16-17 September 2019 | TANGERANG – UCLG ASPAC, as Secretariat of the Global Covenant of Mayors for Climate and Energy (GCoM), materialised cities’ commitment for better urban resilience through IUC Knowledge Management Forum “Climate Mitigation and Adaptation towards City Resilience”. Conducted under the framework of IUC Asia programme with the support of the European Union (EU), this event recorded fruitful knowledge sharing and the commitment signing of six cities aiming for better urban resilience in their respective areas: Tangerang, Makassar, Denpasar, Malang, Palembang, and Depok.
In the opening ceremony, H.E. the Vice Mayor of Tangerang City mentioned in his remarks, ”KMF will build the capacity of city officials in dealing with climate change by developing measurable and effective actions.” In this opportunity, IUC Asia Team Leader also shared the role of EU in reducing GHG emissions and how cities can build climate change resilience through their involvements in GCoM.
Approximately 50 representatives of GCoM cities and local governments under the Climate Change Working Group in Indonesia, Ministry of Environment and Forestry, private sector, and academia got involved in discussion on mitigation and adaptation as well as exposed to various activities and local actions on climate change in Indonesia through networking session of the Global Covenant of Mayors. The Forum discussed various issues in the adaption and mitigation of climate change at country and city level including cities’ experiences and climate financing opportunities. Cities also made good use of this opportunity to showcase their climate actions. Speakers coming from international organisations, ministry, academia, civil society and Indonesia’s local governments made the discussion session more lively.
In addition, the highlight of the forum includes commitment signing by six cities: Tangerang, Makassar, Denpasar, Malang, Palembang, and Depok. The commitment signing not only formally marks city’s commitment leveraged to the next level, but also provides guidance on actions city will need to take in order to achieve the shared goal of better urban resilient. In the case of Tangerang, commitment signing gives Tangerang opportunity to join GCoM Community, an international coalition of cities and local authorities with shared long-term vision of promoting and supporting voluntary action to combat climate change and move to a low-carbon society and climate resilient future. Tangerang will develop a community-scale greenhouse gas (GHG) emission inventory; an assessment of climate hazards and vulnerabilities; set ambitious, measurable, and time-bound target to reduce and/or limit greenhouse gas emissions; set ambitious and just goal to improve access to sustainable energy; and develop plan(s) to address climate change mitigation, low emission development, climate resilience and adaptation, and access to sustainable energy. For Makassar, Denpasar, Malang, Palembang, and Depok, the commitment signing formally marks the beginning of their works as pilot cities that will receive support to develop comprehensive action plans from IUC as well as other technical partners with the aforementioned components.
In the closing session, H.E. the Mayor of Tangerang and H.E. Deputy Head of EU Delegation graced the event with their closing remarks. The Mayor of Tangerang showcased Tangerang’s efforts in building thematic parks and villages in order to build a resilient city. The Deputy Head of EU Delegation explained that European Union is proud to empower Indonesian cities to build their own climate planning and policies and to learn from one another globally. UCLG ASPAC representative, Asih Budiati, explained how GCoM, EU through IUC and UCLG ASPAC collaborated in the efforts to build a measurable and efficient city climate action plan for cities.
With the success of the forum, UCLG ASPAC thanks Ministry of Environment and Forestry of Indonesia, Association of Indonesia Municipalities (APEKSI), local government of Tangerang, European Commission’s Joint Research Centre (JRC), GCoM partners, IUC Asia representatives, and all participants for their optimum efforts and contribution in achieving the common goal of better urban resilience.
