Governance
Findings
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Summary compiled from submission by Glenn Robbins and report by Harriett Bulkeley
(World Bank Urban Symposium on Climate Change)
First wave of municipal action on climate change was dominated by activities of a few
pioneer cities mainly in North America and Europe and focused on climate change
mitigation – emission inventories, carbon disclosure projects e.g. ICLEI and GHG
reduction targeting.
The past decade has witnessed a new wave of municipal action on climate change
mitigation in which transnational municipal networks have grown and multiplied, while
a more geographically diverse range of cities have become involved in addressing this
issue.
The increasing mobilization of municipalities – through forums such as the US Mayors
Climate Agreement and ICLEI’s CCP programme – has in part been due to
dissatisfaction with level of political engagement at a national level. Also have
emergence of C40 Cities Climate Leadership Group and the Rockefeller Foundation
Climate Change Initiative, together with the continued work of ICLEI.
Past predominant focus on mitigation is giving way to municipal climate policy in which
both mitigation and adaptation are considered significant. Shift to adaptation as risks
are already impacting on cities. Challenges of mitigation and adaptation are significantly
different. Mitigation – driven by international and national policy and has focused on a
few energy intensive sectors (e.g. transport and energy). Adaptation is more locally
differentiated and involves a wider range of sectors and actors operating across a
range of timescales (disaster to long term). Reinforced a more central role for relevant
departments in local municipalities (Roberts, 2008)
Strong imperative for local government to take the lead in local adaptive responses as
the impact is spatially variable
Lack of adaptive capacity in developing countries calls for extensive support in terms of
capacity building and investments in infrastructure and services
Research and evidence base is lagging this new trend. Cities in industrialized countries
in the north do not necessarily serve as a proxy for cities in the global south.
Research agenda is complex - environmental issues as well as poverty, industrial
pollution, consumption and lifestyle issues. Impetus for economic development
traditionally viewed as incompatible with climate change policies, increasingly mitigation
and adaptation are being reframed as economic opportunities
Countries in global south argue for adaptation to be placed higher up the global agenda.
History is important. Government was organised to benefit a minority and governance
processes were influenced by an authoritarian state culture. Government favoured
economic growth over environmental and social concerns. Result was an unequal
society with the majority of poor black urban residents living on the periphery of the city.
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Democratic reform in early 1990s aimed at enhancing accountability of local government
and giving citizens greater voice. Important pieces of legislation were Local Government
Structures Act (1998) and Local Government Systems Act (2000). Constitution also
important as gives formal recognition to local government as a sphere of government.
Creation of metropolitan scale of government was also significant as aimed to create
opportunities for redistribution by integrating peri-urban and surrounding rural areas
into city administration. Also led to coordination of fragmented local government
that had been operating in the past.
eThekwini has 100 electoral wards with 100 elected ward councilors. Also have 100
proportional representation councilors nominated by parties in proportion to their share
of the electoral vote.
Have an Executive Committee decision-making system as opposed to an executive
Mayor. Due to fact that an outright majority eluded the dominant party. Will change soon.
Local Government Systems Act (2000) and Municipal Finance Management Act (2003)
require local government to act in a participatory way. Former sets out process for IDPs
which are the central tool for municipal planning and action.
IDPs are core governance tools in the municipal environment as they are used to
justify actions and choices on a consistent basis. Keep them relatively open-ended to
allow for a measure of discretionary action.
Municipalities have the power to promulgate municipal by-laws covering a wide range of
fields. Widely used prior to 1994 but importance fallen away post-1994. Recently there
has been a resurgence of interest as a key element of local governance.
eThekwini has received many accolades and is regarded in many circles as the best
municipality in SA (need evidence). Has the best credit rating of any city in SA.
There have been many criticisms: Ballard et al (2007) – state uses its own formal
decision-making processes without engaging more meaningfully with the citizenry. Also
concerns about the dominance of a single party (ANC) with its rather centralized
decision-making processes. Buccus and Hicks (2008) – question the political will of
elected representatives and senior bureaucrats to put participation ideology into practice.
They close ranks against those who oppose or criticize their policies. Very limited
tendency to engage broader interest groups in strategic decision-making related to
major projects and initiatives. e.g. Point Waterfront, Fifa World Cup stadium, airport (??).
Processes are complicated by close working relationships between senior council
political leaders and a powerful network of local business people (Moffet and Freund,
2004). Bond (2004) argues that the municipality has embraced a market-based
development strategy that aggravates inequality and poverty.
Through reform of governance structures the issue of locality is less important.
Officials don’t have local knowledge to incorporate into decision making processes.
