Rio+20  Summary  Report        

July  2012  

 

2

 

 Several  of  the  cities  pledged  to  work  with  Ecocity  Builders  and  ICLEI  over  the  next  two  years  to  co-­‐develop  and  pilot  the  IEFS.  From  top  left,  Montreal,  Canada;  Durban,  South  Africa;  Melbourne,  Australia;  Tianjin  Ecocity,  China.    Background/  Overview  

 This  brief  report  summarizes  some  of  the  outcomes  related  to  Ecocity  Builders’  participation  in  the  United  Nations  Conference  on  Sustainable  Development  (Rio+20),  especially  as  it  pertains  to  the  organization’s  next-­‐phase  development  of  the  International  Ecocity  Framework  and  Standards  Initiative  (IEFS),  networking  and  partnership  building,  and  bioregional/ecocity  mapping  –  the  cornerstone  of  the  ECB  toolkit  to  implement  the  IEFS  on  the  ground.      Progress  made  over  the  past  months  could  not  have  been  possible  without  the  dedicated  support  of  the  following  Ecocity  Builders’  key  members  and  advisors,  including  Sven  Eberlein,  Rick  Smith,  Ashoka  Finley,  Stacey  Meinzen,  Naomi  Grunditz,  Max  Heim,  Kelley  Lemon,  Shivang  Patwa,  Warren  Karlenzig,  Jonn  Bramen,  Jennie  Moore,  Bill  Rees,  Isabel  Wade,  Ana  Puhac,  Marco  Vangelisti  and  Paul  Downton.  We  also  could  not  have  participated  in  this  work  without  the  financial  support  from  the  Helen  and  William  Mazer  Foundation,  British  Columbia  Institute  of  Technology  –  School  of  Construction  and  Environment,  Columbia  Foundation,  HealthBridge  Canada,  Diana  Divecha,  Barbara  Wilson  and  Joell  Jones.  Thank  you  everyone!        

3

 Finale,  8th  International  Ecocity  Conference,  Istanbul,  Turkey,  2010    Overview  

   Ecocity  Builders  has  a  long  association  and  track  record  in  defining  and  charting  the  direction  of  ecocities,  from  being  the  first  to  using  the  term  “ecocity,”  to  convening  successful  international  conferences,  projects  and  publications  on  the  subject.    Ecocity  Builders  is  rapidly  evolving  from  primarily  a  think  tank  and  originator  of  future-­‐oriented  sustainable  city  visions  and  theories  to  holding  a  prominent  position  as  international  standard  setter  and  facilitator  in  the  emerging  global  conversation  around  sustainable  cities.  This  significant  opportunity—and  responsibility—  is  largely  due  to  the  ability  of  Ecocity  Builders  to  channel  collaboration  around  both  tacit  and  explicit  knowledge  they  have  contributed  and  relationships  built  up  over  the  past  forty  years  of  consistent  high  quality,  dedicated  work.      In  order  to  further  guide  the  global  conversation  as  an  invited  high-­‐level  participant  working  collectively  with  international  bi-­‐lateral  stakeholders  to  define  a  shared  path  forward  towards  sustainable  cities  in  balance  with  Earth  systems,  Ecocity  Builders  is  establishing  guidelines  for  ecocity  branding  through  the  IEFS  initiative.  In  doing  so  it  is  solidifying  and  extending  its  association  as  the  global  thought  leader  and  standard-­‐bearer  for  sustainable  cities.  

4

 Summary  of  Rio+20  related  key  objectives  and  outcomes    In  the  last  quarter  of  2011,  Ecocity  Builders  began  a  process  of  “next-­‐phase  IEFS  strategic  and  business  plan  development,  networking  and  partnership  building,  and  bioregional/ecocity  mapping  –  the  cornerstone  of  the  ECB  toolkit  to  implement  the  IEFS  on  the  ground.”    

