June Headlines - click to see the full story

25/6/2009 - Mrs. Tibaijuka wins prestigious environmental award
25/6/2009 - City Planners’ Forum at PLDC 2009
24/6/2009 - EPA Joins HUD, DOT in Partnership for Sustainable Communities
23/6/2009 - Achievements of Europe's Regional Policy 2004-2009: now on-line
22/6/2009 - San Francisco govt contact centre now on Twitter
22/6/2009 - Local authorities speak during the 2nd UN session of the Global Platform for Disaster Risk Reduction 
22/6/2009 - Brazilian President pledges support for WUF5 
20/6/2009 - Local governments are setting ambitious CO2 reduction targets
19/6/2009 - ENTP Training Days and Study Visit
19/6/2009 - New Healthy Communities Toolkit Targets Childhood Obesity
19/6/2009 - ICLEI Asia announced at ICLEI World Congress 2009
18/6/2009 - Black, white or grey? Consultation on draft State Aid Guidelines for Broadband
17/6/2009 - RegioStars 2010: only 30 days left to register
17/6/2009 - ‘Green Digital Charter’
17/6/2009 - How happy are you with your mayor?
16/6/2009 - World agreement on climate: Local governments present their call
15/6/2009 - Climate Change Law is approved in Sao Paulo
14/6/2009 - Cape Town Seeks to Reduce Methane Gas Emissions
13/6/2009 - Cities facing collective violence
13/6/2009 - India sets up mini data centres for e-services
12/6/2009 - Ministers call for greater attention to urbanization
12/6/2009 - Experts review State of Asian Cities Report
12/6/2009 - Local and regional actors push for recognition of their contribution to fighting climate change
12/6/2009 - Public procurement: European Court of Justice rules in favour of intermunicipal cooperation
11/6/2009 - New Technologies and products launching at Singapore International Water Week
11/6/2009 - Framework for climate cooperation for Italian communities launched at the Copenhagen Leadership Summit
11/6/2009 - PERI Promotes Emergency Management Education with Release of New Book
10/6/2009 - Vancouver Will Transform LEED-Rated 2010 Winter Village Venue into Mixed-Use Neighborhood
10/6/2009 - C40 Large Cities Group to Assume Larger Role in Reducing Greenhouse Emissions
10/6/2009 - Ahmedabad Tops UN's Green List
9/6/2009 - IFHP World Congress 2009
9/6/2009 - European Development Days 09 website launched
8/6/2009 - Clinton Foundation/USGBC Partnership Announces 16 Urban Sustainability Projects
8/6/2009 - Isle of plenty
7/6/2009 - Climate change: towns and regions call for funding!
6/6/2009 - Cities in Japan Reduce Use of Plastic Bags
6/6/2009 - "Cities facing collective violence": a timely debate
6/6/2009 - UN-HABITAT and UNIFEM fighting violence against women
5/6/2009 - World agreement on climate: Local governments present their claims
5/6/2009 - UN-HABITAT’s first business awards
4/6/2009 - LG Action launched as platform for European local governments
4/6/2009 - Mayors Pledge Action to Reduce Greenhouse Gas
3/6/2009 - Providing support to urban landless and homeless people 
3/6/2009 - Final CrimPrev Conference
3/6/2009 - REGIOSTARS 2010: only 60 days left to register
2/6/2009 - Symposium: What funding for a sustainable mobility?
2/6/2009 - World's first commercial municipal waste-to-biofuels facility
2/6/2009 - Upcoming webinar: June 9, 2009.
1/6/2009 - Food City: Dubai’s Self-Sufficient Ecotopia
1/6/2009 - UN-HABITAT and UNHCR assist the displaced and host families in Pakistan 
1/6/2009 - Tibaijuka assures Sri Lanka of support in reconstruction efforts

Mrs. Tibaijuka wins prestigious environmental award
UN-HABITAT’s Executive Director Mrs. Anna Tibaijuka has been named one of three winners of the 2009 Göteborg Award, the prestigious “Nobel Prize in Environment”.
The G öteborg Award now celebrating its tenth year, conferred its jubilee prize of one million Swedish Kroner (USD 126,775) to be shared equally between Mrs. Tibaijuka, Mr. Enrique Peñalosa, the former mayor of Bogotá, Colombia, and Mr. Sören Hermansen, of Samsö, Denmark who was named by Time Magazine as a 2008 Hero of the Environment. Last year’s winners included Mr. Al Gore the former US Vice-President and global environment champion.
“We are thrilled to award our jubilee prize to these brilliant visionaries, strategists and system transformers,” said Mr. Stefan Edman, Chairman of the Award Jury since its conception in 2000. The Award was established by the City of Göteborg and several interested companies in 1999 to “stimulate further positive developments and recognize strategic work for national and international sustainable development”.
http://www.unhabitat.org/content.asp?cid=6869&catid=5&typeid=6&subMenuId=0

City Planners’ Forum at PLDC 2009
This e-mail is to inform you about an unequalled opportunity to learn more about the topic of urban lighting strategies (lighting master plans) and to
find a qualified professional to help you arrive at the right solution for your town, city or community.
On Wednesday, 28. October, 2009, prior to the three-day Professional Lighting Design Convention, PLDC in Berlin, the PLDC team will be staging a one-day
forum dedicated to urban planners and decision makers at local government level. The forum will comprise lectures on Urban Lighting Strategies: What they a
re and what benefits they incorporate; reports on Urban Lighting Solutions that demonstrate the economic and social benefits of designed lighting schemes;
 real information about Energy Issues: What is energy efficient lighting, which technologies are sustainable and what perspectives do LEDs offer.
All papers will allow ample time for questions and answers. http://www.pld-c.com/