Delivery has been impressive but still falls short of the need that exists
Reasonable progress has been made in mainstreaming climate change concerns at the
local government level (Roberts, 2008) e.g. investments in carbon impacts of Fifa World
Cup.
Significant attention is given to environmental issues (climate change ??) in Long Term
Development Framework and the IDP
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Political support for environmental (climate change) efforts has been inconsistent
(Roberts, 2008)
Main parties have little to say about the environment in their manifestos
Attention paid to carbon emissions and responses begun to garner more responses.
Useful framework to examine local state and governance provided by Alber and Kern
(2008). Four categories:
o Self-governing – capacity of local government to govern its own activities e.g.
improvement of energy efficiency in municipal buildings. Relies on organizational
management, institutional innovation and strategic investments
o Governing through enabling – role of local government in coordinating,
facilitating and encouraging action through partnerships with private and
voluntary sector organisations. Govern through persuasion, argument and
positive incentives.
o Governing through provision – practice is shaped through delivery of services
and resources. Accomplished through infrastructure and financial means.
o Governing by authority – use of traditional form of authority e.g. regulations
and use of sanctions. Received the most attention.
Modes of urban climate change governance and sectors of climate change
mitigation
Self-governing
Governing
through enabling
Governing
through provision
Emissions
inventory for
Municipality under
Climate Change
Protection
programme
(including pilot
audit of Municipal
buildings).
Sharing information
on energy
reduction
strategies with the
public and
businesses.
Access to partially
treated water to
firms for industrial
use.
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Governing by
authority
Using planning
frameworks to
require developers
begin to respond to
climate change
imperatives
Bulkeley concludes that whilst there is considerable effort to address climate change in
cities, most efforts are piecemeal.
Municipal governments generally have influence on the emission of GHGs in energy,
transport, land use planning and waste management sectors. Extent of influence
varies across cities.
Municipal emissions generally account for no more than 1-3% of GHG emissions
except when own an energy or water supply company.
Many developing country urban areas are associated with governance failures –
backlog of services, high levels of poverty that see sub-optimal decisions being made
(need evidence) - Robbins
Many developing country cities are early on in the processes of creating governance
foundations appropriate to enabling them to face up to their development imperatives –
Robbins
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In global south, growth of informal and illegal settlements a challenge in terms of
providing adequate infrastructure (water, energy and sanitation services). Challenges
are most significant in relation to adaptation.
Planning frameworks need to ensure that contribute to global sustainability by
addressing causes and potential impacts of cc. Need to address climate change within
the planning system. Often do not work – developers not in compliance and frameworks
need to take cognizance of realities of daily life. Must improve living conditions at the
same time as promoting low carbon development.
Factors that shape local capacity to address climate change are:
o Leadership – critical. Need policy entrepreneurs or political champions to get
climate change on the municipal agenda and take forward innovative action.
Policy entrepreneurs are critical at the start of a policy process but need to
institutionalize climate change agenda to overcome constraints of administrative
structures, party politics and political timetables, and loss of individuals.
Transnational municipal networks have provided opportunities for cities to
demonstrate leadership (strive to be the first to achieve a certain target). They
also recognize leadership through an awards system. Already in place in Dbn.
o Municipal competencies – refers to the powers and duties of key sectors
(energy, transport, planning and waste). In some countries, competencies are
defined by national or regional (provincial) government and local governments
have limited powers and responsibilities e.g environmental taxation, energy
supply, transport infrastructures. May be good idea to identify what municipality
has influence over in each sector. e.g. transport – high speed rail link between
Dbn and Gauteng a national issue. Relationships between national and local
governments critical. But even if have no say in energy policy can still implement
measures that lead to increased efficiency in buildings. If municipalities have
specific competencies for direct provision of waste, transport or energy services
have capacity to address climate change.
o Resources – financial and human resources critical. e.g. difference between CT
and Jhb. Ability to secure funding from external sources important – depends on
leadership
o Urban political economies – ability of a city to respond is also a political matter
– political will. What priority is climate change mitigation accorded locally. GHG
mitigation often has negative connotation in developing countries because of
perception that it is anti growth. If have ambiguous or overtly hostile responses to
climate change mitigation then need to reframe the problem as a local one that
will have significant additional benefits. Need to localize climate change. Plenty
of local hooks e.g. air pollution control, sold waste management, urban
development and growth management, transportation etc. Get it into
performance evaluation systems of officials e.g. carbon emissions reduction
Stress the need for multilevel governance – horizontal and vertical coordination. Called
Type I multi-level governance.