 Ecocity  Builders’  President  Richard  Register  and  Executive  Director  Kirstin  Miller  announce  the  IEFS  initiative  at  the  9th  International  Ecocity  Conference  in  Montreal  Canada,  2011.    The  International  Ecocity  Framework  and  Standards  (IEFS)  initiative  seeks  to  provide  an  innovative  vision  for  an  ecologically-­‐restorative  human  civilization  as  well  as  a  

practical  methodology  for  assessing  and  guiding  progress  towards  the  goal.  Cities  and  citizens  maximize  resilience  through  a  whole  systems  approach  that  responds  to  critical  risk  factors  for  climate  change  and  natural  disasters  while  concurrently  working  with  a  network  of  cities  around  the  world  taking  action  to  restore  planetary  boundaries  to  safe  and  stable  conditions.  Towards  this  goal,  the  International  Ecocity  Framework  and  Standards  (IEFS)  initiative  is  currently  under  development  by  Ecocity  Builders  and  an  international  committee  of  expert  advisors.    This  phase  of  the  process  was  predicated  on  steady  and  consistent  progress  made  on  the  IEFS  initiative  following  its  inaugural  launch  in  early  2010  in  Vancouver,  Canada.  According  to  schedule,  the  IEFS  initiative  met  its  milestone  in  August  2011  when  Ecocity  Builders  presented  it  to  delegates  from  over  70  countries  and  institutions,  including  ICLEI    -­‐  Local  Governments  for  Sustainability  and  the  United  Nations,  at  the  9th  International  Ecocity  World  Summit  (IEFS)  held  Aug.  22-­‐26  in  Montreal,  Canada.    The  initiative  was  enthusiastically  received,  with  requests  for  further  collaboration  from  a  wide  range  of  actors  including  business  and  private  sector,  research  institutions  and  academics,  government  and  major  institutions,  and  nonprofits.        A  key  request  for  participation  came  directly  from  the  United  Nations.  Representatives  from  the  Department  on  Economic  and  Social  Affairs  (DESA),  the  UN  agency  in  charge  of  orchestrating  the  major  world  conference  on  sustainable  development,  Rio+20,  recently  concluded,  asked  Ecocity  Builders  to  join  the  process  in  helping  to  shape  the  agenda  around  sustainable  cities  in  the  lead  up  to  Rio+20.  They  specifically  were  interested  in  Ecocity  Builders’  holistic,  ecosystems  approach  

5

offered  through  the  IEFS.    We  agreed  to  join  the  process.  As  the  nations  of  the  world  geared  up  to  develop  a  draft  outcome  document  for  the  United  Nations  Conference  on  Sustainable  Development  held  in  June  2012  in  Rio  de  Janeiro,  Brazil,  the  potential  for  IEFS  scaling  was  significant,  with  key  potential  partners  including  private  sector,  research  and  development  sector,  and  government/NGO  sector  standing  by  to  engage  with  Ecocity  Builders  and  the  IEFS  around  emerging  issues,  frameworks  and  technologies  related  to  sustainable  city  planning,  development,  design,  implementation  and  citizen  participation  from  the  local  to  the  global  scale.      

   Left.  Rio+20  preparatory  meeting  at  UNEP  in  Nairobi,  Kenya.  Kirstin  Miller  representing  for  Ecocity  Builders  at  the  NGO  Major  Group    

 Right.  IEFS  BUILDEX  workshop  in  Vancouver,  Canada,  with  British  Columbia  Institute  of  Technology  and  the  City  of  Vancouver,  hosted  by  Ecocity  Builders  

   Left.  Ecocity  Builders  intern  Naomi  Grunditz  in  NYC  meeting  with  the  Ambassador  from  Sweden  at  a  Friends  of  Sustainable  Cities  working  group  

meeting    Right.  Ecocity  Builders  with  the  University  of  Rio  de  Janeiro  and  BCIT  at  our  Sentinels  of  Sustainability  event  during  Rio+20                

6

 Left.  In  Barcelona,  Spain,  speaking  at  a  summit  on  De-­‐Growth  conference  (Richard  Register  and  Kirstin  Miller  participating).  

