City2City
Sao Paulo's trials of potential Chinese COVID-19 vaccine to begin on July 20
09 July 2020 - João Doria, governor of Brazil’s richest and most populous state São Paulo, said on Monday that trials of a new potential vaccine against COVID-19, developed by China’s SinoVac, will start on July 20.
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The trials, to be done in partnership with the Instituto Butantan, will involve 9,000 volunteers spread across 12 research centers located in Sao Paulo and four other states as well as the federal district Brasília.

The announcement comes as Brazil’s federal government announced over the weekend that it had signed an agreement to produce another potential vaccine, developed by pharmaceutical company AstraZeneca with researchers at Oxford University.

Source Articles:

Image by Joel santana Joelfotos from Pixabay 

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Podcast: Ocean Plastic Solutions from Cities, Brands & Waste Collectors
09 July 2020 - In our latest episode of  NothingWasted!, we chat with Susan Ruffo, executive director of The Circulate Initiative, which aims to incubate, measure, and amplify inclusive solutions that stop plastic waste from flowing into the ocean. 
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It provides entrepreneurs, policymakers, and investors with the knowledge and skills they need to incentivize, create, support, and operate waste-reducing circular economies.

We spoke with Susan about the circular economy, the effects of COVID-19 on the plastics problem, innovation abroad, and more!

Here’s a glimpse into what we discussed:

Waste360: Can you talk about the Urban Ocean program and how your group is working with cities to improve their waste management practices?

Ruffo: Urban Ocean is a new program that The Circulate Initiative, Ocean Conservancy, and the Global Resilient Cities Network has just launched with five cities primarily in South- and Southeast Asia but also in Latin America. Our goal is to get all of our partners working together on the issue of ocean plastics but also on related issues touching on waste management, circularity, public health, and other sustainability and economic issues. Our theory is that none of us can do any of these things alone, but we can advance all of our priorities if we’re working together.

Waste360: How key are cities in addressing the marine plastic waste problem?

Ruffo: To me they’re absolutely key. I take inspiration from the leadership cities have shown on the climate issue. If you look at cities around the world and see what they are doing on reducing emissions, changing transportation, changing buildings, and really leading the discussion on what can be done on climate… I think cities can do the same on ocean plastics. They have a lot of the authority to do what needs to be done in thinking about waste management and recycling; they also have direct access to their citizens and can do public awareness campaigns and education; and they can pass regulations and incentives that really can help move things forward. So I think they’re an absolutely key actor that hasn’t been engaged as much as they should be on the ocean plastic issue—so we’re trying to change that.

Waste360: You have said that part of the problem is that ocean waste is not a priority concern for developing nations. How do we make it more of a priority for these governments?

Ruffo: It’s just a hard issue to put at the top of the agenda when these governments are dealing with things like poverty, feeding people, public health. But the key is that it’s not a standalone issue. Ocean plastic is not just about the ocean—and as soon as we start thinking of it in that way, it becomes much more interesting to city governments. I wouldn’t expect any mayor to tell me that his or her top priority was keeping plastic out of the ocean. But I’d be really surprised if a mayor said they weren’t interested in public sanitation, picking up trash, the jobs they could create, safety and dignified work. So when you start thinking of it as a broader issue, it comes much higher up on a priority list. 

Waste360: Can you give us an overview of your panel at the recent Virtual Ocean Dialogues hosted by the World Economic Forum and Friends of Ocean Action?

Ruffo: We had a great panel bringing together representatives from around the world and across sectors. For me the most interesting thing was how the panelists talked about how they can start working with each other. For instance, there was a whole discussion about how city policies could recognize workers in the informal sector and help them be more efficient while also improving their livelihood.