EPA Joins HUD, DOT in Partnership for Sustainable Communities
''Where you live affects how you get around, and how you get around often affects where you live. Both decisions affect our environment. In order to have the most effective greenhouse gas reduction strategy, we should have a strategy to reduce vehicle miles traveled. In order to provide truly affordable housing, we should take into account what residents must pay for transportation, energy, and water,'' testified EPA Administrator Lisa P. Jackson before the U.S. Senate Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs, announcing EPA's entry into the three-agency Partnership for Sustainable Communities -- spearheaded by Department of Housing and Urban Development Secretary Shaun Donovan and Department of Transportation (DOT) Secretary Ray LaHood -- and stressing that ''(s)mart growth principles are equally important in urban, suburban and rural areas.''
The partnership, Administrator Jackson said, gives the agencies ''an opportunity to share knowledge, resources, and strategies that will improve public health and the environment, cut costs and harmful emissions from transportation, and build more affordable homes in communities all over the country.''
http://www.smartgrowth.org/news/article.asp?art=7154&state=52&res=1280

Achievements of Europe's Regional Policy 2004-2009: now on-line
The European Commission has recently produced a paper setting out the role and achievements of EU Regional Policy from 2004 to 2009.
The first chapter looks at the main challenges facing Europe during the period. Chapter Two summarises key achievements in response to the challenges. Chapter Three sketches out the steps being taken to prepare the ground for the future regional policy.
The publication "Working towards a New Europe: The role and achievements of Europe's regional policy" is only available in English.
http://ec.europa.eu/regional_policy/policy/impact/pdf/legacy_2009_en.pdf

San Francisco govt contact centre now on Twitter
San Francisco residents can now reach the government customer service centre through Twitter, a free social messaging tool.
According to the city’s Chief Information Officer, Chris Vein, San Francisco is the first city in the world to use Twitter on such a large scale to communicate directly with its citizens.
On top of the traditional methods of contacting the centre by phone or through the web site, residents can now send a request on Twitter via SMS (GSM mobile short message service), IM (instant messaging), Twitter web site, or third party applications.
Examples of requests include street cleaning, graffiti removal, porthole and sidewalk defects, abandoned vehicles, city garbage can maintenance, park maintenance, streetlight repair and department information.

Local authorities speak during the 2nd UN session of the Global Platform for Disaster Risk Reduction 
UCLG took part in the 2nd Session of the Global Platform for Disaster Risk Reduction organized by the United Nations in Geneva, from 16 to 19 June. With the support of Earthquakes and Megacities Initiative (EMI), UCLG, who represented the partners of the Urban Programme for Risk Reduction (PURR), organized a plenary session on 17 June on “Urban risks – Improving the effectiveness of local action for risk reduction and adaptation”.
More than 100 people participated in the session chaired by Mr. Narayan Gopal Malego, the Mayor of Kathmandu (Nepal). UN Habitat Deputy Director, Mrs. Inga Klebvy, and representatives from the City of Makati (Philippines), EMI, ProVention Consortium, the International Labour Organization (ILO) and the Asian Disaster Preparedness Center (ADPC) were the main speakers in the session.
Local authorities have stressed once more the importance of effective decentralization and of better coordination between the different levels of government (local, regional, national) in order to anticipate and reduce disaster risks at the local level. According to the Mayor of Kathmandu, “Local governments must actively work on the implementation of local platforms for risk reduction, as it is planned in the Hyogo Framework for Action”.
NGO representatives (Huairou Commission, OXFAM) made a call to reinforce the capacities of local authorities and to more closely involve local populations with the disaster risk prevention plans, specifically the poorest members of the population.
Direct links between climate change and the rise in number and intensity of natural disasters have also been discussed in order to affirm the need to associate more effectively local authorities to the national plans for adaptation and mitigation. 
 
Brazilian President pledges support for WUF5 
Government at UN-HABITAT's Committee of Permanent Representatives applauded Brazilian President Lula da Silva government’s commitment for a successful World Urban Forum . The Forum will be held in March 2010.
The President made the commitment during a recent high level visit by UN-HABITAT officials to Brazil to lay the groundwork for the Forum to be hosted in Rio de Janeiro. The central theme of the Fifth Session of the World Urban Forum will be The Right to the City: Bridging the Urban Divide.
The meeting with President Lula, the Minister of Cities, Mr Marcio Fortes, Rio Mayor Eduardo Paes and Governor Sérgio Cabral in Complexo do Alemão was the highlight of the UN-HABITAT mission to the city from 25 to 29 May 2009.
President Lula told a huge and enthusiastic crowd, government officials and the UN-HABITAT team that it was high time for everyone to recognise the right of the poor to live with dignity and in safety. He said that the poor had a right to the city and its benefits and the role of the government was to enable this to happen.

