Session Description - Resilient Cities 2015

SESSION DESCRIPTION
A3
Climate-resilient development: Building
Infrastructure Resilience in Three Cities
Panel discussion
Date: Monday, 8 June 2015
Time: 14:30-16:00
Rooms: S29/31
Language:
English
Contact:
Christopher Evans
E-mail/web: Christopher.Evans@icfi.com /
http://www.ccrdproject.com/adaptation-partnership/cris
Organized by: ICF International, on behalf of USAID
OBJECTIVE
This panel will bring together three cities that have been tackling the critical challenge of promoting
climate resilient infrastructure to share strategies for incorporating climate change into decision making.
For two and a half years, these cities have participated as pilots in USAID’s Climate Resilient
Infrastructure Services (CRIS) program, an initiative of the Climate Change Resilient Development
(CCRD) project. Each has been working to develop user-friendly tools and decision-ready approaches
that can help ensure that long-term investments in infrastructure are sustainable and that the services
provided by infrastructure are resilient to climate variability and change.
By bringing together leaders from the three pilots, this panel will enable participants to compare and
contrast their experiences. They will examine the full range of tools, and approaches that have been
piloted, and draw clear and practical lessons learned for other cities that are facing similar challenges.
In particular, the panel will focus on the following aspects: (i) sharing each city’s work by describing the
specific outcomes that have been achieved in testing innovative tools and approaches, (ii) identifying
common challenges among the cities and articulating what worked and what didn’t in trying to
overcome these challenges; and (iii) understanding effective strategies for mainstreaming climate
change considerations within a city’s development goals and practices.
OUTCOMES
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Participants will learn about challenges facing the three pilot cities and about practical tools for
understanding climate information, assessing vulnerability, and identifying adaptation measures
for urban infrastructure tested under the CRIS program.
Through tangible examples, panelists and audience members will identify practical lessons
learned to advance climate resilient infrastructure in urban areas.
Participants will identify how to mainstream climate change considerations into existing
practices to enable effective approaches for addressing climate impacts to urban infrastructure.
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METHODOLOGY
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The facilitator will provide an overview of the CRIS program and USAID’s Climate-Resilient
Development Framework that each city has been using as a framework for the pilot. (10
minutes)
Representatives will each give a response to the first guiding question, focusing on their
development objectives and a specific outcome that has been achieved in their city under
CRIS; responses may involve the use of pictures or other media. (3 x 10 minutes)
The facilitator will then pose a series of guiding questions to the panel members, inviting the
audience to participate as well (30 minutes). The questions will elicit more information on the
cities’ experiences and applications of the tools and approaches that have been developed
under CRIS.
The moderator will facilitate a discussion amongst panel members to identify specific lessons
learned (15 minutes).
The end of the session will allow questions from the audience and the facilitator will close the
session with concluding remarks and a summary of the discussion (15 minutes).
Guiding questions:
1. How are your city’s development goals threatened by current and future climate
vulnerability? Provide one tangible and practical example of how working with CRIS to
improve the resilience of your infrastructure services has helped your city manage
these risks.
2. How has CRIS enabled your city to evaluate the climate vulnerability of your
infrastructure and identify adaptation options? What needs has the program helped you
to meet?
3. What has been the most difficult part about your work to build climate resilience in your
city? What barriers do you still need to overcome for success?
4. What are your next steps? Of the activities identified in your Action Plan, which do you
feel are the most critical for your city?
5. Overall, what are the most important things you have learned from working with the
CRIS program? What are the keys to building climate resilience in cities? What do you
think cities globally can learn from your experience in building climate resilience?
CONTRIBUTORS
Facilitator
Christopher Evans, Deputy Program Manager of CRIS, ICF International, Ottawa,
Canada
Mr. Evans will provide an overview of the CRIS program, its objectives, scope, and the
program’s components. He will introduce each of the panel participants and lead the
discussion, providing guiding questions and summarizing key points from the panel
discussion.
Panelist
Ms. Rosario Chumacero Córdova, Manager of Territory and Transport, Provincial
Municipality of Piura, Piura, Peru
Ms. Chumacero will speak about the Municipality of Piura’s experience with the CRIS
program. She will focus on activities that are currently underway to support the
Municipality in responding to new requirements from the national government to
consider climate change impacts on planning public investment projects under Peru’s
National System of Public Investment. CRIS is working with the Municipality of Piura to
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mainstream resources that will help increase the access that municipal decision
makers have to climate information and guidance to identify potential vulnerabilities
and adaptation options.
Panelist
Mr. Chakil Aboobacar, Advisory to the Mayor, Municipal Council of Nacala, NacalaPorto, Mozambique
Mr. Aboobacar will speak about the CRIS program’s work with the Municipality of
Nacala-Porto to address severe erosion issues that the city faces. He will focus on the
city’s work with the CRIS program to build local awareness of climate impacts and the
role of public behavior in increasing the city’s resilience to climate change. He will also
address a rapid assessment tool for evaluating erosion impacts on planned
infrastructure projects that the CRIS program has worked with the Municipality to
develop.
Panelist
Ms. Evaydée Pèrez Sarraff, Climate Change Center Director, Dominican Institute of
Integral Development, Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic
Ms. Pèrez will speak about the CRIS program’s work in the National District of Santo
Domingo. She will focus on the activities of a cross-disciplinary Working Group that
was established in the district and the group’s work with the local water utility to
mainstream climate vulnerability considerations and adaptation options into the
development of a new wastewater treatment plant in the district. Ms. Pèrez will also
share experiences from her organization’s work with the district government and local
community groups to understand their needs for addressing climate issues, and how
capacity is being built among these groups to increase the district’s climate resilience.
Further recommended reading
USAID’s Climate-Resilient Development Framework
http://www.usaid.gov/climate/climate-resilient-development-framework
Climate Resilient Infrastructure Services (CRIS): Increasing the Climate Resilience of Infrastructure in Developing
Countries
https://docs.google.com/a/ccrdproject.com/file/d/0BwnttiInBdksVjM5bkRnT2xTOFU/edit
Double Trouble: Tackling Urban Infrastructure and Climate Change in Mozambique
http://www.usaid.gov/news-information/frontlines/depleting-resources/double-trouble-tackling-urban-infrastructure-and
Addressing Climate Change Impacts on Infrastructure: Preparing for Change
http://pdf.usaid.gov/pdf_docs/pa00jp5q.pdf (English)
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