ecobudget Asia Implementing ecobudget in Asian Local Governments Programme Descript

Transcription

1 Programme Descript European Commission s Asia Urbs Program The Asia Urbs Programme was launched by the European Union in 1998 as an initiative to decentralize (city-to-city) co-operation; to bring together local governments from the Member States and 17 countries in South/south East Asia and China. Its main aim is to support the sharing of know-how in urban development between the two regions and to translate this into practical action involving local governments and their civil society partners. Each co-funded project relies on community participation for its success and sustainability. Grants are awarded to partnerships, formed by at least two local governments form the EU and at least one in Asia, to jointly undertake feasibility studies (Study Projects) or two-year pilot projects (Development or Information sharing Projects) addressing key urban area. The European Union is committed to sharing its achievements and its values with countries and peoples beyond it borders. ecobudget ecobudget is a tool for local authorities to predict, plan, control, monitor and report the use of natural resources. ecobudget program was developed by ICLEI. ICLEI-Local Governments for Sustainability is a worldwide movement of local governments and their associations working to achieve tangible improvements in global environmental and sustainable development conditions. The concept of ecobudget is on the lines of local financial budgeting, adopting the idea of an annual budget as spending framework, with the budget approved by the political decision making body. It is conceived in conscious imitation of the financial budgeting procedure and applies with a periodic management cycle. It does not aim to give a monetary evaluation of the environment, but through the use of environmental indicators it aspires to keep the environmental spending within the limits of the environmental budget. The environmental budget contains targets oriented towards the sustainable management of environmental resources. The first ecobudget model was created as early as the mid 80 s and has already been successfully implemented in 9 European local authorities. The methodology involves the Council to pass a resolution to implement the environmental budget, making the targets politically binding. Political decision-makers and senior urban managers are systematically and periodically involved in the ecobudget cycle. It focuses on all environmental media, all the environmental effects (both caused by local activities and by global trends) and concerns the entire community (local government, industry, households, education institutions, transport, etc). ecobudget reinforces the similarity to the financial budgeting process so that environmental budgeting becomes as much a part of local authority activities as financial budgeting. The familiarity of the procedure means local decision-makers, and not just another system for the environmental department can embrace it. Guntur, the first South Asia ecobudget City Being the first and only chosen South Asian City to implement ecobudget concept Guntur Municipal Corporation (GMC), Guntur (India) is very proud to join the ecobudget family in association with International Council for Local Environmental Initiatives (ICLEI). This project is part of ecobudget Asia, funded by the European Commission s Asia Urbs programme.

2 ecobudget Asia partners include two local governments form Europe Bologna (ITALY), Växjö (Sweden), and two local governments from Asia - Guntur (INDIA) and Bohol (Philippines). The project is divided into five phases: 1) Training and Planning: participants are trained on ecobudget and plans for the overall project preparation are formed. 2) Budget preparation: local project teams prepare and present a draft master budget. 3) Implementation: council approves the budget and conveys the mandate to implement targets and measures. 4) Monitoring, controlling and reporting: local budgets are balanced and targets monitored and reported. 5) Evaluation: local reports are compiled and assessed, thus adjusting ecobudget for an Asia wide application. The Guntur ecobudget Asia project was launched with a pre kickoff workshop on 17 th January 2005 in Guntur. The council passed a resolution on the same day to implement the ecobudget concept in Guntur City in association with EU partners, and ICLEI. ecobudget Asia: IMPLEMENTING ECOBUDGET IN ASIAN LOCAL GOVERNMENTS ecobudget Asia was started with a kickoff meeting in Bologna (ITALY) from 8 th -12 th March The project beneficiary and coordinating city - Bologna and other partners Guntur (India), Växjö (Sweden) and Bohol (Philippines) were participated in the workshop. The meeting was aimed at coordination meetings, open workshop, and press conferences with partners and in giving training in project management and administrative organization of ecobudget in the local authorities. The workshop concluded with brainstorming sessions on next steps to be carried out and the time lines to be followed for successful implementation of the ecobudget project. Project Consortium Agreement: On 28 th March 2005, a Partners Agreement was signed by GMC. As part of the agreement different teams such as Project Management Team, Project Technical team and Local Implementation Team (LIT) are established. Project N o : ASIE/2004/91810 Date of Launching: December 2004 Duration: 36 months Total Project cost: EU funding(74.54%): Total cost for Guntur INR million EU Funding for Guntur INR 8.93 million First Field Visit and Preparation of Master Budget A four member European delegation including three members from Bologna and one member from ICLEI Europe along with ICLEI India team visited Guntur as part of the first Field Visit from 27 th June to 2 nd July During the five days, entire team held discussions with Commissioner, and other officials of GMC. The team had also conducted working group meetings with individual departments viz., Administration, Revenue, Solid waste, Transportation, Planning, and Health departments. The delegation also held meetings with the citizen groups, hospital heads, NGO s, and Research Institutes as part of Master Budget preparation. On the last day in the presence Special Officer and District Collector the team draft Master Budget to Press and Media. The draft Master budget can be seen below.