Local governments are setting ambitious CO2 reduction targets
The City Climate Catalogue - a global collection of climate targets that shows local climate action in practice
Many communities around the world have identified climate change as one of the crucial challenges of our century. A growing number of local governments are addressing this challenge and are busy reducing their municipal and community greenhouse gas emissions - focusing on energy savings, energy efficiency and the use of renewable energy sources. The City Climate Catalogue is a growing collection of excellent examples - open to all communities around the globe, to pool their targets and local climate action results. (www.iclei.org/climate-commitments)

ENTP Training Days and Study Visit
ENTP proudly invites you to take part in our Training Days and a Study Visit to Shanghai!
The Training Days is an annual event that focuses this year on European and national funds. The training days will provide you with tips and tricks of how to work with the structural funds. The invited speakers are experts within their field and will share their knowledge and experience with you.
The Shanghai Study Visit is an extraordinary opportunity for all organisations to learn from the successful economic hub. It is an ever growing city that is constantly developing new neighbourhood districts and innovative urban solutions. This visit offers you an opportunity to meet officials from the city to discuss future cooperation and exchange good practices.
The registration deadline has been changed to 15 July 2009. www.newtowns.net

New Healthy Communities Toolkit Targets Childhood Obesity
Alarmed by the American obesity epidemic, with more than 23 million children and adolescents overweight or obese, $117 billion in annual costs, and concerns that ''this generation of young people may be the first in U.S. history to live sicker and die younger than their parents' generation,'' the national Leadership for Healthy Communities program of the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation partnered with 11 policy-maker organizations at every level of government to promote school, community and child health, releasing their joint smart-growth-friendly ''Action Strategies Toolkit: A Guide for Local and State Leaders Working to Create Healthy Communities and Prevent Childhood Obesity'' last month at a Washington, D.C. summit, followed by a June 10 presentation for the Healthy Communities Network Webinar.
http://www.smartgrowth.org/news/article.asp?art=7146&state=52&res=1280

ICLEI Asia announced at ICLEI World Congress 2009
At ICLEI World Congress 2009, the four Asian regional ICLEI offices have announced 'ICLEI Asia', a unit to serve Asian local governments.
Currently 10% of  Members are in Asia, yet they represent 39% of the total population served by ICLEI Worldwide.
The concept of 'ICLEI Asia' will be developed in the coming months and communicate via this webpage: http://www.iclei.org/index.php?id=10054

Black, white or grey? Consultation on draft State Aid Guidelines for Broadband
The European Commission's Directorate General for Competition has launched a public consultation on the Broadband Guidelines for the application of EU state aid rules to public funding of broadband networks. The deadline for submitting views is 22 June 2009. The first part of the proposed new guidelines outlines past practice in more than 40 individual cases of public support for "traditional broadband" networks. The second part introduces new aspects and outlines the conditions that the Commission suggests should apply to public financing of very high speed, so-called "next generation access networks". The deployment of such networks represents a major technological shift that requires significant investments from operators. The Commission aims to encourage and support the rapid roll-out of such networks. This section will be the key issue for discussion in the public consultation.

RegioStars 2010: only 30 days left to register
European regions are invited to participate in the European Commission's RegioStars 2010 Prize. The deadline for receipt of applications is 17 July 2009.
The objective of the RegioStars Awards is to identify good practices in. regional development and to highlight original and innovative projects which could be attractive and inspiring to other regions. http://ec.europa.eu/regional_policy/cooperation/interregional/ecochange/regiostars_en.cfm?nmenu=4#c

‘Green Digital Charter’
Responding to the Commission’s consultation on mobilising Information and Communications Technologies (ICTs) for a low carbon economy, EUROCITIES has presented the rationale and background for the development of its ‘Green Digital Charter’. 
The Charter will outline the role and contribution of public authorities in fostering low-carbon, energy efficient behaviour.
Currently being developed by a core group of EUROCITIES members, supported by the network’s Working Group ICT & Energy Efficiency, the Green Digital Charter will eventually include proposals for actions to reduce emissions from ICTs and, more significantly, on the restructuring role that ICTs can play in generating energy efficiency gains and reducing the overall carbon footprint.
Through this initiative cities will agree on key principles and contribute significantly to the energy targets set out by the European Union.
http://www.eurocities.eu/include/lib/sql_news_card.php?id=1539

How happy are you with your mayor?
How would you rate your mayor's performance? What was, would you say, her/his best decision or worst mistake? How would your mayor's performance rate compared to others around the world?
City Mayors allows you to praise or castigate your mayor via their Mayors Monitor tool. The one to ten rating system allows web users to rate their local leader while text boxes are available to justify your marks.
To avoid the system to be manipulated by non genuine assessments, each entry is processed manually.
City Mayors hopes that over time the Mayors Monitor tool will become an accurate way to assess the popularity of mayors while keeping track of their achievements and failures. http://www.citymayors.com/sections/mayor_monitor_content.html

World agreement on climate: Local governments present their call
On 2 June 2009, in Copenhagen, Denmark: the 150 mayors, elected officials and local and regional government representatives, present for the Executive Bureau of UCLG, agree on a united call of cities and regions to the Parties which will negotiate, in Copenhagen, in December, a new global agreement on climate. They presented precise and concrete amendments to the text currently under negotiation in the framework of the COP 15 of the United Nations.
On the occasion of the Local Government Climate Change Leadership Summit, that took also place in Copenhagen from 2nd to 4th of June, cities and regions have demonstrated their mobilization and their concrete commitments. Over the course of the opening ceremony, Bertrand Delanoë reminded all present of the urgent need to act on climate change: ‘The state of the planet leaves us without time. Now is the moment to decide and act. The time for delays is over.’

