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    Nature-Based Solutions for Building Resilience in Towns and Cities: Case Studies from the Greater Mekong Subregion
    Nature-Based Solutions for Building Resilience in Towns and Cities: Case Studies from the Greater Mekong Subregion
    Nature-Based Solutions for Building Resilience in Towns and Cities: Case Studies from the Greater Mekong Subregion
    Ebook483 pages2 hours

    Nature-Based Solutions for Building Resilience in Towns and Cities: Case Studies from the Greater Mekong Subregion

    By Asian Development Bank

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    About this ebook

    Urban populations are projected to increase from 54% to 66% of the global population by 2050, with close to 90% of the increase concentrated in Asia and Africa. Cities and towns---a growing source of greenhouse gas emissions---will need to address challenges posed by climate change. A nature-based approach in identifying climate change vulnerabilities and developing relevant adaptation options was conducted in three towns of the Greater Mekong Subregion. Working with local governments, nongovernment organizations, women's groups, and professional associations, town-wide adaptation measures were defined by overlaying climate change projections on town plans and zoning schemes for strategic infrastructure. This publication captures valuable experience and lessons from the project.
    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherAsian Development Bank
    Release dateDec 1, 2016
    ISBN9789292576585
    Nature-Based Solutions for Building Resilience in Towns and Cities: Case Studies from the Greater Mekong Subregion

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      Book preview

      Nature-Based Solutions for Building Resilience in Towns and Cities - Asian Development Bank

      NATURE-BASED SOLUTIONS FOR BUILDING RESILIENCE IN TOWNS AND CITIES

      Case Studies from the Greater Mekong Subregion

      Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 IGO license

      © 2016 Asian Development Bank

      6 ADB Avenue, Mandaluyong City, 1550 Metro Manila, Philippines

      Tel +63 2 632 4444; Fax +63 2 636 2444

      www.adb.org

      Some rights reserved. Published in 2016.

      Printed in the Philippines.

      ISBN 978-92-9257-657-8 (Print), 978-92-9257-658-5 (e-ISBN)

      Publication Stock No. TIM168331

      Cataloging-In-Publication Data

      Asian Development Bank.

      Nature-based solutions for building resilience in towns and cities: Case studies from the Greater Mekong Subregion.

      Mandaluyong City, Philippines: Asian Development Bank, 2016.

      1. Climate change resilience.      2. Nature-based adaptations.      3. Greater Mekong Subregion. i. Asian Development Bank.

      The views expressed in this publication are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the views and policies of the Asian Development Bank (ADB) or its Board of Governors or the governments they represent.

      ADB does not guarantee the accuracy of the data included in this publication and accepts no responsibility for any consequence of their use. The mention of specific companies or products of manufacturers does not imply that they are endorsed or recommended by ADB in preference to others of a similar nature that are not mentioned.

      By making any designation of or reference to a particular territory or geographic area, or by using the term country in this document, ADB does not intend to make any judgments as to the legal or other status of any territory or area.

      This work is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 IGO license (CC BY-NC-ND 3.0 IGO) http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/3.0/igo/. By using the content of this publication, you agree to be bound by the terms of this license.

      This CC license does not apply to non-ADB copyright materials in this publication. If the material is attributed to another source, please contact the copyright owner or publisher of that source for permission to reproduce it. ADB cannot be held liable for any claims that arise as a result of your use of the material.

      Attribution—You should always acknowledge ADB as the source using the following format:

      [Author]. [Year of publication]. [Title of the work in italics]. [City of publication]: [Publisher]. © ADB. [URL or DOI] [license].

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      Notes:

      In this publication, $ refers to US dollars.

      Corrigenda to ADB publications may be found at http://www.adb.org/publications/corrigenda

      ADB recognizes Korea as the Republic of Korea and Vietnam as Viet Nam.

      Contents

      Foreword

      Climate-related disasters increasing around the world have led to a sense of alarm. These include extreme weather events such as floods and typhoons, and slow onset changes such as sea level rise. As a result, irreplaceable losses occur across all sectors of the economy. Affected communities face long-term socioeconomic impacts due to the diversion of scarce economic resources from required development to emergency responses. Nature-based solutions, or green infrastructure, can play a significant role by offsetting such losses to a certain degree. Green infrastructure approaches contribute to building resilience by rehabilitation and expansion of natural ecosystems within built areas.

      This publication highlights the results of a successful partnership between the Asian Development Bank (ADB) and the International Centre for Environmental Management (ICEM) with cofinancing from the Nordic Development Fund (NDF). This was implemented through a technical assistance on climate resilience in cities in the Greater Mekong Subregion (GMS).¹ ICEM’s demonstrated and widely tested expertise in climate adaptation and mitigation methodology provided the technical basis for the study. Cofinancing from the NDF provided the impetus for capacity building and knowledge sharing of international good practices. This was done through provincial and regional workshops in the three GMS towns specifically selected for the study due to their unique characteristics of riverine and coastal flood vulnerability. These included Battambang (Cambodia) with its large flood- and drought-prone watershed area and the Great Tonle Sap Lake; Kaysone Phomvihane (Lao People’s Democratic Republic) which faces frequent extreme flooding along the Mekong River; and Dong Hoi (Viet Nam), the typhoon-prone coastline city threatened by sea level rise, storm surge, and flash flooding. Thus, learning covered a broad range of climate change-related issues such as the process of assessing climate change impacts and vulnerabilities, recording data, identifying and prioritizing adaptation measures, and preparing and implementing adaptation plans. Institutional mechanisms and technical measures for application and wider replication were identified from the experience gained from the three towns.