3 GMC procured necessary software and equipment to collect the data for Master Budget As part of the Master budget preparation, ICLEI India conducted various Assistant Field Visits to help GMC and to train officials on financial requirements and implementation activities. GMC also procured necessary software and equipment to collect data for Master Budget. Second Workshop, Bohol June 2006: (Field Visit-2) Second workshop of ecobudget Asia was held in Tagbilaran, Bohol, Philippines from 23 rd to 28 th October The newly elected Mayor Mr. Kanna Nagaraju and Deputy Mayor Mr. T Murali Mohan along with Commissioner Mr. D Rama Rao from GMC along with ICLEI India representative attended the workshop. The Mayor and Deputy Mayor presented the Draft Master Budget and showed their commitment for the project. At present GMC is planning to ratify the Master budget in its next council meeting. Guntur Municipal Corporation (GMC) hosted the delegation of the Project Partner Bologna (Italy) assisted by the technical experts of ICLEI-South Asia for the second assistance field visit from 19 th to the 23 rd of June 2006, as part of the activities foreseen by the " ecobudget-asia" co-operation project.the main aim of the field visit is to verify the state-of-the-art in the implementation of the project, particularly in terms of its environmental Master Budget adopted by GMC Council in March Bologna Municipal officials, Ms.Pamela Lama and Ms.Raffaella Gueze accompanied with Gabriele Magli of HERA who manages water, solid waste and energy in the local territory, to provide advices and counseling to GMC, especially on Solid Waste Management. September 2006: (Work_Shop_3) Guntur Municipal Corporation (GMC) hosted the ecobudget-asia Project Partners (Bologna of Italy; Vaxjo of Sweden; Bohol of Philipines) and ICLEI staff (Europe, South Asia and SouthEast Asia) for the 3 rd Work-Shop held from 25 th to 30 th of September The main goal of the Work- Shop is to verify the progress of the partners in implementing the ecobudget project, review of the Environmental Master Budgets of both Guntur and Tubigon (Bohol s pilot municipality), discuss issues relating to project management and preparation of the ecobudget manual (Asian version).gmc highlighted its targets, as well as on-going and planned measures relevant to its

4 Environmental Master Budget. The priority areas are water quality and quantity, solid waste management, greenery and air quality. During the city tour, Bologna delegates (who had been in Guntur twice previously) were impressed with the great improvements particularly on street maintenance (i.e. cleanliness, structures, organization of hawkers). November 2006: (The City-Net & Pro-Act Conferences) The CITY-NET ( Executive Meeting and PRO-ACT ( project final conference were held from to at Mumbai, India. Guntur as a member of the CITY-NET association and Bologna an active member of Euro cities and Partner of the Pro-Act project, participated in the Conference. The PRO-ACT project is a 2 year networking and capacity building project. The main objective of the PRO-ACT project is to provide way for better interaction between Europe and Asia through localized cooperation, symmetric and quadrilateral support of Urban Projects. The event was represented by Hon. Mayor of Guntur Municipal Corporation Mr.Kanna Nagaraju, Ms Pamela Lama Project Manager from Bologna. The main aim of the event is to meet other Asian cities which are potentially interested in starting the ecobudget. Other Dignitaries who participated in this dissemination activity under ecobudget project are Mr.Hiroshi NAKADA, Mayor, City of Yokohoma and Hon. Chief Minister of Maharastra. Mayor, Mr. Kanna Nagaraju and Deputy Mayor Mr. T Murali Mohan had active participation in the discussions made with the European guests Mr. Wolfgang Socher, Head of Environmental Department, City of Dresden (Germany), Mr. Ian Kedge, Head of Environmental and Health Department Lewes District Council (UnitedKingdom), Mr. Jens Warnecke, Responsible for Local Agenda 21and ecobudget City of Kaiserslautern (Germany) on the Budget Balance. The European guests had come out with their reactions on the GMC Budget Balance with positive comments. The fourth Work-Shop of the ecobudget Asia was held in Vaxjo, Sweden from 10 th to 14 th of April The Mayor Mr.Kanna Nagaraju, Deputy Mayor Mr. T Murali Mohan, Commissioner Mr.Rama Rao D along with ICLEI India representative, Mr.Emani Kumar attended the Work-Shop. Commissioner Mr.Rama Rao D gave presentation on the implementation of the Environmental Master Budget, targets, benefits and GMC Budget Balance. GMC Officials along with the ICLEI India representative had discussions on the financial and budgetary issues with all the project partners.

