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Johannesburg has been represented at two major international summits on climate change and
the environment this year - the Seoul C40 Summit and the ICLEI World Congress.
JOBURG'S Smart Buildings initiative has got international
exposure, at the Seoul C40 Summit, where City representatives participated in a
panel discussion with a presentation entitled Smart Buildings: how Johannesburg is
implementing energy efficiency in buildings.
Joburg is the only South African city in the C40 Large Cities Climate Leadership Group
Jozi is the only South African city that is a member of the C40
Large Cities Climate Leadership Group ,
working in close partnership with the Clinton Climate Initiative (CCI).
The C40 is a group of the world's largest cities already
taking action on climate change. It held its regular summit, from 18 to 21 May,
to share best practices, build networks, identify collaborative projects and
chart future actions to help tackle climate change.
The theme this year was Cities' achievements and challenges
in the fight against climate change. Prema Naidoo represented Johannesburg, as the then member of the mayoral
committee for environment. He was accompanied by Richard Holden, a strategic
support specialist in the City's department of planning and urban management.
Holden said Joburg's presentation explained how it was
implementing energy efficiency in buildings and promoting sustainable urban
design policy.
Development programme
Bill Clinton, the former US
president who heads the CCI, at the summit announced a new project, the Climate
Positive Development Programme, which involves some 12 large developers around
the world; two are from South
Africa - Old Mutual and Menlynmaine.
Over the four days, representatives and councillors from the
40 cities explored issues such as climate change and the economic crisis,
low-carbon cities, sustainable city developments, and increasing green energy
use.
Speaking before the summit, Thabo Mahlatsi, Joburg's
director of the energy sector infrastructure and services, said: "The
turbulence that characterised the current millennium, manifesting itself
through rapid development of technologies, when used creatively and innovatively
can alleviate natural and manmade disasters that are currently being
experienced in various forms, namely climate change, depletion of natural
resources leading to poverty and other ills."
This could be "easily managed and curbed if a concerted
effort and partnerships are established between the City and other willing
partners".
Working with partners like the CCI, public-private partnerships
and local expertise, the City could achieve more to contribute to its citizens
and the country as a whole.
Johannesburg
is the only South African city that has a close partnership with the CCI. The
CCI provides technical assistance to tackle environmental problems, working
with various companies to implement policies and develop measures on how to
take care of the environment.
Sustainable
Naidoo said Johannesburg welcomed the
opportunity to promote a new and more sustainable building development paradigm
in South Africa.
It was looking forward to working with Old Mutual and in expanding its existing
partnership with the CCI.
"The Climate Positive Development Programme is an innovative
and integrated way to achieve the City's new policy on energy efficiency and resource
sustainability in urban development at a faster and larger scale than would
have been possible," he said.
Speaking about the summit, Holden said Clinton delivered the keynote address. He
challenged delegates by asking them what they were going to do and how much
they were going to spend on tackling the climate change.
"He pointed out that out of the 155 countries called upon to
reduce greenhouse gases in terms of the Kyoto Protocol, 145 would not reach
their targets because they couldn't figure out how to do it, politically and
economically."
Attendees included mayors, deputy mayors and senior
officials of the C40 large and affiliate cities, as well as climate change
experts and business leaders. Participating cities include among others, Addis Ababa, Athens, Bangkok, Beijing, Berlin, Bogotá, Buenos Aires,
Cairo, Caracas,
Chicago, Delhi, Dhaka, Hanoi,
Hong Kong, Houston, Istanbul, Jakarta,
and Johannesburg.
The key focus was on safe, clean and green cities. According
to the C40 experts, cities have a central role to play in tackling climate
change as they are causing it. Cities consume 75 percent of the world's energy
and produce 80 percent of its greenhouse gas emissions. It was very important they
worked to together.
The C40 holds conferences in member cities each year, to
review the progress of climate change-related programmes and to share best
practices on the topic. Joburg attended its summit in New
York in 2007 and in Tokyo
in 2008.
World congress
It was not the only international environmental summit in which the City has
participated recently. Joburg officials were also at the International Council
for Local Environmental Initiatives (ICLEI) World Congress in Edmonton,
in Canada,
from 12 to 18 June.
This conference, with the theme Connecting leaders, also
focused on building safe, clean and green cities. Johannesburg has been a member of the ICLEI
since the late 1990s, and it hosted the Africa Secretariat from 1999 to 2006.
City Parks' Sydney Nkosi represented Johannesburg in Canada
Sydney Nkosi, a general manager from City Parks, was
Joburg's representative in Canada.
He said the focus of the congress was on the fundamental transformation of
cities to be more carbon neutral, moving to eco-mobility, building
zero-emission houses, adaptation and resilience to climate change, and livable,
with a green urban economy.
Jozi had its own unique local success stories to share:
under the 2010 FIFA World Cup™ it had influenced programmes and projects that would
contribute positively its green infrastructure legacy. It had also recently
completed its Biodiversity Strategy and Action Plans, Wetland Audit Report,
Kilprivier-Klipsruit Rehabilitation and Greening, and Open Space Management
Framework.
Solutions
Nkosi said the City learned at the conference that population growth,
urbanisation, climate change, global warming and loss of biodiversity required
urgent and radical solutions.
It would have to focus on, among other concerns, municipal
sustainability management, sustainable procurement, climate adaptation and
resilient city, cities for climate protection, water resources and pollution
and waste management.
In keeping with the initiative, Nkosi stayed at the University of Alberta
while in Canada,
which uses energy efficient lights and solar geysers.
He said the strategic outcomes of the congress included
radical change and leadership; increasing marginalised communities' access to
potable water, clean energy and sanitation; and strengthening biodiversity
protection.
The atmosphere of the congress was that of "think globally
but act locally".
The ICLEI brings together local governments and was formed
after the Rio Earth Summit in 1992. It is supported by the United Nations
Environment Programme and it provides a mouthpiece for local government within
the UN.
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