   Right.  At  a  Bay  Area  Rio+20  Report  Back  (Kirstin  Miller,  center,  and  Sven  Eberlein,  right)    

 Left.  Ecocity  Builders’  communications  associate  Sven  Eberlein  in  NYC  for  an  Intercessional  Meeting  in  the  lead  up  to  Rio+20,  helping  represent  Ecocity  Builders  in  the  NGO  Major  Group            

 A  sample  of  articles,  blogs,  and  media  associated  with  our  efforts  associated  with  our  Rio+20  agenda:    

Daily  Kos:  A  Small  Favor  for  a  Big  Cause  http://www.dailykos.com/story/2012/06/08/1098407/-­‐A-­‐small-­‐favor-­‐for-­‐a-­‐big-­‐cause-­‐PlanetEarth  Rio  Dialogues:  Vote  for  the  Future  You  Want    http://vote.riodialogues.org/  Ecocity  Media  http://ecocity.wordpress.com/  YouTube  –  EcoCitizen  World  Map  Project  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Wngbz2HUnhM  WDET  News  –  The  Rio+20  Sustainability  Conference  http://wdet.org/news/story/rio-­‐20-­‐sustainability-­‐conference/#.T-­‐xZcDBvd-­‐o.facebook  

   

 

7

Key  Outcomes/Next  Steps    

Some  of  the  key  outcomes  from  Ecocity  Builders’  participation  in  the  Rio+20  process  include  the  following  achievements  and  next  steps:  

• Through  our  high-­‐level  involvement  with  the  UN  and  the  UNCSD  process,  Ecocity  Builders  was  nominated  to  represent  the  “Cities  and  Urban  Issues”  thematic  group  at  the  NGO  Major  Group  at  the  UN.  This  leadership  role  proved  to  be  pivotal  in  advancing  our  ideas  at  the  international  stakeholder  level.  One  direct  and  significant  achievement  was  a  major  Rio+20  Policy  Outcome  annexed  into  the  Rio+20  Outcome  document  facilitated  through  the  RioDialogues  civil  society  process:  "Each  head  of  state  should  identify  a  sustainable  city  to  develop  a  network  for  knowledge  sharing  and  innovation.  Governments  should  channel  resources  to  develop  people-­centered  sustainable  cities  with  timed  and  measurable  goals,  in  such  way  that  empowers  local  communities,  promotes  equality  and  accountability."    The  wording  is  a  milestone  achievement  for  the  IEFS  at  the  highest  level,  as  the  wording,  in  a  nutshell,  describes  the  IEFS  itself  along  with  a  network  of  cities  working  to  achieve  the  goal.    

o Next  Steps:    Continue  to  work  within  the  United  Nations,  the  Major  Groups,  the  new  "Friends  of  Sustainable  Cities"  nations  working  group  of  which  we  are  a  civil  society  member,  and  other  partners  and  associates,  to  help  guide  the  process  post  Rio+20  to  develop  specific  timed  and  measurable  sustainable  city  goals  and  measures  while  empowering  local  communities  through  providing  access  to  ecocitizen  tools,  strategies  and  technologies.    

   

Ecocity  Builders    (Marco  Vangelisti,  Kirstin  Miller  and  Warren  Karlenzig)  at  the  United  Nations  headquarters  in  New  York  City  for  one  of  the  Intercessional  Meetings  in  the  lead  up  to  Rio+20  

   

8

• Ecocity  Builders,  in  partnership  with  ICLEI,  Local  Governments  for  Sustainability,  launched  the  Ecocity  Network  just  prior  to  Rio+20  at  their  World  Congress  meeting  in  Belo  Horizonte,  Brazil.  A  core  group  of  5  early  partner  cities  has  been  identified  to  take  the  lead  during  the  next  stage  of  indicator  development  and  testing  of  the  Ecocity  Framework  and  Standards.  The  lead  cities  in  the  ICLEI  Ecocity  Network  are:  Durban,  South  Africa;  Melbourne,  Australia;  Tianjin  Eco-­‐city,  China;  Montreal,  Canada  and  Lote,  Norway.  To  facilitate  the  process,  Ecocity  Builders  and  ICLEI  have  signed  a  MoU  to  extend  for  a  period  of  two  years  with  an  option  to  revise/renew.  