#NothingWastedPodcast

Listen to the Podcast here: https://www.waste360.com/nothingwasted-podcast/episode-65-ocean-plastic-solutions-cities-brands-waste-collectors

Image by bilyjan from Pixabay 

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Creating Safe Public Spaces amidst COVID-19
09 July 2020 - Parks could provide a way to reduce communicable diseases and address other societal ills, argues Justin Hollander, professor of Urban and Environmental Policy and Planning at the School of Arts and Sciences at Tufts University.
Cities on the Frontline Speaker Series #18: Gender Inclusive Cities
09 July 2020 - Please join us for the 18th Session of Cities on the Frontline, jointly organized by Global Resilient Cities Network & the World Bank, which will focus on 'Gender Inclusive Cities: How can cities embed gender inclusivity in recovery planning and beyond?' 
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We will be joined by Daniela Guarieiro, Deputy Chief Resilience Officer of the City of Salvador, Brazil, Dr. Kealoha Fox, Aloha Care, Honolulu, and Keani Rawlins-Fernandez, Vice-Chair, Maui County Council.

The event will be held on Thursday, 9 July 2020, at 8.30 PM EST| Friday, 10 July 2020, 08.30 AM Singapore/Kuala Lumpur Time. The event duration is 1 hour.

Please register here: https://bit.ly/genderinclusivecities. After registering, you will receive a confirmation email containing log-in info and a calendar detail that can be added to your system.

Missed a session? For access to the previous sessions' materials, visit our Speaker Series webpage for full access to the presentations & recordings: https://bit.ly/citiesonthefrontline

For questions about the Speaker's Series or additional registration requests, please send an email to our team at media@resilientcitiesnetwork.org

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HLPF 2020 Side-Event: Imagine a post-COVID-19 city—with women's human rights
08 July 2020 - This panel discussion will challenge us to imagine the post COVID-19 city that respects women’s human rights, builds resilience and prevents crises, and puts feminist and women’s movements’ aspirations into local action. Panelists will include representatives from the feminist and women’s movement, UN agencies and mayors. The event will open up to a Town Hall meeting using Zoom and will have simultaneous interpretation.
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08 July 2020 - This panel discussion will challenge us to imagine the post-COVID-19 city that respects women’s human rights, builds resilience and prevents crises, and puts feminist and women’s movements’ aspirations into local action. Panelists will include representatives from the feminist and women’s movement, UN agencies, and mayors. The event will open up to a Town Hall meeting using Zoom and will have simultaneous interpretation.

This side-event to the High-Level Political Forum 2020 is being organized by the International Alliance of Women, Feminist and Women's Movement Action Plan, NGO CSW/NY, Habitat (To Be Confirmed) and UN Women (To Be Confirmed).

Event Details:

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HLPF 2020 Side-Event: How Geospatial Engineering Can Be Used In Peri-urban and Urban Environments
08 July 2020 - This High-Level Political Forum 2020 side event will include an approach to using geospatial information technologies as an example of how the lever of science and technology can be used in peri-urban and urban environments to advance sustainable development.
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08 July 2020 - "How the Lever of Science and Technology Can Be Used In Peri-urban and Urban Environments To Advance Sustainable Development: The Case Of Implementing Geospatial Engineering" is a High-Level Political Forum 2020 side event and will include an approach to using geospatial information technologies as an example of how the lever of science and technology can be used in peri-urban and urban environments to advance sustainable development.

To achieve the 17 SDGs and to leave no one behind, integrated geospatial technology and building information modeling (BIM) is found to be critical. Geospatial and BIM solutions, enabled by the fourth industrial revolution (4IR) technologies such as Artificial Intelligence (AI), Internet of Things (IoT), or Big Data, can give accurate and high-resolution data, techniques, and tools to provide a balanced assessment, and solutions.

