As the conflict in the northern reaches of the country progresses, the opportunities for collaborative discussion and orientation development in the south have been quick to develop. Using an interactive and online platform, stakeholders within each of the states comprised of government officials, international organization representatives, local business interests, and community members have been able to communicate with each other to share ideas and information. Combining inputs from members across at all levels of society with data from technical and progressive sources continues to forge forward thinking, and exciting new ideas.

Ban Jelačić Square, Zagreb

I2UD is in Zagreb, Croatia this week, conducting interviews with different local and humanitarian actors as part of a research grant from the International Institute for Environment and Development (IIED) to assess the role of local authorities and communities in managing the transit refugee situation, which began in Croatia on September 16th, 2015.

In the second half of the week, the I2UD team will be visiting several municipalities in Eastern Croatian near the border with Serbia, as well as the site of the Winter Reception and Transit Centre (which is being dismantled this week) in the City of Slavonski Brod. Coverage of what is being referred to in many circles as “Europe’s refugee crisis” has tended to focus on conditions in countries of entry (namely Greece) or in destination countries (such as Germany). I2UD’s research seeks to elaborate the specific needs of refugees in transit and how Croatian authorities, international and local humanitarian organizations, and the early affected communities assessed and met those needs through effective coordination and cooperation.

The report describing findings from this field research will be published by IIED this coming summer. The project team includes Research Associate Maren Larsen and regional Research Affiliates Maja Horvat and Elma Demir in cooperation with the local NGO Center for Peace Studies.

Under the leadership of Vice President Mona Serageldin, I2UD has been working with UN-ESCWA* and UN-Habitat ROAS** to prepare the Habitat III Regional Report for Arab States. This report reviews and takes stock of the implementation of the Habitat Agenda since Habitat II in 1996 and identifies new issues affecting sustainable urban development in 22 countries in the region.

Last week, Mona Serageldin and Maren Larsen travelled to Cairo to present a draft version of the report and received valuable inputs from invited experts. The Habitat III Regional Report for Arab States seeks to inform the preparation of the outcome document to be endorsed by member states at the conference in October 2016 in Quito, Ecuador.

I2UD has also contributed to the preparation of the Habitat III National Urban Policy Unit’s review of NUPs in Arab States and facilitated a Habitat III Youth Consultation at Boston University in November 2015.

*Economic and Social Commission for Western Asia

** Regional Office for Arab States

Historic District of Santo Domingo

The escalating incidence and severity of climate change related events is increasingly affecting cities and their residents, particularly the urban poor. Rapidly growing cities are often overwhelmed by the process of providing basic services and can neglect the long-term impacts of climate change. Responses tend to be remedial when emergencies arise rather than part of a strategic approach to prevent, resist, accommodate, and recover from shocks. Given these changes and challenges, I2UD’s work has increasingly focused on building the capacity of local authorities to plan for and adapt to climate change. One of our most recent and dynamic projects is our work with the International City/County Management Association (ICMA) as a Resource Partner in the Planning for Climate Change Adaptation (CLIMA-Plan) program as part of the larger USAID-funded Dominican Republic Urban Resilience Climate Change Program.

The Dominican Republic is considered one of the ten most vulnerable countries to climate change, particularly due to its location in the hurricane belt. During the hurricane season, storms cause flooding, soil erosion, and landslides. Coastal cities and the country’s tourism industry face threats from rising sea levels and the continued loss of coral reefs, mangroves, and wetlands that protect the beaches from storm surges.

Stakeholder Mapping Session in Las Terrenas

The four year CLIMA–Plan program involves initially working with four municipalities (Santo Domingo National District, Santiago de los Caballeros, San Pedro de Macoris and Las Terrenas) to create a municipal-level land use planning process that incorporates climate change adaptation strategies and public input. The project will result in integrated land use and climate change adaptation plans for eight municipalities. The three key objectives of the project are to improve the technical and management capacity of municipal planners, incorporate climate change adaptation considerations into the municipal planning process, and support the scaling-up of climate resilient land use planning best practices to other municipalities in the Dominican Republic.

In October, Senior Research Affiliate, Oriol Monfort traveled to the Dominican Republic on a preliminary mission to meet with the local ICMA team, hold meetings and interviews with the project team and stakeholders to develop an understanding of the operational deployment of the program, and conduct site visits in Santo Domingo National District and the Municipality of Las Terrenas. As a Resource Partner in the Planning for Climate Change Adaptation Program, I2UD’s work will focus on:

• Advising on methods on raising awareness and increasing community participation in the planning process;
• Providing strategies for the engagement of the private sector in land use planning and climate change adaptation;
• Facilitating an exchange between municipal officials in Boston and the Dominican Republic; and
• Developing a case study on how a community based NGO in East Boston that is working with residents and the City of Boston to increase the neighborhood’s resiliency to potential climate events.

In partnership with the Cairo-based Tarek Waly Center and Environmental Quality International, the Institute has begun working on a Needs Assessment and Activity Design Study in four unplanned, informal areas in the Cairo and Giza Governorates of Egypt. The study will identify and propose interventions to be financed by the Agence Française du Développement (AFD), managed by the Social Fund for Development (SFD) and implemented through local authorities and NGOs.

The team’s approach is to work closely with the Giza and Cairo Governorates and community-based organizations to develop practical upgrading strategies that can have a significant impact on improving the quality of public spaces and services available to residents. Additionally, there is a strong focus on providing credit and business support to micro enterprises and small businesses within the four communities to stimulate employment opportunities and drive local economic development.

The social and economic diversity and different development patterns that exists among these four large settlements reflects the issues faced by other informal settlements in the Greater Cairo Region. The opportunities for improvement that will be identified through the study can provide an inventory of potential interventions for other unplanned settlements. This will include maximizing access to credit and business support, as well as building the capacity of local communities, micro-finance institutions (MFIs), and local authorities to shape the implementation of the program, monitor progress, and make adjustments using evidence-based monitoring approaches.

Learn more about the project here.

In 2015, I2UD will research and formulate alternative resiliency strategies for Dangriga, an at-risk coastal community in Belize, limited in its financial and institutional capacity to address impacts of flooding and rising sea levels due to climate change. This project, with support from the Lincoln Institute of Land Policy, will build on the Institute’s recently completed work on developing Municipal Development Plans in seven municipalities. An important objective will be to consider strategies to integrate resiliency planning into local land use planning and management.

In collaboration with the Dangriga Local Planning Working Group (LPWG), the I2UD team led by Jim Kostaras will incorporate local knowledge into the design of resiliency strategies for a targeted at-risk neighborhood. The team will develop two strategies: one that focuses on traditional structural responses (gray infrastructure); and an alternative that focuses on green infrastructure responses. Through this process, the research team will formulate an outline of a decision making framework for investments in resiliency, for use by municipalities in Belize, that considers public and private investments and instruments to finance, implement and maintain these investments including community partnership and land policy mechanisms. The study will culminate with a workshop attended by municipal officials, the LPWG and members of civil society and the business community to discuss the findings and incorporate their input into the final products of the study.

This will be the third study in partnership with the Lincoln Institute in the past five years. Previous research projects undertaken in partnership with Lincoln include: Strategic Land Use Planning for Climate Change-Driven Water Shortages in El Alto, Bolivia and Increasing the Resilience of Informal Settlements to Climate Change in Cartagena, Colombia and Condega, Nicaragua..]]> http://ori.i2ud.org/2014/12/i2ud-to-work-on-climate-change-adaptation-in-belize/feed/ 0