networks, international organisations and development finance institutions will be discussed with reference to developing local level capacity for

Transcription

1 Urban Level Climate Change Mitigation and Adaptation in Turkey: The Role of Local Government Networks, International Organisations and Development Finance Institutions in Developing Local Level Capacity for Achieving SDGs. Gökhan Orhan 1 Introduction Sustainable development has been on the agenda of environment-development debates since the 1980s. In 2015 the United Nations (UN) renewed its efforts for sustainability and have adopted the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development. In this process, a new list of Sustainable Development Goals (SDG s), entered the agenda as a comprehensive list of actions to transform world towards a more sustainable future. Almost all seventeen items in the SDGs list are socially, politically and economically desirable global goals and they are connected to each other in various ways. Yet again the problem lies in their implementation and as it has been observed since the 1990s, achieving targets envisaged in SDG s requires a major institutional change in respective countries. As it was outlined in the CfP s, broad diffusion of innovation often appears difficult, especially when existing policy discourses on economic priorities clash with SDGs. Powerful interests which rely on unsustainable forms of production and consumption likely to exert a significant pressure to block sustainability transition. This is especially the case in less developed countries with varying capacities for policy integration and coordination of efforts for sustainability transformation. Overall, path dependencies create important barriers for policy change, but, this need not to be the case given the mutual benefits of a possible positive sum game between the realisation of SDGs (development of a sustainable society) and improved performance of economic system. In other words, an economic system is likely to develop positively if it considers the various dimensions of sustainability. However, sustainability transition is not a straightforward process and developed countries do have significant responsibilities in diffusing this transformation in the rest of the world. The path dependence is about continuity, but achieving SDG s requires institutional change. Exploring certain success stories is also vital in understanding the path towards a more sustainable future. Although, the term success is a relative and contested concept, this paper aims to focus on practices of some Turkish municipalities which played active roles in mitigating and adapting to climate change through their activities as a part of global networks of local governments. In doing so, two SDGs, SDG 11- Make cities inclusive, safe, resilient and sustainable and SDG 13 Take urgent action to combat climate change and its impacts will be taken together in analysing the special role of developed countries and development cooperation in achieving SDGs in Turkey as a developing country case. Since successive Turkish governments have been dragging their foot concerning climate change through a discourse of special circumstances, some local governments bypassed the national level, translated and brought international impulses, into sub-national and local policy development processes. In the rest of the paper, the potential role of local government 1 Bandırma Onyedi Eylül University, Department of Political Science and Public Administration, gorhan@bandirma.edu.tr / gokhanorhan@hotmail.com 1

2 networks, international organisations and development finance institutions will be discussed with reference to developing local level capacity for climate change adaptation and mitigation. SDG s, Climate Change and Cities Sustainability and sustainable development have been in the international agenda since the 1980s. From Rio Conference to Millennium Development Goals and SDGs, there are successive moves from the UN institutions in achieving sustainability objectives. Solution of complex problems and attainment of SDGs not only require development and implementation of certain techniques. It is a political and administrative problem diffused to almost all areas of public policy with new objectives and challenges. Achieving SDG s is a rather complex process and, like other problems faced under the conditions of globalisation and multi-level governance, necessitates policy integration and policy co-ordination both at the national and international levels. However, there are a number of difficulties in policy change. Political resistance and path dependence is about continuity, but achieving SDG s requires institutional change and there are a number of obstacles in this process. Developing countries have additional problems stemming from their limited capacity and resources in achieving SDGs. In this paper, two SDGs, SDG 11- Make cities inclusive, safe, resilient and sustainable and SDG 13 Take urgent action to combat climate change and its impacts will be taken together in analysing the special role of developed countries and development cooperation in achieving SDGs in Turkey as a developing country case. The reason behind this focus stems from special character of climate change and progressive position of cities and local governments concerning environmental policy and climate change. Climate change is a perfect example of global and complex interdependence on planet earth. Sustainable development objectives cannot be reached without paying due respect to climate change. Although governments are responsible of co-ordinating efforts for mitigating and adapting to climate change, some governments are not so keen in committing themselves to reductions in their carbon emissions and tend to keep business as usual, either due to their energy culture, domestic pressures or their various short term interests. However, attainment of both sustainable development objectives and climate change policies require involvement of non-state players including cities and local governments. In fact, discussions concerning environmental problems and cities could be traced back to the first HABİTAT meeting in 1976 which has focused on local environmental problems of cities and provision of minimum dwelling and public health services. Our Common Future Report has also highlighted the issue of rapid and uncontrolled urbanisation and its impact on housing and urban infrastructure especially in Third World cities with limited capacity to meet demands of clean water, sanitation, schools, and transport due to their rapidly growing populations (WCED, 1987: ). The Report recommended governments to revise their policies on rural development, economy, spatial planning and agricultural support which contributes to rapid urbanisation. Strengthening of local authorities, citizen involvement and participation were all recommended in the solution of problems, without downplaying the resources provided by the central governments and international co-operation and collaboration (WCED, 1987: ). As it was stated in Chapter 28 of Agenda 21, problems and solutions being addressed have their roots in local activities and participation and cooperation of local authorities will be a 2