Climate Change Law is approved in Sao Paulo
It was approved on June the 3rd the Bill that institutes the Municipal Policy for Climate Change in Sao Paulo. It is the first law on local government climate strategy in Brazil, based on polluter-payer principle and taking into account the growing responsibility of cities in tackling global warming.
The bill foresees a target of 30% reduction on carbon equivalent emissions until 2012, based on the recent City’s inventory. Since 2005, Sao Paulo has already reduced its emissions levels in 20%, due to initiatives like the implementation of biogas power plants in Sao Joao and Bandeirantes landfills and other environmental programs. According to the new law, the City Hall is committed to stimulating the use of cleaner transportation by its citizens and to restructuring the Selective Collection of Waste until 2012, among other measures.
It also creates the legal framework that encourages the use and improvement of public transportation, renewable fuels, sustainable construction and purchases, and the conservation of green areas. It creates fiscal and economic mechanisms to enhance the participation of the private sector in the implementation of the law. The new legislation aims also at promoting the culture of sustainability among citizens.

Cape Town Seeks to Reduce Methane Gas Emissions
The City of Cape Town is about to sign a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with the Central Energy Fund which will enable it to produce income-creating electricity from the methane gas generated in the City’s landfill sites.
The project seeks to substantially reduce the amount of methane gas produced by decomposing waste presently escaping from landfill sites, which contribute to global warming. This methane gas can generate significant amounts of green electricity that can be fed into the national electricity network.
Along with the sale of electricity, the City hopes to generate income by trading carbon credits in Certified Emission Reduction (CER) certificates. The credits are units of carbon emissions that can be purchased or sold between participating members such as countries or corporations in order to comply with carbon emission allowances.  Several similar projects have already been registered in South Africa following the success of its Marianhill Gas to Energy project.

Cities facing collective violence
Join both EFUS and FFUS for a large debate on June, 26th around "Cities facing collective violence" !
Have the opportunity to discuss with Mayors, Researchers, Members of parliament from various countries across Europe !
http://www.fesu.org/index.php?id=30325&L=0

India sets up mini data centres for e-services
The Indian state government of Gujarat has set up mini data centres (MDCs) in three cities in a bid to reduce costs for e-governance initiatives, increase data security and streamline operational maintenance.
MCDs are connected to a main Service Data Centre (SDC) located in Gandhinagar to provide a single-window approach to the states’ e-governance initiatives.
The main server will provide services for a central data repository, secure data storage, provide online delivery of services, a citizen information portal, a state intranet portal, disaster recovery, remote management and service integration.
The central government will give Rs 55 crore (USD $1.2 million) for the project. Local government will bear the rest.
MDCs at Mehsana, Rajkot and Vadodara have already been set up, while one at Surat is expected to be operational later this year.
The centres will also help in running applications such as Value Added Tax (VAT) for the Commercial Tax Department, Land Record Information Systems, and Integrated Workflow and Document Management System.
“The proposed MDCs will provide the infrastructure required for running localised applications and will provide online services to urban and rural citizens,” said a source in the Department of Science and Technology, Gandhiangar, the agency implementing the project.

Ministers call for greater attention to urbanization
The first tripartite African Caribbean and Pacific (ACP), European Commission and UN-HABITAT conference ended yesterday with a resounding call to the international community to pay greater attention to the issues of sustainable urbanization.
The over 200 delegates from 50 countries approved a 13-point Nairobi declaration on urbanization challenges and poverty reduction in African, Caribbean and Pacific States, which among other things, called on governments in these countries to place urbanization at the centre of negotiations with the European Union.
“We recommended that urban development initiatives should be reviewed and that participatory slum upgrading programmes should be extended to all interested African Caribbean and Pacific States during the mid term review of the 10th European Development Fund in 2010,” it said.
http://www.unhabitat.org/content.asp?cid=6843&catid=5&typeid=6&subMenuId=0

Experts review State of Asian Cities Report
Experts from four major international agencies met in Thailand on June 1-3 to review progress in the preparation of the first State of Asian Cities Report.
The report is being prepared by UN-HABITAT Regional Office for Asia and the Pacific Region and the United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific, in partnership with United Cities and Local Governments, Asia-Pacific Section and United Nations Environment Programme – Regional Office for Asia and the Pacific. http://www.unhabitat.org/content.asp?cid=6837&catid=5&typeid=6&subMenuId=0

Local and regional actors push for recognition of their contribution to fighting climate change
Five European networks of local and regional authorities (EUROCITIES, the Council of European Municipalities and Regions - CEMR, Climate Alliance, Energie-Cités and ICLEI Europe) call on National Governments to formally recognise the role and contribution of local and regional governments in climate mitigation and adaptation policies in the texts to be adopted at the COP15 in December.
This is the message delivered on the 27 of May, by these networks, to all 27 Member States ahead of the next European Council meeting on the 18-19 June.
Simultaneously, the networks’ members – cities, local and regional authorities across Europe - are delivering the same message directly to their Heads of State and Government. This joint action is deliberately coinciding with the UNFCCC COP15 preparatory meeting in Bonn on 1-12 June and following the Local Government Climate Change Leadership Summit in Copenhagen on 2-4 June.
At the Copenhagen Summit, Ronan Dantec, Vice President of Nantes Metropole, in France, stated on behalf of the signatories:
“Local and regional governments have shown their capacity to mobilise together on climate change issues. A real mitigation process cannot be achieved without the involvement of these two levels of governments”.
This message has also been transmitted to the negotiators preparing the COP15 through a series of messages sent by local and regional authorities.
In the run-up to Copenhagen, the June European Council will be an important opportunity for Member States to demonstrate their support and give a clear signal to local and regional decision-makers that their role and commitment are taken seriously. An increasing number of local authorities are already committing to reduce their GHG emissions beyond the targets set out in the EU energy and climate change package. This is especially important since the UNFCCC’s negotiating text makes no reference to local and regional governments in relation to mitigation.
Member States must build on local expertise and engage, empower and resource their cities and towns to undertake the local actions necessary to meet the global climate change targets.