   Tianjin,  China.  Explaining  IEFS  elements  to  Mr.  Lin,  Director  of  Tianjin  Eco-­‐city,  China,  one  of  the  lead  pilot  cities  for  the  IEFS.    • Next  Steps:  Coordinate  with  

ICLEI  to  plan  the  program  for  development  of  the  Ecocity  Network,  including  the  testing  and  implementation  of  ecocity  indicators  that  are  globally  applicable  and  locally  adaptable.    

 • As  a  related  outcome  to  our  lead  as  “cities  and  urban  issues”  facilitator  at  the  UN  

Major  Groups,  Ecocity  Builders  has  been  invited  to  become  an  “associate  partner”  with  UN-­HABITAT,  the  lead  UN  agency  for  cities  and  urban  issues,  in  the  formative  process  of  the  upcoming  World  Urban  Campaign  (WUC).    

 Kirstin  Miller  visiting  Korogocho,  a  slum  in  Nairobi,  Kenya  near  the  Dandora  city  dump,  and  UN  HABITAT’S  urban  upgrading  operation  there    The  World  Urban  Campaign  is  a  global  coalition  of  public,  private  and  civil  society  partners  united  by  the  common  desire  to  advocate  on  the  positive  role  of  cities  around  the  World,  and  to  promote  sustainable  urbanization  policies,  strategies  and  practices.  Launched  in  Rio  de  Janeiro  at  the  fifth  Session  of  the  World  Urban  Forum  in  March  2010,  the  Campaign  is  coordinated  by  UN-­‐HABITAT  and  governed  by  a  Steering  Committee  of  partners.  As  a  World  Urban  Campaign  “insider”  Ecocity  Builders  will  have  the  opportunity  to  help  bridge  this  process  to  the  development  of  a  new  platform  for  the  next  

9

generation  of  sustainable  development  guidelines  and  measures  that  will  replace  the  current  Millennium  Development  Goals  (MDGs)  set  to  expire  in  2015.  Our  influence  within  this  process,  linking  to  the  Rio+20  sustainable  cities  mandate  coming  through  the  Rio  Dialogues  process  and  the  ICLEI  Ecocities  Network,  could  help  shape  how  millions  of  dollars  are  invested  in  cities  around  the  world  after  the  MDGs  expire.  

 o Next  Steps:  Work  with  UN  Habitat  and  partners  to  steer  the  World  Urban  

Campaign  in  the  direction  of  a  holistic,  urban  system  approach  to  healthy  cities  and  citizens  with  clear  and  specific  goals  and  measures.      

 • Bioregional/Ecocity  Mapping:  As  outlined  in  the  IEFS  Business  Plan,  Ecocity  

Builders  advanced  the  development  of  ecocity  mapping  in  2012  through  strategic  partnerships.  With  crowdmapping  organization  Ushahidi,  we  launched  the  Ecocitizen  World  Map  Project  at  Rio+20  and  began  testing  it  in  several  favela  communities  and  neighborhoods  in  Rio  de  Janeiro.    

   

Ecocity  Builders  meets  with  favela  captain  (in  blue  shirt)  in  Rio  de  Janeiro  as  we  tour  Asa  Branca,  one  of  the  favela  communities  piloting  ecocity  mapping.    The  map  offers  a  place  and  a  pathway  for  ordinary  citizens  to  add  their  voices  and  be  counted  as  contributing  members  of  the  new  green  and  equitable  economy,  to  show  conditions  in  their  community  based  on  the  15  elements  of  the  IEFS,  and  track  local  projects  and  programs,  and  to  be  advocates  with  local  government  and  the  outside  as  they  work  to  reshape  their  communities  as  more  sustainable,  livable,  and  equitable  places  to  live  and  raise  their  families.      Ecocity  Builders  is  also  partnering  with  Esri,  a  GIS  (geographic  information  systems)  mapping  software  company  helping  people  understand  and  visualize  data  to  make  decisions  based  on  the  best  information  and  data  available.  Esri  has  created  an  ArcGIS  based  application  for  the  Ecocitizen  Map  that  allows  ArcGIS  to  connect  to  the  Map,  convert  text  between  languages,  and  download  the  data  into  a  geo  database.  This  opens  up  the  feed  of  data  being  captured  by  the  EcoCitizen  Map  to  the  rich  spatial  and  temporal  analysis  tools  within  ArcGIS,  allowing  users  to  empower  action  and  inform  decision  makers  using  a  sound  scientific  approach.    

