Enabling Environment on Climate Resilience Inclusive Cities : City Commitment to Tackle Climate Change on Sustainable Waste Management

UCLG ASPAC represents local governments politically within the international community, and with the United Nations and its agencies. It also promotes inclusive societies which safeguard equality, social and economic justice, and sustainable community development. UCLG ASPAC is engaged in all relevant thematic fields for nurturing sustainable development comprising local economic development, climate change, disaster resiliency, culture, strategic planning, decentralization, municipal finance, gender equality, women leadership and empowerment and good governance. And as its vision and mission, UCLG ASPAC commits to continuously support and assist cities and local government for sustainable city development.

Climate Resilience Inclusive Cities (CRIC) Programme is a collaborative work of UCLG ASPAC with partners: Pilot4DEV, ACR+, ECOLISE, All India Institute of Local-Self Government (AIILSG), and the University of Gustave Eiffel. Launched on 29 January 2020, CRIC aims at promoting sustainable urban development, good governance, and climate mitigation/adaptation.

The programme will also contribute to sustainable integrated urban development, good governance, and climate adaptation/mitigation through long lasting partnerships, and tools such as sustainable local action plans, early warning tools, air quality and waste management in consultation with experts’ panels.

Climate governance is at the heart of climate action, and to further strengthen its achievement, commitment from Head of Local Government/Political leaders is very crucial. It is also related to policy mapping, containing  main climate priorities and strategies. And it will lead to define a tailored-cut scope of activities to be developed.

One of CRIC targeted Cities, Cirebon City in Indonesia, has shown commitment to tackling climate change through the promotion of collaborative and community-based sustainable waste management efforts. Waste prevention can help minimise the impact of climate change through the reduction of GHG emissions. In Cirebon, waste is the main contributor of GHG emissions by emitting 28,270 tons of CO2 in 2014 (SIGN SMART, Ministry of Environment and Forestry). Organic waste made up the largest proportion of collected waste with an amount of 50.95%. One of the recommendations stated in the report also urges Cirebon to transition towards sustainable waste management.

“We are proud to be selected as one of ten pilot cities. This motivates us to tackle one of the most long-standing and pressing problems in Cirebon, which is waste management,” Mayor Nashrudin said at the Mayor’s Office in Cirebon, on Thursday (4/3). On this occasion, the Mayor also received the Urban Analysis Report from CRIC.

To fill the waste management gap in Cirebon, CRIC has promoted the circularity approach by treating a waste problem with the lens of the life cycle. The life cycle thinking aims to assess resources consumed and emissions generated throughout all stages of the product cycle, starting from the production, distribution, consumption until the disposal of waste. With help from the European partner ACR+, CRIC will develop a waste management tool to help cities shift into more sustainable waste management.

In addition to the circularity approach, CRIC also promotes the importance of multi-stakeholder collaboration when it comes to waste management. Cirebon has established a City Working Group consists of government, community, NGO and private sector representatives. The Working Group serves as an agent of change to advocate for climate-proof policies and programmes in the city. The Head of Cirebon Development Planning Agency who is also a member of the Working Group Iing Daiman, said on Thursday (4/3) at his office, that the government cannot work alone to solve the waste problem in Cirebon:

“We cannot work in silos to tackle a waste problem. That is why we engage with the private sector and we work with communities because only with collaboration, Cirebon can be waste-free.”

Source:

https://resilient-cities.com/en/news/191-mayor-of-cirebon-commits-to-sustainable-waste-management-to-tackle-climate-change, by Maria Serenade

To know more about CRIC, please visit: https://resilient-cities.com/en/