Public procurement: European Court of Justice rules in favour of intermunicipal cooperation
Delivering public services through intercommunal cooperation does not require issuing a call for tender if there is no private partner involved. This is the decision of the Court of Justice, on 9 June 2009, in the case brought forward by the European Commission against the Federal Republic of Germany…
in December 1995, four German Landkreise (district authorities) near Hamburg concluded a contract with the Stadtreinigung (cleansing department) of the city of Hamburg relating to the disposal of their waste in an incineration facility managed by the Stadtreinigung Hamburg. The contract was concluded without there having been a call for tenders.
The European Commission argued that the Landkreise must be regarded as contracting authorities within the meaning of the public procurement (92/50/CC), that the contract was for pecuniary interest (for profit), and that therefore it required a public tendering procedure.
http://www.ccre.org/communiques_de_presse_en.htm
 
New Technologies and products launching at Singapore International Water Week
Sixteen new technologies and products by leading water companies will be launched globally for the first time at this year’s Singapore International Water Week, the global platform for water solutions. They will be joined by 13 other new innovations that have also chosen the Water Week as the platform to make their inaugural entrance into the regional water market.
Held from 22 and 26 June at Suntec Singapore International Convention and Exhibition Centre, the Water Week is anchored by five flagship programmes, with the Lee Kuan Yew Water Prize as the main highlight. Policymakers including some 20 ministers from various countries, industry leaders, experts and practitioners will gather in Singapore at the five-day event to address challenges, showcase technologies, discover opportunities and celebrate achievements in the water world.

Framework for climate cooperation for Italian communities launched at the Copenhagen Leadership Summit
ICLEI's European Cities for Climate ProtectionTM project has been extended with the launch of CCP Italia during the Local Government Climate
Change Leadership Summit held in Copenhagen. This cooperation is based on recognition of the role of local governments as key actors in the fight against climate change. On 3 June 2009, Gino Van Begin, European Director of ICLEI - Local Governments for Sustainability (ICLEI) and Emilio D'Alessio, President of the Coordinamento Agende 21 Locali Italiane (CA21L), signed a Memorandum of Understanding on mutual
cooperation in the field of climate protection to support and guide Italian local governments in the realisation of climate change mitigation and adaptation implementation, within the framework of ICLEI's Cities for Climate Protection TM (CCP) Campaign.

PERI Promotes Emergency Management Education with Release of New Book
The Public Entity Risk Institute (PERI), a nonprofit research institute focused on risk management training and education, has released a new book featuring the latest research and developments in emergency management.  A compilation of presentations made by industry experts during the 2008 Annual Emergency Management in Higher Education Conference sponsored by the U.S. Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), Ideas From An Emerging Field: Teaching Emergency Management in Higher Education, was released at the 2009 Higher Education Conference, held last week in Emmitsburg, Maryland. http://www.riskinstitute.org/bookstore

Vancouver Will Transform LEED-Rated 2010 Winter Village Venue into Mixed-Use Neighborhood
Selected to host the 2010 Winter Olympics, Vancouver will accommodate the expected 3,000 athletes in a 100-acre eco-friendly Olympic Village being built on its waterfront's last vacant post-industrial site, reports Architectural Record writer Brian James Barr, with all 16 residential mid-rises designed to meet the U.S. Green Building Council's (USGBC's) Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) requirements for Gold certification, a 30,000-square-foot community center prepared for Platinum, and the whole complex turned later into a mixed-use neighborhood featuring both market-rate and affordable housing.
http://www.smartgrowth.org/news/article.asp?art=7142&state=54

C40 Large Cities Group to Assume Larger Role in Reducing Greenhouse Emissions
Given that cities contain more than half of the world's population, use 75 percent of global energy and generate 80 percent of global greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, their leading role "in the global effort against climate change must be recognized" and they "must be engaged, empowered and resourced" to work together on GHG reduction targets, said the C40 Large Cities Climate Leadership Group in a declaration from its third summit, setting a "common goal of transforming themselves into low-carbon cities."

Ahmedabad Tops UN's Green List
In 2003, Central Pollution Control Board gave Ahmedabad the ignominious tag of being the most polluted city in the country, with 
dangerous levels of lead and sulphur found in the air.
Six years on, the city has turned around full circle. Ahmedabad, today, leads 15 other cities in the country, including Delhi, in promoting the theme of ‘Green Cities -Plan for the Planet’, initiated by United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP). Another Gujarat city, Jamnagar is ranked seventh. In 2005, Ahmedabad signed the United Nations’ Urban Environmental Accord (UEA) with 16 other cities in the country to implement 29 agendas in seven years to protect precious natural resources. Ahmedabad has so far implemented 20 agendas, way ahead of other cities, according to a study by International Council for Local Environmental Initiatives (ICLEI) for UNEP.
“For the first time, we are conducting a tree audit to verify aspects like survival rate of trees. Greening the city is top priority. We plan to plant two lakh saplings this year,” said IP Gautam, commissioner of AMC.
Among the measures that have been implemented in Ahmedabad are greenhouse gas reduction, establishing an Air Quality Index (AQI), putting in place systems for meeting 10% of the city’s energy needs through renewable resources, efforts to reduce electricity consumption, waste reduction, creating of environmentally beneficial jobs in slums and BRTS.

