremley reports work. In the weeks following the Confer-
with great potential for reducing GHG that members of their group are seeing ence UN-Habitat facilitated an E-dialogue
emissions. While green building rating is demand from certain clients for the green amongst participants; then the World GBC
voluntary, innovative practices can work certification of their buildings. With the de- established a page for the Africa Network
their way into reformed building codes. velopment of home-grown rating tools not of GBCs on its website. In September
The recently enacted California Green on the immediate horizon, as an interim 2010 the GBC of South Africa hosted an
Building Standards Code, for example, measure their group is in discussions with ‘Africa GBC Day’ in Cape Town. UN-Habitat
effectively requires all new construction to the GBC of South Africa about the possibil- continues to monitor the progress of this
achieve the equivalent of a ‘silver rating’ ity of applying their rating tools in Kenya. movement in Africa, and can provide
under the voluntary LEED system. GBCSA in turn is seeking the permission further support as appropriate. Conference
of the Australian GBC to apply the Green materials are available at www.unhabitat.
At the time of the 2010 Conference there Star tools that originally were customized org/categories.asp?catid=640.
were 20 fully established councils world-
wide and another 40 in various stages
of development. Most of these Councils,
however, were in developed countries: Sub-
Saharan Africa had only one established
GBC, in South Africa, with no other councils
officially under development. At the Con-
ference, however, participants met industry
leaders who were forming such Councils in
countries nearby like Egypt, Morocco and
Mauritius, as well as with representatives of
fully established Councils in India and South
Africa. They also posed questions to the
Executive Director of the World GBC who
participated via remote hook-up.
Inspired by these contacts, in the weeks
following the Conference several African
countries reached out to the World GBC.
Representatives from Nigeria and Kenya,
whose enthusiastic Conference delegations
included more than ten professionals each,
©Michelle Malanca

3. ARTICLES June 2011
UN-Habitat and UNEP Join Forces on
Ecosystem-based Adaptation
Lami is a coastal town of 20,000 inhabit- The town council has increased its efforts in
ants in the metropolitan area of Suva, the coastal protection and is actively engaging
capital of Fiji. One of four pilot cities of the the community in disaster preparedness
Cities and Climate Change Initiative (CCCI) action plans as a result. The partial destruc-
in the Pacific, the local government has tion of the mangroves and the vulnerability
embarked on a vulnerability assessment of the remaining mangrove forests was
and started to address climate change. of particular concern. In particular to as-
sess the value of the mangroves for flood
The initiative began with the identi- protection, UN-HABITAT and UNEP joined
fication of the most vulnerable areas forces. Building on the vulnerability assess-
validated by the communities. The local ment, a cost-benefit analysis of an eco-
council has put climate change high on systems based approach to climate change
the agenda, organized public meetings, adaptation is currently under preparation.
school campaigns and festivals. Lami is Depending on the results – but given early
also championing climate change in dia- assessments it is likely that eco-systems
logue with national authorities such as rehabilitation will take place – the two
the Ministry of Local Government, Urban agencies will support Lami in implementing
Development, Housing & Environment, corresponding adaptation measures.
the Disaster Management Committee as
well as with other local authorities. Port Vila, the capital of Vanuatu and Apia,
the capital of Samoa are following the Lami, Fiji ©UN-Habitat
Fiji experiences tropical cyclones and Lami is process in Lami closely. Towards the end
particularly vulnerable to flooding from the of 2011 a regional workshop is planned
river systems traversing it and from storm to share the experiences and, if found
surges. Coastal and river bank erosion are successful, UN-HABITAT and UNEP are
ongoing and landslides are frequent. committed to support replication.
St Louis Hires Climate Change Assistant
The city of Saint Louis in Senegal is work- As UN-HABITAT is starting the imple-
ing with CCCI to support climate change mentation of construction of housing
planning. Very vulnerable to sea level rise for the relocation of residents at risk,
and changes in rainfall regimes, the city is with support from the Government of
confronted with both development and Japan, additional opportunities exist to
environmental problems and is deter- experiment with climate sensitive hous-
mined to address them through its Vision ing and settlement designs and to de-
2030. In February 2011 the city hired a velop innovative building approaches.
Climate Change Assistant, Mr Cheikh
Tidiane Wade, who will be in charge of More information on the work ongo-
following the implementation of the cli- ing in Saint Louis is available at www.
mate change related activities. Mr. Wade unhabitat.org/ccci.
will work closely with the Agence de
Developpment Communal in Saint Louis
on vulnerability mapping, development of
sensitisation materials and community risk
assessment processes, and in reviewing lo-
cal planning documents, including Vision
2030, to climate proof them.
St Louis, Senegal ©UN-Habitat/Marie Dariel-Scognamillo

4. PUBLICATIONS June 2011
Launch of Tool for Urban Planners
Planning for Climate Change – A For more information visit http://www.
strategic, values-based guide for urban unhabitat.org/downloads/docs/PFCC-
planners has been launched. Termed 14-03-11.pdf
Version 1 is currently being piloted in
training and will be field tested in se-
lected CCCI cities. The tool is intended
to support planners everywhere, but
is intended to be of particular benefit
to planners working in low and middle A STRATEGIC, VALUES-BASED APPROACH FOR URBAN PLANNERS
income countries who want to address
climate change. The guide’s value-based
strategic planning process is organ-
ized around a four-step approach that
incorporates innovative structured
decision-making tools with a participa- VERSION 1: FOR FIELD TESTING AND PILOTING IN TRAINING
tory, community-based methodology.
EVENTS
Launch of Network for Cities and planners. Following the Asia-Pacific regional and will take the regional experiences
Climate Change Academy (CCCA) workshop (in 2010) and the African work- forward. Generic, adaptable course mod-
June 2011 shop (May 2011) the Global Workshop is ules are to be conceptualized during the
planned to precede the ICLEI Resilient Cities workshop and developed thereafter. These
The Cities and Climate Change Academy is Congress. The meeting is jointly organized modules can be packaged into an urban
the university arm of the Cities and Climate with the International Institute for Environ- climate change course or can be used in
Change Initiative, aiming to develop course ment and Development, the United Nations support of existing courses. For more infor-
modules on climate change for urban University and Technical University Munich mation contact hpui@unhabitat.org.
ABOUT US
Headquarted at UN-Habitat in Nairobi, developed previously by UN-Habitat so Nations Development Account, the Cities
the Cities and Climate Change Initiative as to specifically address climate change Alliance, the Government of Sweden and
(CCCI) involves the participation of more issues within the city. A complementary other sources of global, regional, national
than 20 cities worldwide. It targets medi- set of tools is being developed to support and local funding. Newsletters of the
um-sized cities in developing and least- cities in raising awareness on the impact Cities and Climate Change Initiative are
developed countries and emphasizes good of climate change and support mitigation electronically published periodically. For
governance and practical initiatives for the and adaptation activities. Since 2008, more information contact uepb@unhabi-
municipalities and their citizens. The CCCI CCCI has been generously supported by tat.org or visit www.unhabitat.org.
team has adapted participatory processes the Government of Norway, the United