Number of questions: [4]
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Posted on 02/04/2008 14:01:08 |
Hi, Elisa,
Do you have good practice examples of women's participation in decision-making in cities in the context of climate change?
Thanks!
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Sylvia Hordosch (from United States of America)
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Hi Sylvia –
The gender dimension of urbanization and climate change is discussed in detail in the 2007 UNFPA State of World Population report focusing on urban growth. While climate change stands to aggravate existing poverty and inequality, the report also states that ‘urbanization offers significant opportunities to reduce poverty and gender inequality, as well as to promote sustainable development.’ Addressing gender gaps in, for example, education and employment will improve the resilience of vulnerable populations to climate-related hazards and weather events as well as the wider societal impacts of climate change.
While no particular examples of women’s participation in decision-making in cities related to climate change come to mind, a quick search led me to a gender project by the Climate Alliance of European Cities which looked at the situation of women in local climate protection in 10 cities from 4 European countries and instruments to improve the share of women in decision-making in local climate change policies. The results can be found at www.climateforchange.net
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Posted on 02/04/2008 12:33:33 |
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I'm writing about the enviroment and I wonder how much waste that's thrown away every year, in the world or in specific counties. I allso wonder how much of this waste that's recycled. Please give me the number you have.
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Johanna (from Sweden)
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Hi Johanna - This is actually a complicated question because estimates of waste generation vary widely depending on who you ask. The Basel Convention estimates the total global waste generated for 2001 at 338 millions tons. But note that these figures are based on incomplete reporting from countries. On the other hand, the OECD puts the figure at almost 4 billion tonnes in 2001 by their 25 member countries alone.
I recommend that you take a look at the UNEP Vital Graphics reports http://www.vitalgraphics.net/waste/ for a more in-depth analysis.
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Posted on 02/04/2008 12:01:53 |
Dear Elisa
While more and more cities are involved in the efforts to combat climate change, how much power do local governments really have to make the necessary decisions regarding broader energy, transport and infrastructure policies which are often the prerogative of state/national governments?
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Ms Black (from Australia)
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Good question. The power of local governments to act is often a function of the level of decentralization in the country. It is true that while many cities and states in North America and Europe enjoy a wide margin of decision-making and action on energy, transport, etc, cities in, for example, Africa face resource and decision-making constraints. Often, declarations and documents on local governments and climate change will seek to draw attention to this by referring to the need for increased empowerment of local governments, and a larger role in national planning and delegations.
However, in many cases local authorities do exert at least some control in the planning, construction, and operation of major infrastructure and the provision of services in urban and peri-urban areas and cities do largely shape land use policy and planning. By uniting through city networks (including some mentioned already in my previous answer to a question from India - see also the C40 initiative), cities governments can increase their role in key sectors and policies. These networks also work to ensure that initiatives and knowledge related to cities and climate change outlive changing local and national administrations.
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Posted on 02/04/2008 05:53:11 |
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What strategies do you propose for educating policy-makers in your area of specialization ?
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Centre for Environment Education (from India)
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Hello and thanks for the question. Cities now feature regularly in global press, both for initiatives undertaken at the local level and for their participation in high-level international climate discussions. Therefore, a good strategy, and one which UNEP is already implementing, is to take what is already happening and support and amplify these efforts by ensuring the national decision makers and the ongoing global negotiations take note and advantage of the massive economies of scale for efficiency and resilience that cities, as concentrations of people, resources, and infrastructure, represent.
As an organization, UNEP is ideally placed to bridge local/national/global climate action and opportunity gaps. Bringing developing country cities and policymakers to the table as a post-2012 regime is developed, and transferring the tools and resources already available (see the Cities for Climate Protection campaign of ICLEI), are key to ensuring that rapidly expanding urban areas do so in a climate-friendly and resilient way. This in turn will determine how 2/3 of the world’s population lives with a changing climate in the next twenty years.
A lot is happening at various levels now to link climate conscious urbanization to national planning for climate change mitigation and adaptation, and global climate change discussions. From the historic World Mayors and Municipal Leaders Declaration on Climate Change in Montreal in 2005 to the recent World Mayors and Local Governments Climate Protection Agreement announced at the Bali climate change conference, UNEP is working with the International Council for Local Environmental Initiatives (ICLEI), UN-Habitat, the World Mayors Council on Climate Change, and United Cities and Local Governments (UCLG) as part of this process. Given the opportunity to contribute to represent their approaches and experience toward the UNFCCC COP 15 in Copenhagen, cities and city networks have shown that they play a key role in both setting and meeting national and global targets to reduce emissions. This exposure has helped to increase local access to resources (e.g. financing and access to Kyoto mechanisms), while allowing local authorities to inform and participate more fully in national planning and resource allocation (including formulation of National Adaptation Programmes).
Cities are often leading in reducing greenhouse gas emissions and preparing for change where national governments are lagging – and their practical approaches are gaining attention from other local policy makers as well as national and international decision makers. The good examples of New York, Vancouver, Seattle, London (see the London Climate Change Partnership), Copenhagen (committed to going carbon neutral), and Bangkok (to name only a few) are all worth looking into and learning from. Adding more developing country cities and getting national and local decision makers on board, especially in Africa and Asia, is imperative.
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