In recent years, the number of large subtropical and tropical cities with defined climate plans has increased as a result of the initiatives of local governments, multi-bilateral development aid and development banks. Surveys carried out to date on climate planning consider the overall cities, at times by continent, without underscoring those that present planning deficiencies. For instance, we have no idea whether the cities that are most affected by hydro-meteorological and climatic disasters have plans, nor if their climate plans are ready to be implemented. Clarifying these aspects would strengthen the foundation of the current discussion on the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals 2016–2030. Hence, the objective of this chapter is to ascertain the relevance and quality of climate planning in large subtropical and tropical cities populated by over 1 million inhabitants. Our survey found 344 large cities in the two climate zones concerned, and 82 of these have mitigation, adaptation, resilience or emergency plans, strategies or policies. We verified the relevance of these tools for the climate zones concerned, the type of economy and the frequency of hydro-meteorological and climate-related disasters. The quality of plans was assessed, ensuring that they had taken climate characterisation into account, that every measure was managed by a designated agency or office, and that funds were secured for implementing measures, as well as a monitoring and reporting sytem was defined. The analysis of collected information underscores considerable differences between large cities in terms of per capita greenhouse gas emissions (which were double in the subtropics relative to the tropics) and exposure to hazards (which were greater in the subtropical zone). Emergency and mitigation plans were the most common, while adaptation plans and resilience strategies were more unusual. The relevance of plans is still weak, given that barely 1/4 of the large cities had a plan. Plans were unquestionably more common in the subtropics, especially in OECD countries and in the BRICS, while they were absent in the Least Developed Countries (LDCs), despite the presence of large cities that have been repeatedly affected by hydro-meteorological and climate-related disasters. Planning quality was good for 30% of cities only. In the remaining 70% of cities, climate characterisation was briefly defined; the planning process was fully funded by multi-bilateral development aid; measures were without a clear manager; cost, funds and monitoring of measures were not specified. Thus the indication being that local plans were still scarcely action-oriented. Hence, the fact that two sustainable development goals (# 11 and 13) address human settlements and climate change, respectively, especially through assistance to LCDs, seems justified.

Climate change characterisation and planning in large tropical and subtropical cities / Tiepolo, Maurizio; Cristofori, ELENA ISOTTA - In: Planning to cope with tropical and subtropical climate change / Tiepolo M., Ponte E., Cristofori E.. - STAMPA. - Berlin : De Gruyter Open Ltd, 2016. - ISBN 978-3-11-048079-5. - pp. 6-41 [10.1515/9783110480795-003]

Climate change characterisation and planning in large tropical and subtropical cities

TIEPOLO, MAURIZIO;CRISTOFORI, ELENA ISOTTA
2016

Abstract

In recent years, the number of large subtropical and tropical cities with defined climate plans has increased as a result of the initiatives of local governments, multi-bilateral development aid and development banks. Surveys carried out to date on climate planning consider the overall cities, at times by continent, without underscoring those that present planning deficiencies. For instance, we have no idea whether the cities that are most affected by hydro-meteorological and climatic disasters have plans, nor if their climate plans are ready to be implemented. Clarifying these aspects would strengthen the foundation of the current discussion on the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals 2016–2030. Hence, the objective of this chapter is to ascertain the relevance and quality of climate planning in large subtropical and tropical cities populated by over 1 million inhabitants. Our survey found 344 large cities in the two climate zones concerned, and 82 of these have mitigation, adaptation, resilience or emergency plans, strategies or policies. We verified the relevance of these tools for the climate zones concerned, the type of economy and the frequency of hydro-meteorological and climate-related disasters. The quality of plans was assessed, ensuring that they had taken climate characterisation into account, that every measure was managed by a designated agency or office, and that funds were secured for implementing measures, as well as a monitoring and reporting sytem was defined. The analysis of collected information underscores considerable differences between large cities in terms of per capita greenhouse gas emissions (which were double in the subtropics relative to the tropics) and exposure to hazards (which were greater in the subtropical zone). Emergency and mitigation plans were the most common, while adaptation plans and resilience strategies were more unusual. The relevance of plans is still weak, given that barely 1/4 of the large cities had a plan. Plans were unquestionably more common in the subtropics, especially in OECD countries and in the BRICS, while they were absent in the Least Developed Countries (LDCs), despite the presence of large cities that have been repeatedly affected by hydro-meteorological and climate-related disasters. Planning quality was good for 30% of cities only. In the remaining 70% of cities, climate characterisation was briefly defined; the planning process was fully funded by multi-bilateral development aid; measures were without a clear manager; cost, funds and monitoring of measures were not specified. Thus the indication being that local plans were still scarcely action-oriented. Hence, the fact that two sustainable development goals (# 11 and 13) address human settlements and climate change, respectively, especially through assistance to LCDs, seems justified.
2016
978-3-11-048079-5
Planning to cope with tropical and subtropical climate change
File in questo prodotto:
File Dimensione Formato  
2-Tiepolo-Cities_25-10-2016.pdf

accesso aperto

Descrizione: Stato dell'arte (al 2015) sulla pianificazione climatica nelle grandi città tropicali e subtropicali
Tipologia: 2. Post-print / Author's Accepted Manuscript
Licenza: Creative commons
Dimensione 509.15 kB
Formato Adobe PDF
509.15 kB Adobe PDF Visualizza/Apri
Pubblicazioni consigliate

I documenti in IRIS sono protetti da copyright e tutti i diritti sono riservati, salvo diversa indicazione.

Utilizza questo identificativo per citare o creare un link a questo documento: https://hdl.handle.net/11583/2624936
 Attenzione

Attenzione! I dati visualizzati non sono stati sottoposti a validazione da parte dell'ateneo