3 determining factor in fulfilling environmental policy objectives and local governments were expected to enter into a dialogue both with its local stakeholders and relevant international organisations to mobilise increased international support for local authority programmes (UN, 1992: ). In the meantime, importance of local governments, cities and municipalities in achieving sustainability objectives was well established and recognised. The relationship between cities, local governments, municipalities and global climate change and the urban dimension of climate change was well documented in IPCC Reports (IPCC, 2014; 2014a). Cities have seriously contributed to climate change through their intensive overall consumption and high energy consumption levels. More than half of the global population now live in cities and urban areas account for more than half of global primary energy use and energy - related CO 2 emissions. Taking account of direct and indirect emissions urban areas account for 67 76% of global energy use and 71 76% of global energy-related CO 2 emissions (IPCC, 2014). Bulkeley & Betsill summarise the importance of cities in climate reference with reference to four factors. The first reason is about the increasingly urban nature of the global population in which cities are sites of high consumption of energy and production of waste. Secondly, the proliferation of LA21 has shown that local authorities are both willing and able to take on board the complex sustainable development agenda. Thirdly, local authorities are key actors in the urban arena in terms of co-ordinating action between different partners and facilitating community involvement with policy programmes. Finally, some local governments have considerable experience in addressing environmental issues, and many have undertaken innovative measures and strategies to reduce their impact on climate change which can act as demonstration projects or form the basis for new experimentation. Through these practices, local governments exercise a degree of influence over emissions of greenhouse gases in ways that directly impact on the ability of national governments to reach targets to which they have agreed internationally. (Bulkeley & Betsill, 2005: 45). As a result, urban centres are the place where problem originates to a large extent and action in urban centres is essential to successful global climate change adaptation. The first phase of local governments and cities involvement in mitigating and adapting to global climate change took the form of municipal voluntarism. It was predominately small and medium-sized cities in North America and Europe and was characterised by individuals within municipal authorities recognising the potential significance of climate change and offering some form of response (Bulkeley & Betsill, 2013: 139). The transnational municipal networks which dominated activity during this time ICLEI s Cities for Climate Protection (CCP) programme, the Climate Alliance and Energie Cities were in this sense reminiscent of social movements with their focus on gathering intentions, knowledge and purpose towards common goals (Bulkeley and Betsill, 2013: 139). By the early 2000s, municipal authorities and other urban actors were engaged in a more overtly political approach, one of strategic urbanism, in which climate change became integral to the pursuit of wider urban agendas (Bulkeley and Betsill, 2013: 140) Local governments and cities started to address global climate change despite negative attitudes of certain governments through their national and international networks. The U.S. Mayors Climate Protection Agreement, The Covenant of Mayors Committed to Local Sustainable Energy, Energy Cities and The Global Cities Covenant on Climate - The Mexico City Pact" are successful examples of those networks. Those networks focus on reductions in greenhouse gas emissions as a part of sustainable cities initiatives. They provide guidance 3

