February 2009, Robyn Duncan, BA, MSc Candidate, Global History Community Engagement: An Essential Ingredient in Adapting to Climate Change Climate Change and Higher Education, Erasmus Mundus Conference London School of Economics and Political Science

Community Engagement: An Essential Ingredient in Adapting to Climate Change Cities and Towns are key to Climate Change Adaptation Case Studies Transition Town Movement Okotoks, Canada Keene, USA Conclusions Outline:

Community Engagement: An Essential Ingredient in Adapting to Climate Change Government Policy Which policies to implement? What alternatives to promote? How to achieve meaningful results? How to ensure citizen buy-in? When to phase in new policies? Citizens How to make a positive impact as an individual,how to ensure governments implement the ‘right’ policies, how to shift to a lighter impact lifestyle? Considerations

Community Engagement: An Essential Ingredient in Adapting to Climate Change Increased municipal involvement in creating adaptive strategies Increased citizen involvement Increased transparency Frequent program evaluation Is the adaptation on track? Has the initiative met its objectives? How can it be improved? Solutions

Community Engagement: An Essential Ingredient in Adapting to Climate Change CO2 Trends: Increasing Temperatures IF greenhouse gas concentration remains at 2000 levels, we will experience a rise in global temperature of 0.2C for the next 2 decades. But emissions keep rising! IPCC predicts between 1.4C - 5.8C increase by 2100.

Community Engagement: An Essential Ingredient in Adapting to Climate Change “Plan ahead to use shocks as catalysts for positive change” ~Bryn Davidson, Dynamic Cities Project --

Community Engagement: An Essential Ingredient in Adapting to Climate Change Municipalities have the opportunity to be on the forefront of effective change through decision- making and direct involvement with citizens.

Community Engagement: An Essential Ingredient in Adapting to Climate Change Localization makes economic cents Climate change will cost the world a minimum of 5% GDP and severe predictions could result in a loss of 30% world GDP £1 spent locally (local supplier) = £1.76 to the local economy £1 spent outside locality = £0.36 to the local economy (New Economics Foundation) Canada’s economy can accommodate 20% growth while still cutting CO2 levels to 1990 levels (Pembina Institute) “Localisation provides an overarching strategic vision and makes sound financial sense”. (Prof. Colin Williams, School of Management, University of Sheffield

Community Engagement: An Essential Ingredient in Adapting to Climate Change Local Governments are Taking a Leadership Role Energie-Citiés member municipalities 25 different countries Covenant of Mayors: 327 municipalities signed to cut their carbon emissions by 20% by 2020

Community Engagement: An Essential Ingredient in Adapting to Climate Change Local Governments are Taking a Leadership Role Cities for Climate Protection An ICLEI Local Governments for Sustainability initiative 700+ municipalities Goal: become a Climate Resilient Community 5 milestone process

Community Engagement: An Essential Ingredient in Adapting to Climate Change Local Governments are Taking a Leadership Role Transition Town Movement Decrease dependence on oil and increase community resilience Tackle climate change and peak oil 137 signatory transition towns 14 countries 600+ at some stage of the process

Community Engagement: An Essential Ingredient in Adapting to Climate Change Municipal Policies Have Big Impacts Local building codes Infrastructure Bylaws Waste removal Public space for green spaces and allotments Public transportation systems

Community Engagement: An Essential Ingredient in Adapting to Climate Change Community Resilience “Resilience is the capacity of a system to absorb disturbance and reorganize while organizing change, so as to still retain essentially the same function, structure, identity and feedbacks”. Walker et al.

Community Engagement: An Essential Ingredient in Adapting to Climate Change Community Resilience “Resilience is the ability of a system, from individual people to whole economies, to hold together and maintain their ability to function in the face of change and shocks from the outside”. Rob Hopkins. Founder, Transition Town Movement

Community Engagement: An Essential Ingredient in Adapting to Climate Change Community Resilience “More than anything, the resilience that comes from a strong sense of community will help your city meet the challenges of energy and climate uncertainty” Post Carbon Cities “There’s no question whatsoever that community driven local solutions will be essential…We will see a relocalisation of the way in which we live…Undoubtedly one of the cheaper responses that will be very effective is promoting local consumption local production, local distribution”. Andrew McNamara, Queensland’s Minister for Sustainability, Climate Change and Innovation

Community Engagement: An Essential Ingredient in Adapting to Climate Change Transition Town Movement 3 Aspect of Resilience: Diversity Modularity Tightness of Feedback Loops

Community Engagement: An Essential Ingredient in Adapting to Climate Change Transition Town Movement Totnes, UK 1st official transition town Working groups Full Community Mobilization

Community Engagement: An Essential Ingredient in Adapting to Climate Change Municipal Leadership Keene, New Hampshire, USA Okotoks, Alberta

Community Engagement: An Essential Ingredient in Adapting to Climate Change Sustainable Okotoks *Limited growth based on established environmental carrying capacity *4 pillars of growth *10 key targets Achievements *Numerous provincial, national and international awards *30% per capita reduction in water consumption *20% of space is open space *Drake Landing Solar Program: 52 homes, provides 90% of space heating, each house has a reduction of 5 Tonnes of CO2 per year Okotoks, Alberta

Community Engagement: An Essential Ingredient in Adapting to Climate Change Keene, New Hampshire, USA Joined Cities for Climate Protection in 2000 Has achieved 3 of the 5 milestones in becoming a Climate Resilient Community: -Initiate a Climate Resiliency Effort -Conduct a Climate Resiliency Study -Develop a Climate Resilient Action Plan Collaboration with University of Washington

Community Engagement: An Essential Ingredient in Adapting to Climate Change Challenges Budgets Resources Jurisdiction Compliance

Community Engagement: An Essential Ingredient in Adapting to Climate Change Conclusions Municipalities MUST play an active role in adapting to and mitigating the impacts of climate change. Municipalities have the opportunity to create real and effective change Municipalities can strengthen their initiatives through networks, collaboration with institutions of higher education, organizations, etc.

Community Engagement: An Essential Ingredient in Adapting to Climate Change Conclusions The municipal secret weapon of facing climate change is COMMUNITY RESILIENCE Each community will follow their own unique strategy

Community Engagement: An Essential Ingredient in Adapting to Climate Change Any intelligent fool can make things bigger, more complex, and more violent. It takes a touch of genius -and a lot of courage - to move in the opposite direction. Albert Einstein

Community Engagement: An Essential Ingredient in Adapting to Climate Change Thank you. Questions?