      A core group of key players involved in climate change adaptation planning was established in each town. This comprised scientists, planners, government officials, nongovernment organizations and women’s unions. A train the trainers approach was followed by the core groups to ensure systemic capacity building. This also fostered cross-sector collaboration and citizens’ ownership, which is key to building resilience. The core groups helped to identify adaptation measures including application of alternative technology. These included green infrastructure measures to complement structural solutions and climate-proofing techniques for flood control and slope stabilization. As a result, comprehensive adaptation plans were prepared for socially inclusive urban climate resilience in each town.

      This publication summarizes the rich seven-volume Resource Kit on Building Resilience and Sustainability in Mekong Towns.² It includes the principles of green infrastructure and measures for building resilience; nature-based solutions of special relevance to Mekong towns, grouped into four categories of water and flood management, slope stabilization, and pollution management; the urban planning and management framework required for mainstreaming of green infrastructure, in particular, the role of town master planning and zoning schemes; the process for conducting vulnerability assessment; and includes case studies in building urban resilience in the selected cities.

      There is an opportunity for developing member countries to build on this learning and replicate institutional and technical measures within and outside the GMS. Progress in implementing national climate change mitigation and adaptation policies especially in urban areas is limited, largely due to awareness and institutional, technical, and financial limitations. A step forward is to advance the process of establishing an adaptation network between cities for city-to-city mentoring. This would also help scale up effective solutions through demonstration impact. Reforms in planning processes to systematically mainstream resilience in infrastructure development may range from the process of preparing and reviewing master plans and zoning schemes, to the design and management of urban infrastructure such as flood gates, drainage and sewerage, ports, markets, roads, and river training.

      This publication highlights the need for integrating these principles into infrastructure policy, planning, and design. The value of the strong ownership and institutional commitment toward climate change adaptation and resilience built through the participatory and hands-on process has also been demonstrated. There is merit in maintaining this momentum by leveraging partnerships that optimize the competitive advantage of partners. These would extend to outreach in policy shifts, innovations in planning, design, and implementation together with continued training and capacity building.

      Bambang Susantono

      Vice-President for Knowledge Management and Sustainable Development

      Asian Development Bank

      Message from the Nordic Development Fund

      All over the world, urban populations are growing fast, projected to increase from 54% to 66% of the global population by 2050, with close to 90% of the increase concentrated in Asia and Africa.³ That rapid and unplanned growth brings with it great challenges for environmental quality and sustainability—all made more serious by climate change. Cities and towns will need to play a crucial role in addressing those challenges, by mitigating the scale of climate change and reducing vulnerability to its negative effects. Cities are a growing source of greenhouse gas emissions. Low-carbon pathways are essential in reducing the contribution of urban areas to greenhouse gases. Equally important are urban adaptation plans and measures to build resilience to the changes. A foundation strategy for both those imperatives—mitigation and adaptation—is planning and managing urban areas according to ecosystem principles and by emphasizing green infrastructure solutions.

      Vulnerability assessments and adaptation planning processes with close engagement of relevant stakeholders, including national and local governments, open the way to the promotion and development of green infrastructure. Vulnerability assessments document past extreme events and bring in climate change projections to determine potential impacts on infrastructure, communities, and areas. Adaptation planning defines appropriate responses to those impacts. When assessed and planned through a green infrastructure lens, the solutions explore options which bring greater local self-reliance through the use of local materials, labor, and capacities. Bioengineering, and local involvement in design, construction, management, monitoring, and repair are all key ingredients in resilience building, as a complement or alternative to conventional measures.

      The financing partnership between the Asian Development Bank (ADB) and the Nordic Development Fund (NDF), together with the technical capabilities of ICEM—International Centre for Environmental Management, has applied that nature-based approach in identifying climate change vulnerabilities and development of relevant adaptation options in three towns of the Greater Mekong Subregion. Working closely with local government, nongovernment organizations, women’s groups, and professional associations, adaptation measures were defined town-wide by overlaying climate change projections on town plans and zoning schemes, and for specific strategic infrastructure systems such as drainage corridors, river embankments, floodgates, and markets. The experience and lessons from this highly collaborative project are captured in this publication.

      As a financing institution with a focused mandate on climate change and development, NDF is committed to promoting the adaptation and mitigation agendas of developing countries. Since the launch of the climate mandate, NDF has built a track record of adding value by investing in drivers of climate change mitigation and adaptation in over 20 countries, including the Greater Mekong Subregion countries. Nordic countries score consistently high on global urban indices and a large repository exists of functioning Nordic urban solutions and knowledge for sharing through NDF-supported projects such as the one described here. The project provides multidisciplinary measures, tools, and lessons of value to similar towns and cities globally.

      This publication rightfully emphasizes the importance of availability and reliability of climate data and of ensuring the availability of skilled human resources as the key aspects in achieving sustainable adaptation options in urban planning. Following the

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