4 to local governments and cities in development of inventories, definition of problems and identification of resources. Cities also commit themselves to climate change mitigation through voluntary emission reduction targets and regular reporting their achievements. Networks also contribute to local capacity development to address climate change and promote the exchange of information, experience and transfer of know-how among their member cities and represent the interests of their members at various levels, including national, supranational and international (Kern and Bulkeley, 2009:317). Overall, implementation of two SDGs and a modest sustainability transition were made possible with the involvement of a number of players from all levels of global governance system. Those players share their knowledge and resources through communication, new policy ideas and discourses flow across different localities and scales, thereby connecting different spaces. Those municipal networks provided a bottom up support to climate change agenda and member municipalities contributed to reduction targets to a certain extent. In the following section, practices of some Turkish municipalities which played active roles in mitigating and adapting to climate change through their activities as a part of global networks of local governments. will be discussed. The Turkish Experience Activities of Turkish local governments on climate change were documented earlier in a number of descriptive studies (Orhan, 2013; Orhan 2014). Turkish governments official attitude on climate change has been rather defensive though we could speak of mixed responses from various departments in the public bureaucracy and sectors in private sector. Cities have a substantial impact on climate change and municipalities have serious opportunities for mitigation and adaption. However, given the predominance of central government in Turkish politics and policy process, and developmentalist attitudes (Orhan, 2007) at all a levels of government, climate change has been a rather sidelined issue in Turkey. However, this attitude has started to change by the 2000s. Droughts of the second half of 2000s, rising impact of climate movement and the active role played by international organizations in agenda setting have raised the consciousness on climate change (Şahin, 2015). In this context Turkish municipalities have started to develop climate mitigation policies either as a part of international networks of local governments or alone as a part of their local mandates on environmental matters. In 2009 REC and ICLEI organised a campaign for Climate Friendly Cities in collaboration and the technical support of ICLEI and financial support of Dutch Ministry of Planning and Environment (VROM) to increase awareness on sustainable cities and decarbonisation processes with participation of fourteen local authorities from Turkey. In 2010 İstanbul Metropolitan Mayor Kadir Topbaş became the President of Union of United Cities and Local Governments (UCLG) and Turkish municipalities activities at the international level has accelerated. İstanbul Metropolitan Municipality is a signatory to the Global Cities Covenant on Climate which is also known the Mexico City Pact." Overall, eight metropolitan municipalities and ten sub-provincial municipalities became members of an international local government and city network, developed Sustainable Energy Action Plans and committed themselves to greenhouse gas reductions through a number of projects undertaken as a part of their commitments. There are a number of conclusions to be drawn from Turkish experience. First of all, those municipalities are not local anymore and act as a part of international networks. International local authority 4

5 networks are very influential in providing new ideas and technical support for member municipalities, in being a part of network, preparing inventories and reduction target plans. There is a clear relationship between municipal network membership and achievements because networks facilitate a policy learning process as a positive sum game in which both environmental quality and economic gains existed.. However, there are a number of other factors at work and influential in municipal decisions. The Role of International Organisations: UNDP acted as a facilitator in the introduction of climate change agenda in Turkey. International organisations like REC Turkey, financed by the EU, played a significant role in agenda setting concerning cities and climate change and introduced new policy ideas into the vocabulary of some municipal players. REC Turkey organised a campaign on Climate Friendly Cities and provided support in collaboration with ICLEI. The Role of International Development Finance Institutions: International development banks and agencies play a facilitative role in this process. For instance French Development Agency (AFD) supports local governments initiatives towards climate change mitigation in Turkey through their specific grants and loans. AFD aims to encourage low carbon growth, contribute to the reduction of territorial inequalities and conserve regional public goods through its long maturity credits below market costs and technical assistance via partners both in public and private sector. In this context, Gaziantep Climate Action Plan, new energy efficient passenger ferries and new tramway lines in Izmir, extension of metro lines in Istanbul and tramway lines in Kayseri have received full or partial AFD financial and technical support. Among others, promoting environmentally friendly and low carbon cities have been the strategic target of AFD and AFD officials visit Turkish municipalities to let them about their support mechanisms. AFD has also authorised some Turkish banks, like Denizbank, TEB and TSKB, for its lending projects for environmentally friendly projects. EBRD has also contributed to Gaziantep Metropolitan Municipality as a part of EU Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy Programme for Turkey in providing finances for 50 CNG buses to be used in public transport. The Role of Foreign Governments: Dutch government supported installation of air pollution monitoring equipments in Konya and Climate Friendly Cities Project of REC and ICLEI. UK Foreign and Commonwealth Office s Prosperity Fund financed the Pilot Project in Bursa. The Role of Private Entrepreneurs/Project Hunters: They have actively involved in project development that suits the criteria of international donors funds. Actually, they have been major players in bringing available resources to those in need of. Sometimes their role is only confined to consultancy. Demir Enerji Danışmanlık (in Seferihisar, Bornova and Karaman Municipalities), ICE and Mavi Consultants (in Gaziantep Metropolitan Municipality), Ricardo- AEA and its partner Bluecern (in Bursa Metropolitan Municipality Pilot Project) and Aspiro consultants (in Gaziantep Metropolitan Municipality) have contributed to development of climate related projects. Private entrepreneurs are also important in facilitating policy change through presenting climate change mitigation and ecological modernisation measures as a positive sum game serving both environmental concerns/climate adaptation/decarbonisation and at the same time contributing other policy objectives like efficient and cheaper transport and efficient and competitive energy policies as well as cheaper utility bills and so on. The Role of Turkish Banks: TSKB, Denizbank and TEB have played a key role in distributing AFD financial resources allocated to Turkish municipalities as well as some 5

