March 1-3, 2023 | UCLG ASPAC Climate Resilient and Inclusive Cities Programme, funded by the European Union (EU), successfully held the first Panel Discussion in Surabaya March 1-3, 2023. Participants and speakers enthusiastically exchanged knowledge and progress of the climate action planning development and thematic tools development in 10 CRIC pilot cities. They also discussed past and current challenges and opportunities, good practices, and climate financing. The discussion panel was attended by representatives from 10 pilot cities and South Asian and European Partners.
#1 DAY – Project Updates and Dialogues
This session started with an update from CRIC Programme followed by presentations from cities on their climate action plan development progress. The first day also included a high-level meeting with CRIC mayors or representatives led by UCLG ASPAC Secretary General, attended by Mayor of Ternate, Acting Mayor of Kupang, Deputy Mayor of Banjarmasin, City Secretary of Samarinda and Bandar Lampung, Assistant Secretary of Pekanbaru, Offices Heads of Mataram and Gorontalo, as well as representatives from Pangkalpinang and Cirebon. The meeting discussed the main challenges in respective cities relevant to climate change including waste management, water management, and water related disaster those encountered by most of the cities. Cities representatives also conveyed their positive feedback on CRIC programme and aspiration on the continuation of the programme in supporting their local actions, not stopping in the plan or recommendations.
#2 Day – Panel Discussion 1: Cities and Climate Change
Panel Discussion started on the second day and was graced by UCLG ASPAC Secretary General; EUD Indonesia Programme Manager, Ms. Novita Sari; and officially opened by the Deputy Governor of East Java Province, Dr. Emil Elestianto Dardak. Those three remarks highlighted the urge of acting out on changing climate from different perspectives.
The first session of the panel discussion facilitated by Mr. Arif Wibowo exposed participants with landscape of climate change in urban areas in Indonesia by Dr. Akhmad Faqih from IPB University, in India by Pashim Tewari from AIILSG, and in Europe by Prof. Isabelle Milbert from Pilot4Dev. Ms Sara Silva from ECOLISE and Dr. Pascaline Gaborit from Pilot4Dev also shared their knowledge and experiences on the important of collaboration in resilience and resilience governance. The discussion included collaboration strategy and opportunities, as participants were aware about this but encountered challenges to implement them. Participants and speakers shared their arguments for solutions such as pointing out the common needs, using scientific data as base for collaboration in getting to know the each party’s role in achieving shared goal, and also a reminder to all that climate commitment is long-term and requires courage from leaders to take the best ways forward for the cities.
Panel Discussion 2: Integrated Climate Resilience Planning
The second panel discussion facilitated by Ms. Kuntarti Sri Rejeki from East Java Provincial Government highlighted Integrated Climate Resilience Planning, and it needs to continuously transform in dealing with changing climate challenges. Prof. Rizaldi Boer from CCROM-SEAP, IPB University and Prof Youssef Diab from Universite Gustave Eiffel respectively said the importance to transform climate science into action and the importance of data in resilient planning and monitoring. Good practice was presented by City of Semarang, Head of Semarang City Development Planning Agency, Mr. Budi Prakosa, emphasising the importance of mainstreaming climate change into city’s development planning; otherwise, the climate related actions will not be institutionalised. Mr. Danko Aleksic, CRIC Partner from ACR+ talked about the role of local and regional authorities in promoting the circular economy. He introduced the 9Rs: Reduce, Reuse, Recycle, Recover (energy), Rethink, Redesign, Repair, Remanufacture and lastly Redistribute.
This second day event concluded with presentation from CRIC Partners on findings from pilot cities visits. “Many interventions in CRIC pilot cites give us hope (that they will be able to solve environmental problems),” said Ms. Pascaline Gaborit from Pilot4Dev. Prof. Isabelle Milbert, also from Pilot4Dev, said that CRIC Project is progressing every day and she hoped that the initiatives could continue in the future. Pilot4Dev shared their initial findings from the scoping study in Mataram, Banjarmasin, and Ternate. City representatives also got insightful feedbacks from Sara Silva from ECOLISE on water management in Kupang and Gorontalo and Danko Aleksic from ACR+ on waste management in Pekanbaru, Samarinda, and Cirebon.
#3 DAY – Panel Discussion 3: Climate action, an Evolving Initiative
The last panel discussion facilitated by Ms. Sri Indah Wibi Nastiti from APEKSI brought up evolving initiatives in climate actions particularly in two sectors contributing significantly to GHG emissions in urban areas: energy from transportation (Jakarta through JakLingko system) and waste management (Surabaya). Mr. Yayat Sudrajat, Head of Ground Transportation Division, DKI Jakarta Transportation Agency, detailed the city’s interventions on developing the current transportation system in Jakarta to accommodate millions people mobility and reduce greenhouse gas emissions in a longer-term. The system has various of transportation mode from to railway-based system supported by integrated first to last mile infrastructures. Mr. Agus Hebi Djuniantoro, Head of Surabaya City’s Environmental Agency, explained the city’s waste management system to tackle hundreds tons of produced waste every day. The system included intervention from upstream to the low stream, including waste to energy facility, integrated recycling temporary landfill, and community-based waste management.
Panel Discussion 4: Climate Financing
Mr. Rima Yuliantari Suharin, Regional Development, MoHA, facilitated dialogue on how to access climate financing. Mr. M Zainul Abidin from Fiscal Policy Agency, the Ministry of Finance and Mr. Ahmad Iskandar from PT. SMI closed CRIC Discussion and provided useful insights to cities that need to fund and accelerate climate actions. Participated local governments were exposed to financing sources that they can explore, knowledge on national policy that opens the opportunities, and necessary preparations to tap on the financing sources. Completing learning circle, representatives of CRIC Pilot Cities visited Jambangan recycling centre and Benowo Landfill Gas Power Plant in collaboration with Surabaya City Government. Participants observed integrated 3R (reduce, reuse, recycle) process at a temporary landfill while the latter provide information on how to transform remaining waste into energy. Participants were happy with the programme as they had a fruitful discussion as well as trip to waste management facilities, and more importantly to connect with other CRIC pilot cities and partners.