IFHP World Congress 2009
IFHP invites you to come to Berlin to learn, look, discuss, share ideas and find solutions. Experts will inform you, young planners will provoke you, the vibrant city of Berlin will tell you stories about lost and new invented places. Participants from all over the world will discuss new urban technologies in the context of five subthemes: MOBILITY, WATER CIRCULATION, URBAN MINING, ENERGY PRODUCTION and ENERGY EFFICIENT CONSTRUCTION. www.ifhp2009berlin.de

European Development Days 09 website launched
We are pleased to announce the launch of the website for European Development Days 2009.
You are invited to read all about the forthcoming event and to subscribe on-line if you would like to be notified by e-mail when the site is updated. http://www.eudevdays.eu/index_en.htm

Clinton Foundation/USGBC Partnership Announces 16 Urban Sustainability Projects
"As the Earth's population increases and our cities grow, we need to ensure we have the models in place to sustain our way of life in an increasingly urbanized world," said former President Clinton at the C-40 Cities Climate Change Leadership Group Summit in Seoul, South Korea, announcing a partnership between the William J. Clinton Foundation's Clinton Climate Initiative (CCI) and the U.S. Green Building Council (USGBC) on a Climate Positive Development Program, under which 16 large-scale projects in 10 nations, including two in the U.S., will demonstrate strategies to get urban carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions below zero.
http://www.smartgrowth.org/news/article.asp?art=7127&state=52

Isle of plenty
In the past 10 years, one Danish island has cut its carbon footprint by a staggering 140%. Now, with a simple grid of windfarms, solar panels and sheep, it's selling power to the mainland and taking calls from Shell
But Samso has recently undergone a remarkable transformation, one that has given it an unexpected global importance and international technological standing. Although members of a tightly knit, deeply conservative community, Samsingers - with Jorgen in the vanguard - have launched a renewable-energy revolution on this windswept scrap of Scandinavia. Solar, biomass, wind and wood-chip power generators have sprouted up across the island, while traditional fossil-fuel plants have been closed and dismantled. Nor was it hard to bring about these changes. 'For me, it has been a piece of cake,' says Jorgen. Nevertheless, the consequences have been dramatic.
Ten years ago, islanders drew nearly all their energy from oil and petrol brought in by tankers and from coal-powered electricity transmitted to the island through a mainland cable link. Today that traffic in energy has been reversed. Samsingers now export millions of kilowatt hours of electricity from renewable energy sources to the rest of Denmark. In doing so, islanders have cut their carbon footprint by a staggering 140 per cent. And what Samso can do today, the rest of the world can achieve in the near future, it is claimed.

Global Mayors Forum date change
The inaugral Global Mayors Forum has changed its start date to the 15th November 2009. Full information is available at www.g-mforum.org

Climate change: towns and regions call for funding!
Local authorities from around the world call for UN and national governments funding  to tackle climate change. That is one of the main points issued at the Local Government Climate Change Summit in Copenhagen, on 4 June 2009.
Local governments want direct access to the carbon credit exchange funds, adaptation funds and technology funds, which are to be reformed and developed as part of the negotiations toward an international Post-Kyoto agreement on climate change. They suggest an extra 1 billion US Dollars support for the low-income countries. Those countries are the most vulnerable in regard to climate change, whereas their contribution to global warming is low.
Local governments also want to be empowered with the political and technological capacities required to face climate change. They emphasize the importance of  their role and experience, as well as the respect of subsidiarity. Moreover, they demand coordination mechanisms to be put in place, including all levels of government. http://www.ccre.org/news_detail_en.htm?ID=1614

Cities in Japan Reduce Use of Plastic Bags
The Ministry of the Environment (MOE) of Japan conducted a nationwide survey on local governments' efforts to reduce plastic bags on 1 November 2008. According to the results compiled on 14 January  2009, 80 percent of prefectures and 40 percent of municipalities have already implemented schemes to in some way reduce the use of plastic shopping bags. As compared to the last survey in April 2008, many more local governments have implemented measures to reduce plastic bags. Almost all prefectures in Japan are actively involved in or plan to implement schemes to reduce plastic bags.

"Cities facing collective violence": a timely debate
On Friday, June 26th, a conference will be held in Toulouse on the theme "Cities facing collective violence".
Speakers will include Mr Jean-Pierre HAVRIN, Deputy Mayor of the city of Toulouse, France, Mr François PUPPONI, Member of Parliament and Mayor of the city of Sarcelles, France, Luisa SALGUEIRO, Member of Parliament, Deputy Mayor of Matosinhos, Portugal, Mr Wilfried BLUME-BEYERLE, Deputy Mayor of the city of Munich, Germany, Mr Josep M. LAHOSA I CAÑELLAS, Director of the Prevention department of the city of Barcelona, Spain, Mr Manuel GIRON, Chief of the Prevention and Security Department of the city of Seville, Spain, Mr David HARTSHORN, Superintendent, Head of Public Order and Operationnal Sipport, Metropolitan Police of London, United Kingdom, Dr Karsten KELLER, Researcher at the Marc Bloch Institute, Berlin, Germany (to be confirmed) http://www.fesu.org/index.php?id=30325&L=0