Moderator:

  • Professor Gong Ke, President World Federation of Engineering Organisations

Keynote speakers:

  • Mr. Sanjay Kumar – CEO World Geospatial Industry Council, Launch of the Joint Publication by World Geospatial Industry Council, World Federation of Engineering Organisations and UN Committee of Experts on Global Geospatial Information Management: “GEOBIM Solutions for Resilient Infrastructure”
  • Mr. Gregory Scott, Secretariat, UN Committee of Experts on Global Geospatial Information Management “Geospatial Engineering: A Lever to Assist Developing Countries to Bridge the Geospatial Digital Divide”
  • Dr. Marlene Kanga, Immediate past president, WFEO, and project leader for WFEO on the publication to be released: “Implementation of Geospatial Technologies for Sustainable and Smart Cities”
  • Professor Guo Huadong, Director-General of the Institute of Remote Sensing and Digital Earth (RADI), Laboratory of Digital Earth Science, Aerospace Information Research Institute, Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS): “Big Earth Data for Urban and Peri-urban Development”

Discussants:

  • Professor Raida Al-Alawi, Director of Technology Development at BFG International, Chair of ICT committee of the Federation of Arab engineers, board member of the Bahrain Society of Engineers
  • Professor José Vieira, President elect of WFEO

Event Details:

This event has been convened by the World Federation of Engineering Organizations.

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UCLG and UN Habitat: Voluntary Local Review (VLR) Series Launch (HLPF 2020)
07 July 2020 - This launch event session will be presenting the first volume of Guidelines for VLRs of the VLR Series jointly developed by UCLG and UN-Habitat and will showcase the importance that VLRs play not only in monitoring and evaluating progress towards the SDGs but also in contributing towards multilevel governance and the transformation necessary to achieve just, resilient, and sustainable cities, territories, and societies that guarantee protection to all citizens during and beyond times of crisis
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07 July 2020 - Local and regional governments, as the closest level of government to the people, are well aware of the unique characteristics, expectations, and needs of citizens and territories and can effectively support the development of policies which directly respond to the risks and vulnerabilities that society face on a daily basis. Furthermore, public service delivery is indispensable as a means to support citizens, especially during crises, and is the basis upon which structural inequalities will be mitigated and the achievement of the global goals will happen.

In the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic which has quickly and deeply affected our world, it is clear that our towns, cities, regions, and territories will never be the same in the aftermath and that no sole level of government can overcome this crisis alone. The efforts shared among local and regional governments, supported by their associations and networks, through decentralized cooperation will prove to be key to solve the interconnected challenges we face today caused by the most pressing global trends such as climate change and biodiversity loss, changing demographics and rising inequality, among others.

In this sense, local and regional governments, and their associations and networks, are working towards providing comprehensive systems-based strategies to the implementation of the universal agendas via the effective localization of the global goals and the development of Voluntary Local Reviews (VLRs). This with the aim to foster the transformative diplomacy necessary to achieve sustainable development, help take stock of progress made, and contribute towards transparency and accountability towards citizens. This global ‘localization’ movement of the universal agendas is a testimony of support towards territorial cohesion, multilevel governance, and leaving no one and no place behind.

United Cities and Local Governments (UCLG), as the world organization of local and regional governments, and the United Nations Human Settlements Programme (UN Habitat) are committed to supporting the development of VLRs and will be launching a VLR Series which aims to provide guidance, definitions and technical support to any local and regional government aiming to engage in the VLR process. This VLR Series will act as an integral part of the work that will be undertaken by the UCLG Community of Practice on VLRs which reflects the advocacy movement of UCLG and the members of the Global Taskforce of Local and Regional Governments with regard to increasing awareness of local and regional governments’ co-ownership of the 2030 Agenda and providing them with an institutional harbor to share knowledge, experiences and learn mutually.

This launch event session will be presenting the first volume of Guidelines for VLRs of the VLR Series jointly developed by UCLG and UN-Habitat and will showcase the importance that VLRs play not only in monitoring and evaluating progress towards the SDGs but also in contributing towards multilevel governance and the transformation necessary to achieve just, resilient, and sustainable cities, territories, and societies that guarantee protection to all citizens during and beyond times of crisis.

It will aim at bringing out the intrinsic value of VLRs as a political process that can enhance coordination between different spheres of government. The localization of the universal development agendas that are being driven by our communities offer the only viable way of ensuring that no-one and no place is left behind in the aftermath of the COVID-19 crisis.