Horizontal coordination – climate change governance is cross cutting. Environmental
departments are often not able to implement policies (for transportation or finance for
example) that are required to address the problem. Often marginalized and lack power
and authority to co-ordinate policy across a municipality.
Neoliberal reforms (?) and trend towards privitisation and outsourcing of elements of
municipal service delivery (e.g. municipal waste services) has meant that municipalities
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have limited control over the provision of services with significant GHG emissions
implications. Holgate (2007) refers to semi-privitisation in Jhb – created a silo effect
where there is a lack of communication between agencies. In majority of cases,
municipal climate change mitigation remains concentrated in environmental departments
– need to broaden (my comment)
Mainstreaming, coordination and cooperation across government agencies is vital
Vertical coordination – generally argued that national government support in form of
stated ambitions to address climate change and enabling frameworks of policy and
planning are critical for achieving action on the ground within municipalities. But not
happened in the US and Australia and thus an absence of political leadership at national
government has created opportunities for municipalities to demonstrate leadership. In
Sweden and Netherlands, national governments give funding to municipalities for
climate change mitigation. In most countries no direct link between national GHG
reduction goals and implementation at the local level. So in most countries local climate
action remains a voluntary task. Is this true of SA. AQMP??
Type II multilevel governance also critical to governing of climate change at municipal
level. Involves new governance arrangements such as networks and partnerships that
operate between and across political levels.
o Transnational municipal networks – e.g ICLEI CCP, Climate Alliance, energiecities, C40. Important because facilitate exchange of information and
experiences, provide access to expertise and external funding, provide political
kudos . Clubs of cities.
o Sub-national networks and partnerships – trend of past decade has been to
nationalize transnational networks e.g. CCP – Canada, Australia, Mexico, India –
specific national campaigns. Function in same way as above. Presence of
influential scientists can also raise awareness of climate change on policy
agenda. Holgate (2007) argues that CT has successfully implemented GHG
mitigation measures because of cooperation with external institutions (ICLEI,
NGOs, Eskom and academic institutions). Climate oriented hub – partnership
between public and private actors on a particular project e.g. climate forum in
Malmo.
Two strategies whereby municipalities can engage communities
o Educating the public – key element of the enabling mode of governance.
Provision of information alone is unlikely to have much effect on behavior
o Involving communities – through provision of low carbon services. e.g.
Shanghai – green electricity scheme - consumers can voluntarily purchase
electricity.from renewable sources. Others provide subsidies for installation of
photovoltaic equipment or roof-top gardening. Fifty-fifty program in Japan – city
government gives subsidy to schools – equal to half the money they save by their
efforts to reduce utility costs. Many innovative schemes.
Climate Change Adaptation - focuses on expanding the capacity to cope with changes
in climate. Adaptive capacity may include technological options, economic resources,
human and social capital and governance.
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In 2007, UNFCCC introduced an Adaptation Fund (funded through proceeds from CDM).
However funding is insufficient.
Benefits from urban adaptation can be direct (political or economic gains or
improvements in the local environment) as opposed to indirect benefits in case of
mitigation
Adaptation can also be realized without long lead times.
Problem is that research on adaptation is still in its infancy.
Often there is conflict between competing goals, interests and actors e.g. developing a
waterfront and rising sea levels.
Adaptation has received low priority on urban agendas because:
o Science and knowledge – lack of local data on impacts of climate change.
Good knowledge base is prerequisite. Undertake risk and vulnerability
assessments for city. Durban is a leader in institutionalizing adaptation through
incorporating science and knowledge creation into its approach. Established Env
Mgt Dept in 1994. IN 2004, initiated development of Climate Protection
Programme through which it aims to incorporate climate change into long term
city planning. Also developing a model for simulating, evaluating and comparing
strategic urban development plans so that effects of climate change can be
understood and mitigation and adaptation policy response can be identified
(Roberts, 2008)
o Local governance capacity – good governance (competent, capable,
accountable) and availability of resources are important. Leadership required for
adaptation requires a focus on needs of communities across the city- scarce
resources must be deployed for the common good. Requires competencies in
area of infrastructure provision. Can be both micro-level (revising building codes,
land use management and infrastructure standards) and macro-level (enhancing
transparency, accountability and democratization) interventions. As with
mitigation, the ability to access additional and external sources of funding is
critical.
o Multilevel governance – Implementation of adaptation measures is likely to
encounter greater institutional complexity than is the case for climate mitigation.
