ICLEI WORLD CONGRESS 2015; SUSTAINABLE SOLUTIONS FOR AN URBAN FUTURE – 4 May 2016
Crs Rodgers and Fraser – The 24 November 2014 Resolution of the Mornington Peninsula Shire Council committing Council to a policy of carbon neutrality together with its membership of the International Committee for Local Environmental Initiatives ICLEI presented Council with an excellent opportunity for Councillors Rodgers and Fraser to engage with some 1623 local government representatives from 91 countries and leading climate change experts and commentators in Seoul, Republic of Korea, between 8 and 11 April 2015 at its stunning modernist one year old Dongdaemum Design Plaza DDP – hosted at the cost of the Seoul Municipal Government by its hospitable Mayor Park Won-soon.
Cr Rodgers on behalf of the Shire presented the Mayor with a gift of an ironbark plaque crafted by him from the forests of the Great Dividing Range of Southern Australia with “upcycled” timber from the Rosebud pier.
The local government representatives and mayors included 27 from Australia, 35 Canada, 64 Germany, 36 United States and leading international climate change experts including Professor Jorgen Randers of BI Norwegian Business School in Oslo and Dr Patricia McCarney President WCCD World Council on City Data, Toronto. From Australia the representation included mayors and councillors from Manningham, Surf Coast, Yarra, Melbourne, Mornington Peninsula, Canning, Joondalup and Mandurah.
ICLEI 25 years ago pioneered local government climate change action Including target setting, tackling greenhouse emission and accounting climate change reporting and coined the notion of Resilient Cities. It is a world network comprising 1,000 municipalities from 87 countries with annual revenue of 15m Euros and 17 offices throughout the world including Melbourne. As the world’s largest network of municipalities – is a movement of cities to address global problems through local actions.
The conference was held against received Australian climate change learning – from the University of NSW, Victorian Institute of Strategic Economic Studies and CSIRO – which project that the entire southern half of the Australian continent will become drier, with more time in drought; however rain events that do occur will be more intense.
The Seoul conference Sustainable Solutions for an Urban Future was presented with dramatic evidence by Professor Randers of decreasing bio diversity with 20,000 species disappearing over the last 23 years and unprecedented urbanization of 90% of the world’s population by 3000 – all requiring a new kind of urban cities which do not add CO2:
We the cities of the world who want action on climate change are not prepared to wait for the nation states to agree. We cannot fail in Paris in November 2015- we need a climate change solution now!
This was challenge thrown down by Professor Randers to move the planet to a sustainable path and as what can be done at a local level.
Seoul was presented as a model of accelerated urbanization requiring amelioration with its pledge to cut emissions by 40% by 2030 and to reduce energy consumption by as much as one nuclear reactor power plant’s capacity by developing renewable energy. This was the Promise of Seoul.
The papers by distinguished international climate change experts and mayors which included papers from the diversity of Edmonton (Canada) waste is a resource, Boulder (United States) with its multi-purpose climate change mitigation infrastructure and Shimla (India) presented stark contrasts of widely divergent socio economic responses to climate change and waste management.
Dr McCarney discussed the matrix to measure and compare what would be smart cities – retrofitted, greenfield developed or redeveloped – and compared with other cities. ISO 37120 provides 46 city indicators – from energy and education to water and waste – to assist with performance measurement, benchmarking and leveraging funds for projects and infrastructure.
Mobile workshops were held at Myeongil gardens on Sustainable agriculture and local foods with Cr Rodgers speaking on the Shire’s Water Recycling Scheme. Councillor Fraser spoke at the Seoul Energy Dream Centre designed by Freiburg architects and constructed on a reclaimed municipal tip. He commented on the Shire’s own Eco living at the Briars “Eco House” which compared more than favourably with the dramatic architecture and carbon neutral functional components of the Dream Centre.
The conference concluded with the Seoul Declaration adopted by 200 city representatives outlining priorities for sustainable urban development – cutting carbon emissions and pursuing sustainable urban development – intended to influence national governments to set their post 2020 emission reduction plans for Paris in November 2015.