Speakers: 

  • Emilia Saiz, UCLG Secretary General
  • Maimunah Mohd Sharif, UN-Habitat Executive Director
  • Penny Abeywardena, Commissioner of NYC for International Affairs
  • Santiago Saura, Councillor of Madrid for International Affairs
  • Nikita Rumyantsev, Head of Moscow Urban Forum Research Centre
  • Miquel Rodriguez, Commissioner for the 2030 Agenda of Barcelona
  • Yolanda Martínez, Secretary of Social Development of Oaxaca
  • Luiz Alvaro Salles, Secretary of International Affairs of Sao Paulo
  • Francisco Resnicoff, Under-Secretary for International Affairs of Buenos Aires
  • Marilia Sorrini Peres Ortiz, Deputy Secretary of Planning of Niteroi
  • Amson Sibanda, Chief, Division for Sustainable Development Goals of UN DESA

Session Details:

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HLPF 2020 Side-Event: Thinking Through Issues of Density, Overcrowding, Public Space and Health
07 July 2020 - This High-Level Political Forum 2020 side event which is led by UN-Habitat and co-organized with the World Health Organization, seeks to contribute to bolstering local action to accelerate the implementation of Agenda 2030. 
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07 July 2020 - As part of the United Nations High-Level Political Forum (HLPF), the side-event on “Urban Form and COVID-19: Thinking Through Issues of Density, Overcrowding, Public Space, and Health”, will be held on July 9, 2020 from 12:00 - 13:15 (USA Eastern Standard Time). 

As Member States review strategies to bolster local action to "Accelerated action and transformative pathways: realizing the decade of action and delivery for sustainable development" in an era of COVID19, there is no choice but to consider the relationship between urban form and health. While cities are severely hit by the pandemic, prior public health crises have brought about improved sanitation, and better housing, streets and public spaces in many cities. At the moment, the outcome of the COVID-19 pandemic is uncertain, with some envisaging a retraction from cities, and others expecting that cities will continue to adapt and thrive. Underlying such thinking are assumptions about density and disease. Research has started to show that this relationship is not direct, and to stress the importance of housing conditions, income, health care, public space, and sanitation.

The side event which is led by UN-Habitat and co-organized with the World Health Organization, seeks to contribute to bolstering local action to accelerate the implementation of Agenda 2030. It will help develop a greater understanding among policymakers, practitioners, and research institutions about the relationship between urban form and disease prevention. The side event will provide an opportunity to consider available evidence and experiences from member states and to strengthen cooperation across health and urban development sectors in the era of COVID-19 and beyond.

More Event Details: https://sustainabledevelopment.un.org/index.php?page=view&type=20000&nr=7020&menu=2993

Join the Event Link Here (on July 9, 2020 from 12:00 - 1:15 PM EST)

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Viet Nam's work to address marine plastic pollution
Viet Nam is creating its first zero plastic waste city: Here's how
03 July 2020 - Only 10-15 % of collected waste in Viet Nam is reused or recycled. A new Zero Plastic Waste City project will model local solutions. The project is centred on a social business-driven approach. The chosen pilot city will be announced later in 2020.
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03 July 2020 - Five South-East Asian countries are responsible for more marine plastic waste leakage than the rest of the world combined - and Viet Nam is one of them. While the Mekong River plays a crucial role in the socio-economic development of the region, it also ranks among the 10-most impactful sources of global marine litter.

The main causes behind Vietnamese land-based marine litter can be attributed to a combination of rising consumption and poor national waste management. Alongside Viet Nam's rapid economic development over the past decades, the country's solid waste generation has also increased consistently at annual rates of around 10%. Only about 10-15% of collected waste in Viet Nam is reused or recycled; much of the remainder is sent to dump sites and incineration facilities, underlining the necessity of more sustainable approaches to solid waste management in the country.

