WORKING PAPER Volume 2009 Number 315 IDS_Master Logo Urban Governance for Adaptation: Assessing Climate Change Resilience in Ten Asian Cities Thomas Tanner, Tom Mitchell, Emily Polack and Bruce Guenther January 2009 IDS_Master Logo_Minimum Size X X Minimum Size Minimum Size X : 15mm X : 15mm About IDS The Institute of Development Studies is one of the world's leading organisations for research, teaching and communications on international development. Founded in 1966, the Institute enjoys an international reputation based on the quality of its work and the rigour with which it applies academic skills to real world challenges. Its purpose is to understand and explain the world, and to try to change it – to influence as well as to inform. IDS hosts five dynamic research programmes, five popular postgraduate courses, and a family of world- class web-based knowledge services. 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IDS WORKING PAPER 315 IDS WORKING PAPER 315 Urban Governance for Adaptation: Assessing Climate Change Resilience in Ten Asian Cities Thomas Tanner, Tom Mitchell, Emily Polack and Bruce Guenther January 2009 Institute of Development Studies at the University of Sussex Brighton BN1 9RE UK 01 IDS WORKING PAPER 315 Urban Governance for Adaptation: Assessing Climate Change Resilience in Ten Asian Cities Thomas Tanner, Tom Mitchell, Emily Polack and Bruce Guenther IDS Working Paper 315 First published by the Institute of Development Studies in January 2009 © Institute of Development Studies 2009 ISSN 1353 6141 ISBN 978 1 85864 559 X A catalogue record for this publication is available from the British Library. All rights reserved. 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Tel: +44 (0) 1273 915637 Fax: +44 (0) 1273 621202 Email: [email protected] www.ids.ac.uk/ids/bookshop Typeset by Warwick Printing, Warwick UK. Printed by RPM Print & Design, Chichester UK IDS is a charitable company limited by guarantee and registered in England (No. 877338). 02 IDS WORKING PAPER 315 Urban Governance for Adaptation: Assessing Climate Change Resilience in Ten Asian Cities Thomas Tanner, Tom Mitchell, Emily Polack and Bruce Guenther Summary Rapidly expanding urban settlements in the developing world face severe climatic risks in light of climate change. Urban populations will increasingly be forced to cope with increased incidents of flooding, air and water pollution, heat stress and vector-borne diseases. This research, undertaken with a set of partner research institutes, examines how to manage climate-related impacts in an urban context by promoting planned and autonomous adaptation in order to by improve resilience in a changing climate. It investigates the linkages between the characteristics of pro- poor good urban governance, climate adaptation and resilience, and poverty and sustainable development concerns. The paper develops an analytical framework by combining governance literature with rapid climate resilience assessments conducted in ten Asian cities. Based on this empirical data, we argue that a number of key characteristics can be identified to assess and build urban resilience to climate change in a way that reduces the vulnerability of the citizens most at risk from climate shocks and stresses. These characteristics form the basis of a climate resilient urban governance assessment framework, and include (1) decentralisation and autonomy, (2) accountability and transparency, (3) responsiveness and flexibility, (4) participation and inclusion and (5) experience and support. This framework can help to assist in the planning, design and implementation of urban climate change resilience-building programmes in the future. Keywords: climate change; adaptation; urban governance; resilience; Asia. 03 IDS WORKING PAPER 315 Thomas Tanner is a Research Fellow at IDS specialising in climate change adaptation and its relation to development theory, policy and practice. His work focuses on international climate policy, linking poverty and climate change; child- centred approaches to disaster risk reduction and adaptation; organisational responses to climate change; and networks and knowledge services for adaptation. He has previously worked for the UK Department for International Development and the United Nations Development Programme on climate change adaptation policy and programmes, and has been a negotiator for the UN conventions on climate change and desertification. Tom Mitchell is a Research Fellow in the Climate Change and Development Centre at IDS. With a PhD in Geography, much of Tom’s work focuses on the development and poverty dimension of climate change and disasters through his ongoing projects in the Philippines, El Salvador, Indonesia and parts of Africa. Tom coordinates the programmes on ‘Children in a Changing Climate’ and ‘Pro-poor Climate and Disaster Governance’ and manages a UK-based network of organisations examining the links between climate change adaptation and chronic poverty. Emily Polack is a researcher with the Climate Change and Disasters Group at the Institute of Development Studies. She has a background in community-based natural resource management, indigenous rights and transboundary water conflicts. She holds a Masters of Law in International Development Law and Human Rights specialising in legal plurality and transnational advocacy networks. She is now applying this experience to better understanding the concept of ‘climate justice’ and rights to adaptation. Bruce Guenther is a recent MPhil graduate of the Institute of Development Studies and is currently a disaster response coordinator for Mennonite Central Committee in Winnipeg, Canada. His most recent research has explored various dimensions of social protection including its role in promoting climate change adaptation and reducing disaster risk, linkages with agricultural growth and the politics of social protection. The primary focus of this work has been Ethiopia’s Productive Safety Net Programme. 04 IDS WORKING PAPER 315 Contents Summary, keywords 3 Author notes 4 Acknowledgements 7 Executive summary 9 1 Introduction, background and methodology 13 1.1 Introduction 13 1.2 Background 14 1.3 Methodology 14 1.4 Limitations of study 15 2 Building the framework for analysis 16 2.1 Linking urban governance, climate resilience and adaptation 16 2.1.1 Linking urban climate resilience and sustainable development 18 2.1.2 Promoting resilience: the role of urban governance 19 2.1.3 Climate resilient governance: a framework for analysis 21 3 Findings and analysis 22 3.1 Key features of cities studied 22 3.1.1 Geography and climate 23 3.1.2 Demographics 23 3.1.3 Climate hazards 23 3.2 Comparative analysis 24 3.2.1 Decentralisation and autonomy 26 3.2.2 Transparency and accountability 29 3.2.3 Responsiveness and flexibility 32 3.2.4 Participation and inclusion 34 3.2.5 Experience and support 36 3.2.6 Indicators of climate resilient urban governance 39 4 Conclusion 41 4.1 Characteristics of urban governance for climate resilience 41 Annex 1 Research partners 44 References 45 05 IDS WORKING PAPER 315 Tables Table 1.1 City case studies and research partners 15 Table 3.1 Demographics 24 Table 3.2 Existing and future climate hazards in the ten cities 25 Table 3.3 Summary of climate resilient governance indicators 40 Boxes Box 3.1 Failures in transparency and accountability leading to failed 31 project implementation Box 3.2 Comprehensive protection of the West Lake, Hangzhou City 36 Box 3.3 Early warning systems in Ningbo 37 Box 3.4 Civil society support to vulnerable groups in Chennai City 39 06 IDS WORKING PAPER 315 Acknowledgements Many thanks are due to the research partners listed in Annex 1, who worked under tight deadlines to deliver country case studies. Thanks to Lisa Schipper (SEI) and Eun Choi (IDS) for providing constructive review comments on the working paper, as well as feedback from participants at presentations of the work at the Development and Climate Days during the COP13 UNFCCC meeting, and at the Tyndall Centre conference Living with Climate Change: Are There Limits to Adaptation of February 2008. The research was made possible due to the financial and academic support of the Rockefeller Foundation, with grateful thanks particularly to Stefan Nachuk and Cristina Rumbaitis Del Rio. The publication is kindly supported by the IDS and Christian Aid Climate and Disaster Governance Programme.