UN-HABITAT and UNIFEM fighting violence against women
UN-HABITAT and UNIFEM this week signed a global pact to tackle violence against women and girls in the world’s cities.
The Executive Director of UN-HABITAT, Mrs. Anna Tibaijuka and the Executive Director of UNIFEM, Mrs. Ines Alberdi, signed the agreement in New York on Wednesday, 3 June.
Violence makes up at least 25 to 30 per cent of urban crime and women, especially in developing countries, are twice as likely as men to be victims of violent aggression, including domestic violence.
“Local authorities and city management have a crucial role to play in the prevention of violence against women, both in public and private spaces, whether it be harassment or attacks outside the home, or domestic abuse behind closed doors,” said Mrs. Tibaijuka.
For the last 10 years, UN-HABITAT has been supporting local authorities in developing countries in preventing crime and violence through advocacy, training and city level activities. UN-HABITAT advocates special attention to women’s safety because the disproportionate amount of violence faced by women limits their rights and freedoms to mobility, education, work, recreation and participation in public and political life. http://www.unhabitat.org/content.asp?cid=6798&catid=5&typeid=6&subMenuId=0

World agreement on climate: Local governments present their claims
On 2 June 2009, in Copenhagen, Denmark: the 150 mayors, elected officials and local and regional government representatives, present for the Executive Bureau of UCLG, agree on a united call of cities and regions to the Parties which will negotiate, in  Copenhagen, in December, a new global agreement on climate. They presented precise and concrete amendments to the text currently under negotiation in the framework of the COP 15 of the United Nations.
Under the Presidency of Bertrand Delanoë, Mayor of Paris and President of UCLG, and Kadir Topbas, Mayor of Istanbul and Co-President of UCLG, and in the presence of their active partners in this area: David Cadman, President of ICLEI, and Bärbel Dieckmann, Mayor of Bonn and President of the World Council of Mayors on Climate Change, the members of the Executive Bureau of UCLG agreed on a strategy to adopt towards the COP 15:
To lobby their governments to ensure that the text under negotiation:
-  will recognize the role of cities and local authorities- the level of government which is most in touch with citizens- in the implementation of national climate change strategies ;
-  will allow local and regional authorities to widen their capabilities and knowledge, particularly through exchanging experiences ;
-  will finally put in place financial mechanisms adapted to the needs of cities that will allow them to fulfill their commitments.
On the occasion of the Local Government Climate Change Leadership Summit, that took also place in Copenhagen from 2nd to 4th of June, cities and regions have demonstrated their mobilization and their concrete commitments. Over the course of the opening ceremony, Bertrand Delanoë reminded all present of the urgent need to act on climate change: ‘The state of the planet leaves us without time. Now is the moment to decide and act. The time for delays is over.’
The participants appealed strongly to national governments for ambitious climate agreements. They reaffirmed their readiness to support and assist national governments to obtain these agreements, but they also reaffirmed the necessity of involving local governments to ensure that these agreements are far-reaching.

UN-HABITAT’s first business awards
An international jury has announced the first Habitat Business Awards for best practices.
Meeting on 25-26 May 2009, the jury panel considered the impact of each initiative, its sustainability, the level of innovation, and its affordability taking into account the environment. http://www.unhabitat.org/content.asp?cid=6799&catid=5&typeid=6&subMenuId=0

LG Action launched as platform for European local governments active in climate and energy
Copenhagen, 03 June 2009. With a focus on European developments, the Local Government Climate Roadmap process is actively supported by the project "Networking action to involve Local Governments in the EU and international energy and climate debate" (LG Action), under coordination of ICLEI - Local Governments for Sustainability and co-funded by the Intelligent Energy Europe Programme.
LG Action was started in May 2009 to provide a voice for European local governments, to improve local-national dialogues, and capture local government (LG) needs to empower and support them in climate and sustainable energy action.
One important event in this process and held in the framework of the Local Government Climate Roadmap is the Local Government Climate Change Leadership Summit, taking place in Copenhagen from 2 to 4 June 2009. ICLEI closely cooperated with Local Government Denmark (LGDK) in the organisation of this important Summit, together with United Cities and Local Governments (UCLG).
During this Summit representatives from local, regional and national governments are gathering to engage in national-local dialogue concerning the role local and regional governments need to play in the post-2012 agreement. The issues identified by European LGs during this event will feed into a process of developing positioning for effective future local climate action, through LG Action. The project focuses on:
Provide information: making LGs aware of their powers for change; Mobilise: linking LGs to national, European and international climate protection processes;
Support positioning: identifying LG needs, develop LG positions, and presenting these to national and EU governments;
Call for recognition: advocacy on behalf of LGs towards national and EU governments,
to recognise the essential role LGs play in the climate and energy debate

Mayors Pledge Action to Reduce Greenhouse Gas
On 18 May 2009, the Seoul Metropolitan Government, an ICLEI Member, hosted the Climate Change Exhibition and the Third C40 Large Cities Climate Summit. C40 is a voluntary organization that consists of 40 member cities and 17 affiliate cities that aim to better deal with climate change and its consequences. About 500 delegates from 76 cities worldwide participated in the summit, sharing best practices for tackling climate change and offering help to cope with environmental hazards.
The Summit featured keynote speeches by former U.S. President, Bill Clinton, and the executive director of UN-Habitat, Ana Tibaijuka. About 100 eco-friendly companies and organizations worldwide displayed gas reduction technologies, new and renewable energy and other green technology at the Expo.