With currently more than 2,000 small-scale enterprises and high industrial growth rates, plastic recycling constitutes a very promising industry in Viet Nam. However, until recently, most of the plastic material recycled in Viet Nam was imported from other countries such as China. In an effort to avoid a dramatic increase of global waste streams to the country, the Vietnamese government banned the import of material for recycling in 2018, an act that has boosted demand for recyclable domestic plastic waste. Accordingly, the most severe barriers that hinder an improvement in Vietnamese plastic waste management are found in the inadequate or non-existent disposal, collection and segregation of waste at household and provincial level. Due to insufficient investments in waste recycling technologies and resources, most Vietnamese provinces are not adequately equipped for the separated collection of waste at source.

On-the-ground studies show that neighbourhoods that enjoy regular waste collection benefit from an effective and cost-efficient service. However, many communities remain unreached by regular collection services. In response, local households dispose of their municipal waste independently via measures such as incineration or dumping. While these informal and uncoordinated activities not only cause harmful direct effects such as air pollution and the spread of mosquitoes, they also indirectly foster marine litter along the entire Mekong Delta.

It is precisely against this backdrop of much-needed capacity building in strategic municipal waste segregation, collection and recycling that the Zero Plastic Waste City project was initiated as a collaboration between The Grameen Creative Lab and The Alliance to End Plastic Waste. Consisting of a modular social business approach, the programme aims to increase the waste collection rates of currently unconsidered waste types and increase the amount of waste being reused for new purposes, while simultaneously empowering local waste pickers. The modular approach allows for the development of a social business based on the needs of local communities as well as the gaps in the waste value chain, and which is integrated into the existing ecosystem of local waste management stakeholders. Social businesses - a concept developed by Nobel Peace Prize Laureate and co-founder of The Grameen Creative Lab, Muhammad Yunus - base their business activities not on the maximization of profits but on solving their customers' specific social or environmental problems. They combine the best of two worlds: the social mission of a charitable organization with the business acumen of traditional for-profit businesses, ensuring long-term financial self-sustainability.

To ensure the successful implementation of the Zero Plastic Waste City approach in terms of both a long-lasting socio-environmental impact within the project region as well as a contribution to the global effort to reduce marine plastic litter, the project’s specific locations will be identified according to a variety of factors such as their proximity to rivers or the sea, and a current high volume of solid waste leakage. Furthermore, in order to specifically target municipal waste collection schemes, the project will be primarily implemented in small and medium-sized urban areas. In Viet Nam, these criteria should ensure a high probability of success for the Zero Plastic Waste City programme. Furthermore, the project is potentially scalable along the entire Mekong Delta as well as through an extensive local network of partner organizations.

In the Mekong Delta particularly, the price sensitivity of existing informal schemes of waste collection and recycling constitutes a remarkable finding by our on-site investigations and a particular challenge of local waste management schemes. In many municipalities, informal waste pickers collect and recycle household waste in addition to governmental waste management services or as full substitution of them. However, interviews with local waste pickers indicate that their informal collection and recycling services highly depend on local market prices for recyclable materials. If revenues on secondary materials are low, informal collection and recycling rates drop. These findings not only stress the importance of market mechanisms in understanding informal sector value creation; more importantly, they underline the need for formal employment opportunities and stable wages for waste collectors from the informal sector – one of the major contributions of the Zero Plastic Waste City project.

Grameen Creative Lab is currently identifying local partners for implementation, aligning other stakeholders in the areas and initiating pilot assessments. The city will be announced in early 2020 and Grameen Creative Lab will also explore approaches to scale these social businesses to additional cities in 2021. We look forward to working with platforms like the Global Plastic Action Partnership, which launched its first pilot in Indonesia and will soon partner with the Government of Viet Nam, to drive effective action against plastic pollution in Viet Nam and its neighbouring countries, paving the way towards a more sustainable and pollution-free ASEAN region.

ORIGINAL ARTICLE LINK: https://www.weforum.org/agenda/2020/01/viet-nam-is-building-its-first-zero-plastic-waste-city-heres-how

Image: Grameen Creative Lab

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