6 private firms and SMEs.This mechanism has aimed to draw people s attention to energy efficiency, renewable energy and carbon emissions and to encourage companies to invest in these fields. Municipalities and municipal affiliates have benefitted from this facility. Conclusions: Local Governments and Cities in Achieving SDG s Local governments, cities and their networks are vital players in global climate politics and achieving SDG s. They are at the heart of the problem, with their energy intensive production and consumption patterns and also highly vulnerable to climate hazards. Since Paris Summit, there are further optimistic signals from cities and local governments, because they commit themselves to climate change adaptation and mitigation. Their networks provide valuable contributions in providing technical support and they are also influential in connecting the local and global. Those networks contribution to climate change politics was well observed in Turkey. Since Turkish governments have been reluctant players concerning climate change through their discourse of special circumstances and limited incentives for change, a number of local governments bypassed the national level, translated and brought international impulses, into sub-national and local policy development processes. Transnational networks and local players act together in tackling climate change and it is not only the membership in global networks, but also involvement of international organisations, development finance institutions, developed country governments, private entrepreneurs and banks played a significant role in developing local level capacity to attain certain sustainable development objectives in a developing country context like making cities inclusive, safe, resilient and sustainable and taking urgent action to combat climate change and its impacts. Bibliography Bulkeley, H. & Michele M. Betsill (2005) Rethinking Sustainable Cities: Multilevel Governance and the Urban Politics of Climate Change Environmental Politics,14:1, Bulkeley, H. & Michele M. Betsill (2013) Revisiting the Urban Politics of Climate Change Environmental Politics, 22:1, IPCC (2014) ADP Technical Expert Meeting: Urban Environment Statement by Renate Christ Secretary of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change Bonn 10 June IPCC (2014a) IPCC Working Group II Annal Report 5 Chapter 8 Accessed April, 15, Orhan, G. (2007) Institutions and Ideas in the Institutionalisation of Turkish Environmental Policy Critical Policy Analysis 1:1, Orhan, G. (2013) Yerel Yönetimler ve İklim Değişikliği in Y.Bulut et al. (eds.) Kuramdan Uygulamaya Yerel Yönetimler ve Kentsel Politikalar (Ankara: Pegem Akademi) pp Orhan, G. (2014) Yerel Yönetimler ve Çevre (Bursa: Ekin) Şahin, Ü. (2015) Türkiye nin İklim Politikalarında Aktör Haritası (İstanbul, IPM) UN (1992) Earth Summit - Agenda 21: The UN Programme of Action from Rio. New York: UN Publications WCED (1987) Our Common Future. Oxford, Oxford University Press. 6