* Written by: Cemara Dinda
We all know that cities account for more than half of the world's population, thus also 70 percent of global CO2 emissions, making them responsible for more than two-thirds of global energy consumption
In fact, by 2050, 2.5 billion people are expected to migrate to urban areas that are experiencing rapid growth. Resulting impacts surely revolve around increased greenhouse gas emissions, creating more multifaceted impacts that cities must address to mitigate, and of course, adapt. Therefore, it is very clear that cities and local governments are still on the frontlines of the global push against climate change.
With the Climate Resilient and Inclusive Cities (CRIC) Project, UCLG ASPAC, its partners and other stakeholders within the project continues to advocate this crucial role of cities in addressing climate change through capacity building, ksnowledge transfer, and exchange.
The COVID-19 pandemic may have significantly impacted some of CRIC’s activities, however, the project has been kicking up momentum and continued capacity building initiatives are happening, this month in the city of Kupang in East Nusa Tenggara province.
So far Kupang city has completed three mitigation trainings, one adaptation training and one technical assistance on developing the important and ever-strategic document called the Climate Action Plan (CAP). This time, to continue discussion on climate adaptation plans, CRIC project in Kupang city was conducting an advance adaptation training (A2) from 20th to 22nd of June 2023.
With the Kupang Climate Working Group (Pojka), and other relevant stakeholders in the city as participants, the adaptation training was opened by Mr. Djidja Kadiwany, SE, MSI, head of Kupang City's working group and city planning agency (Bappeda). He emphasised how Kupang has implemented various efforts to boost climate resilience and contribute to sustainable development. This includes adaptive measures such as tree-planting, in cooperation with the business and nonprofit sectors.
Improving trash management systems in the city is also crucial in addition to some established adaptation efforts, as irresponsible and/or unsustainable waste management will directly contribute to climate change by adding carbon-based particles to the air. He also highlighted the big potential that the development of Climate Action Plans (CAP) can bring to the city. "We believe that the efficient development of Climate Action Plans (CAP) can serve as models for climate action-related project proposals in hopes of acquiring climate finance.", he said.
Therefore, goals of the advanced training in Kupang are to refresh participants on the concept of adaptation, collectively confirm the process of data gathering and anlaysis for climate risks awnd vulnerabilities of Kupang city, as well as addressing issues on gaps in data availability and analysis.
Adaptation: This refers to efforts to adapt living systems to a changing climate, which also means making adjustments to current and future climate changes.
Purpose of adaptation: To reduce the vulnerability and level of exposure of our living systems to the hazardous and multi-faceted effects of climate change (sea level rise, more intense extreme weather/climate events, or food insecurity, etc.) or reduce the potential impacts of climate change.
By the end of the training, it is expected that the Kupang city climate working group would be able to obtain a completed data set on calculating climate risks and vulnerability. Another important outcome is to get potential impact analyses for all of Kupang City's sub-districts, such as through climate tagging based on data from the city's Renstra or Strategic Plan.
* Cemara Dinda is CRIC Knowledge Management and Communications Officer