5 The Final Conference ecobudget Asia Project Final Conference organized by Guntur Municipal Corporation (GMC) in collaboration with International Council for Local Environmental Initiatives(ICLEI) funded by the European Union s Asia- Urbs Programme was held at Hyderabad from 11 th to 12 th of October The conference was inaugurated by Sri Kanna Lakshmi Narayana, Honorable Minister for Transportation, Government of Andhra Pradesh. Guntur Municipal Corporation hosted the other three Project Partners (Bologna of Italy; Vaxjo of Sweden; Bohol of Philippines) and ICLEI staff (Europe, South Asia and South East Asia). The Conference was also attended by the organizations like GTZ, APUSP, Government and non- Government bodies and other Officials of the National and State Municipal Corporations. The chief objective of the workshop is to present the ecobudget programme and its results for the Guntur city which has been implemented for the past two years successfully meeting all the short term targets and progressing towards the long term ones. The workshop will also discuss ecobudget as an innovative, flexible and replicable system for resource management and urban governance for cities in Asia through the case studies of Guntur, where the ecobudget has been used. Mayor Sri Kanna Nagaraju gave presentation on the traditional and modern history of the Guntur city and the developmental activities taken under Guntur Municipal Corporation. Later Commissioner, gave presentation on the implementation of the ecobudget Environmental Master Budget. He gave detailed explanation on water quality and quantity, solid waste management, greenery and air quality which are the priority of the GMC s ecobudget Master Budget. He also highlighted its targets, benefits, GMC Budget Balance as well as on-going and planned measures.deputy Mayor Sri. T Murali Mohan and the Project Coordinator Sri. Ch Yesuratnam had active participation in the discussions made by the Project Partners. With its outstanding results and achievements by the implementation of the ecobudget Asia Project in Guntur, GMC is known to its performance as the LIGHT HOUSE to the up-coming ecobudget cities. Philippines also organized the ecobudget final conference at Bohol from 15 th to 16 th of October Mayor Sri Kanna Nagaraju and Deputy Mayor Sri. T Murali Mohan from GMC along with ICLEI India representative attended the conference. Mayor Sri. Kanna Nagaraju gave presentation on the implementation of the ecobudget Master Budget, targets and benefits. GMC Officials along with the ICLEI India representative had discussions on the project issues with all the project partners. They also had active participation in the discussions made with the hosted officials.

6 Meeting on Sanitation The Mayor of Guntur Municipal Corporation conducted a meeting on Sanitation with the head officials of all the educational institutions of the city. The main aim of the meeting was to bring awareness in the school children on sanitation (cleanliness). In this connection the Mayor said that the school teachers are to be trained on the issues related to sanitation so that the teachers may educate the children in such a way that the children may get more awareness on the system of sanitation (cleanliness, green surroundings, health, use of dust-bins etc.,) and can motivate their family members and others in their locality on good sanitation system. He also said that the children should be educated on the hygienic disposal of garbage through educational camps, road shows, posters and visual media. Children should know that unclean and unhygienic surroundings are the birth places to many dangerous deceases. Biologist and other GMC Health section officials had participated in this meeting.