Providing support to urban landless and homeless people 
Urban Poor Funds are an institutional innovation. They support federations of savings groups formed by homeless people or residents of informal settlements. They are changing low-income households’ relations with government agencies, enabling legal solutions to housing problems, promoting cohesion, and providing access to public infrastructure and services.
The International Institute for Environment and Development (IIED), in the UK, reports on Urban Poor Funds, which are now replicated in more than ten countries by Slum/Shack Dwellers International (SDI), a transnational network of federations of landless and homeless poor people. SDI has affiliates in over 30 countries in the Global South. http://www.id21.org/urban/u2dm1g2.html

Final CrimPrev Conference
The final conference of the CrimPrev Project "Evaluating deviance, criminality and pervention in Europe" will be held in Milton Keynes (UK) on June 17th - 19th 2009. This project has allowed researchers, academics and decision-makers to combine their ressources at the European level on different topics, including evaluation of methods and crime and insecurity measuring tools. http://www.gern-cnrs.com/gern/index.php?id=4

REGIOSTARS 2010: only 60 days left to register…
Have you carried out an innovative project using European Structural Funds that you would like to make known? Is it related to urban development or information and communication technologies? Have you created an internet site which highlights the achievements of European funds? If so, you may stand to win one of the ‘RegioStars 2010’ prizes to be awarded by the European Commission in the spring of 2010. Each European region may submit up to three project applications. More information is available here: http://ec.europa.eu/regional_policy/cooperation/interregional/ecochange/regiostars_en.cfm?nmenu=4#2010

Symposium: What funding for a sustainable mobility?
The Council of European Municipalities and Regions (CEMR) and the GART (Grouping of the Authorities in charge of Transports) are organising a symposium on the different public transports funding systems to achieve sustainable mobility objectives, on 17 June 2009, in Paris.
By means of case studies, local and European decision makers, together with academic experts, will look at the different existing approaches to financing public transports. The discussion will aim to clarify the future of public passenger transport services within the European legal framework.
Speakers will include President of GART, Mayor of Strasbourg, Roland Ries; as well as CEMR rapporteur on transport, Municipal Councillor of Innsbruck, Walter Peer.
Simultaneous interpretation will be provided between English and French.
More information on the symposium is available in the presentation brochure. Registration is open until 10 June. http://www.ccre.org/docs/Symposium_programme_EN.pdf

World's first commercial municipal waste-to-biofuels facility
Enerkem, a leading waste-to-biofuels technology company, has announced that Enerkem GreenField Alberta Biofuels (EGAB) has been granted a permit to commence construction of a commercial facility to produce biofuels and green chemicals from sorted municipal solid waste in Edmonton, Alberta.
The plant will enable the city of Edmonton to increase its waste diversion rate from 60 to 90% and to produce an alternative transportation fuel.
The go-ahead for the plant will be North America's first unconditional commercial permit ever awarded to produce advanced biofuels from sorted municipal solid waste and will enable the city of Edmonton to increase its waste diversion rate from 60 to 90% and to produce an alternative transportation fuel.
‘This unprecedented project is set to change the dynamics of the waste and fuel industries by making waste - that would otherwise be landfilled - a resource for transportation fuels,’ said Vincent Chornet, President and CEO of Enerkem.
http://www.iclei.org/index.php?id=9962#c38201

Upcoming webinar: June 9, 2009.
Join Cities of Migration and the Bertelsmann Stiftung for an open 60-minute webinar on sustainable integration strategies for local governance. The presentation will also include introductory remarks from the distinguished Prof. Dr. Rita Süssmuth, former President of the German Bundestag, and an outline of the recent activities of the Transatlantic Council on Migration on the theme of "Learning from the World." http://citiesofmigration.ca/integration-learning-exchange/calendar/

Food City: Dubai’s Self-Sufficient Ecotopia
This past February, the Dubai Chamber of Commerce authorized the development of a “free zone” dubbed Food City. GCLA, a green landscape architect firm, proposed a master plan for the city sector to turn it into an incredible off-the-grid, self-sufficient metropolis. GCLA’s future-forward urban quarter incorporates an extensive list of sustainable urban planning ideas, including vertically stacked landscape surfaces, artificial roof landscapes, renewable energy systems, aquatic farms, and thermal conditioning.GCLA has described their proposal for Food City as the “the marriage of landscapes and urbanism“. Their project integrates a variety of proposals to decrease overall energy use — concentrated solar collectors, towers covered in thin-film photovoltaic cells, piezoelectric pads in pedestrian areas, and methane harvesting through sewage percolation tanks. http://www.inhabitat.com/2009/05/13/a-utopian-vision-for-food-city-dubai/

UN-HABITAT and UNHCR assist the displaced and host families in Pakistan 
UN-HABITAT and the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) have joined forces to provide shelter and other supplies to hundreds of thousands of people displaced by fighting in Pakistan’s North West Frontier Province.
The violence, which broke out on 2 May, has driven more than 1.9 million people from their homes, on top of some 500,000 forced to flee fighting in the area last year. Only 10 per cent of the total of 2.4 million internally displaced persons in the South Asian nation’s north-west are living in camps. The remainder are seeking shelter with relatives or in rented accommodations and public buildings, such as schools.
http://www.unhabitat.org/content.asp?cid=6772&catid=5&typeid=6&subMenuId=0

Tibaijuka assures Sri Lanka of support in reconstruction efforts
UN-HABITAT Executive Director, Mrs. Anna Tibaijuka, has assured the Government and people of Sri Lanka that UN-HABITAT would be fully involved in the reconstruction efforts in the country after 27 years of civil war.
The Executive Director gave the assurance on Wednesday while receiving the credentials from the new Sri Lanka Permanent Representative to UN-HABITAT, Mr. Jayantha Dissanayake. Mrs. Tibaijuka noted with delight that Sri Lanka and UN-HABITAT have had years of very good relations and assured the envoy of UN-HABITAT continued cooperation.