In Hong Kong recently created an Interdepartmental Working Group on Climate
Change. Some sectors (e.g. coastal management and agriculture) are rarely
within the direct remit of city governments therefore there is a need for vertical
coordination.
o Networks and partnerships-those that focus on adaptation are minimal
compared to climate change mitigation. Just beginning to develop e.g. Asian
Cities Climate Change Resilience Network. At sub-national level barriers include
ingrained culture of bureaucracy, lack of access to information
o Engaging communities and educating the public – difficult because most
people are oblivious to long-term consequences of climate change eg. SLR
Adaptation is difficult because municipalities often start from an infrastructure deficit.
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Drivers for action
o Windows of opportunity created by global sporting events. Used as a vehicle for
promoting action on climate change in a city. Such trigger events provide the
motivation and the physical opportunity for intervening in the urban landscape in
order to address climate change.
o Trigger events are also important in terms of adaptation responses – adaptation
measures often get adopted in response to local natural disaster.
o CDM important
o Issue framing – energy security, energy efficiency and fuel poverty or air quality
and health.
o Another factor that acts as a barrier is the relationship between continued fossil
fuel use and economic growth. Demands for travel and energy consumption can
in the main only be met by the continued provision of fossil fuel based energy.
Foundations for a low carbon governance framework for Durban
o Citizen and civil society engagement and partnerships – local government is
only one of a number of actors that are important. Need to engage with other
spheres of government and business community and public
o Political responsibility – matters related to environment get heard in subcommittees related to Planning/Economic Development and Health/Safety.
Centrality of climate change matters to agendas of Council structures is a matter
of concern. Agendas are weighed down. Need to pay attention to environmental
matters in structural terms within the Council committee system. Need to
generate greater political attention and support political accountability of different
council depts to low carbon policy imperatives. Having a political leader with
explicit responsibility for this field would be important. (Debra) DA normally
supports environmental issues.
o Institutional consolidation and capacity enhancement (extending the reach)
There has been improved coordination around development plan applications
and EIAs. Value in enhancing this around climate change matters. At present
shared perspectives and awareness rely heavily on individuals working together
with a high level of trust and shared knowledge. Will benefit from greater
institutional formalization. How? Progress made in open space, town planning
and energy needs to find its way into transportation and finance. Transport needs
considerable attention.
o Demonstration projects to encourage participation and communicate
relevance. – to date much of the work around the environment has been in field
of knowledge creation, capacity enhancement, institutional re-alignment and
regulation. Visible projects are rare (except roof gardens). Durban must seek to
make parks work to help meet not only long term carbon mitigation and
adaptation goals but also serve as communicators to citizens of key messages
and spaces for other actors to contribute to development goals
o Poverty reduction and low carbon initiatives must be integrated –
environmental agenda must be relevant to the immediate needs of the poor to
access services, shelter and economic activities. Can’t only be about innovative
communication strategies –must be about direct engagement with key municipal
policies that impact on the poor such as housing, basic services and economic
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o
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development. Would be good for municipality to seek to narrow the gap between
the local state and civil society entities that are active in poorer communities
Develop alternative economic growth paths – lower carbon future
development paths require considerable attention to be paid to economic
development paths and how the city may influence these. Environmental matters
have begun to feature in economic programmes but are somewhat marginal.
Mitigation and adaptation initiatives need to engage business actors as partners.
Continuous striving for higher levels of economic growth must be tempered with
both distributional and climate impact considerations
Non-regulatory opportunities to be explored – grounds for creative and
appropriate use of by-laws and policies to support greater alignment around
carbon reduction intentions
Draft Recommendations
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Must recognize that local government is only one of a number of actors that
impact on the carbon intensity of Durban’s development path. Other spheres of
government, business and citizenry are relevant
Centrality of climate change matters on the agendas of Council structures is a
matter of concern. Matters related to the environment tend to get heard in subcommittees related to Planning/Economic Development and Health/Safety. Need
to give attention to environmental matters in structural terms within the Council
committee system. Need to generate greater political attention. Perhaps have a
political leader with explicit responsibility for this field. ?? Elaborate
There has been improved coordination around development plan applications
and EIAs. Value in enhancing this around climate change matters. At present
shared perspectives and awareness rely heavily on individuals working together
with a high level of trust and shared knowledge. Will benefit from greater
institutional formalization. How???
Poverty reduction and low carbon initiatives must be integrated. Climate change
agenda must be relevant to the immediate needs of the poor to access services,
shelter and economic activities. Narrow the gap between local state and civil
society entities that are active in poorer communities. How??
Create a special climate change unit/forum/department/working group that will
ensure horizontal co-ordination and provide a platform to formulate policies.
Where should it be located? Energy office?
Encourage research on local impacts as a sound knowledge base is a
prerequisite for designing and implementing effective adaptation measures
Undertake risk and vulnerability assessments for city – check being done by
disaster management department.
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