10

   Sample  report  from  the  EcoCitizen  World  Map  created  with  Ushahidi’s  open  source  crowdmap  software  –  uploaded  by  members  of  one  of  the  favela  communities  in  Rio  de  Janeiro.  This  report  is  categorized  through  the  Community  Capacity  element  of  the  IEFS  framework.  

 • Another  new  partnership  based  on  above  collaboration  is  with  the  US  State  

Department  and  the  Association  of  American  Geographers  and  Esri  under  the  umbrella  initiative  called  the  Community  Sustainability  and  Resilience  Special  Initiative.  http://www.eyeonearthsummit.org/special-­‐initiative-­‐community-­‐sustainability  This  is  a  brand  new  opportunity  for  Ecocity  Builders  that  we  can  build  upon  immediately,  given  we  have  the  capacity  to  stay  engaged.      

   GIS  add-­‐in  for  the  EcoCitizen  map  created  with  Esri  –  this  map  shows  the  favela  communities  (in  light  purple)  in  relationship  to  areas  with  high  potential  for  landslides  (in  red).  

11

 o Next  Steps:  Bioregional  mapping  represents  a  critical  technical  

element  of  the  IEFS  and  Ecocity  Network.  Using  bioregional  mapping,  the  IEFS  assessment  can  be  optimized  using  ecocity-­‐specific  tools  to  illustrate  indicators  and  to  update  the  assessment  so  it  can  track  regional  and  city  performance  toward  ecocity  conditions  over  time  along  the  15  dimensions.  Next  Steps  including  further  development  and  beta  testing  of  these  tools  and  processes.  When  ready  and  fully  tested,  the  added  functions  will  be  built  into  Ecocity  Builders’  IEFS  support  toolkit,  which  can  be  provided  along  with  consulting  services  to  the  Ecocity  Network  and  other  cities  wanting  to  advance  towards  greater  health  and  sustainability  using  the  IEFS,  as  outlined  in  Ecocity  Builders’  MoU  with  ICLEI.  

 Summary  Conclusions    As  a  result  of  our  dedicated  participation  with  the  Rio+20  process,  Ecocity  Builders  is  now  at  the  forefront  of  global  discussions  on  sustainable  cities  development  implementation  with  institutions  like  MIT,  Brookings  Institute,  the  World  Bank,  the  United  Nations;  with  organizations  like  ICLEI,  United  Cities  and  Local  Governments,  and  with  companies  like  Cisco,  Siemens  and  Esri.  At  the  same  time,  we  have  maintained  our  grassroots  base  with  existing  and  new  partnerships  with  our  early  partner  cities,  with  nonprofits  like  Ushahidi,  with  our  constituents  in  the  San  Francisco  Bay  Area,  and  with  localized  networks  like  Transition  Town.      In  order  to  successfully  roll  out  the  IEFS  in  a  transparent  manner  with  a  high  level  of  participation  at  the  international  scale  while  ramping  up  visibility  and  influence  through  its  next  stage  of  development,  testing  and  implementation,  Ecocity  Builders  will  seek  to  continue  to  develop  organizational  capacity,  funding,  programs  and  processes  for  collaboration  with  other  stakeholders,  including  the  public  sector,  foundations  and  the  private  sector.      

   Left  –  Richard  Register  on  a  sustainable  cities  panel  at  Rio+20  convened  by  the  Government  of  Brazil.  Right  –  Some  of  Ecocity  Builders’  delegation  in  the  Major  Groups  Pavilion  in  front  of  our  poster  display  on  the  IEFS  (Jonn  Bramen,  Jennie  Moore,  Kirstin  Miller,  Richard  Register  and  Rick  Smit)