Last week I was in Lima, Peru for the Sustainable Cities and Climate Change Seminar hosted by the city of Lima. In December Lima will host the 20th session of the Conference of the Parties (COP20). The COP is a global gathering of leaders to negotiate for a global agreement on climate change. With leadership from CityLinks partner ICLEI, the CityLinks team has been working with the Durban Adaptation Charter and its partners to ensure the needs of cities are represented in climate negotiations.

In lead up to COP 20 Lima wanted to host an event to showcase how cities from around the world are addressing sustainability and climate change. Here are some of the exciting and innovative projects I heard about last week:

Ecocitizen World Map Project

The Eco Citizen World Map Project is implemented by Ecocity Builders based in Oakland California. The project provides tools and data for sustainable development at the urban level and tests a replicable methodology to link community crowd-­sourced data and information to national, regional and global data sets. The Project demonstrates the efficacy of crowd-­sourced data at the urban scale and provides tools and training to citizens, public officials and others who want to ensure a more sustainable and equitable urban environment through more informed decision-­making. You can see the project in action in Medellin here.

The Global Water Partnership

The Global Water Partnership is a joint initiative by the World Bank, the United Nations Development Programme, and the Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency. The aim is to foster integrated water resource management to ensure a water secure world. Read more about their activities in South America here.

Increasing Resilience of informal Settlements to climate change in Colombia and Nicaragua

This study was conducted by the Institute for International Urban Development with funding from the Lincoln Institute of Land Policy. The full study, to be released later this year, will look at local urban planning and management practices to equip informal settlements to handle climate change. We are excited to read this and see how CityLinks can work with local governments to assist vulnerable populations prepare for climate change. An initial summary of the report can be found here.

You can also read more about the great work ICMA is doing in Latin America here. Keep an eye out for upcoming CityLinks activity in Latin America!