scholarly journals Applying a Practice Lens to Local Government Climate Change Governance: Rethinking Community Engagement Practices

2021 ◽  
Vol 13 (2) ◽  
pp. 995
Author(s):  
David Meiklejohn ◽  
Susie Moloney ◽  
Sarah Bekessy
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
Local Government ◽  
Community Engagement ◽  
Local Governments ◽  
Alternative Approach ◽  
Infrastructure Provision ◽  
Governance Practices ◽  
Energy Consuming ◽  
Climate Change Community ◽  
Climate Change Governance

Governments commit substantial time and resources engaging individuals and households to reduce their greenhouse gas emissions. These approaches, based largely upon behaviour change theories, have been criticised for their limited reach and effectiveness by practice theorists who have offered an alternative approach, broadening the focus beyond individuals. While practice theory has provided valuable insights into the energy consuming activities of households it has gained limited traction as a way to analyse and inform government practices and policy making. We address this by applying a practice lens to climate change community engagement practices performed by Australian local governments. Drawing on 29 interviews with practitioners and analysis of 37 Australian local government climate strategies, we examine the bundle of practices that constitute climate change community engagement: recruitment, engagement and evaluation. We consider how these practices are situated vis-a-vis other climate governance practices (regulation, service delivery, infrastructure provision and advocacy) as well as internal local government processes. Using a practice lens reveals the weaknesses in current engagement approaches which we contend are limiting efficacy. We draw upon Spurling et al.’s conceptualisation of re-crafting, re-integrating and substituting practices to consider how climate change community engagement practices might be reconfigured to improve their effectiveness.

scholarly journals Legislating community engagement at the Australian local government level

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Helen Christensen
Keyword(s):  
Local Government ◽  
Community Engagement ◽  
Local Governments ◽  
Central Place ◽  
Core Element ◽  
Vast Number ◽  
Reporting Requirements ◽  
Key Issues ◽  
Local Government Level ◽  
Government Level

Community engagement has assumed a more salient role in the operations of Australia’s local governments. A vast number of legislative instruments and reporting requirements are imposed upon local governments by the states and the Northern Territory across Australia’s seven local government jurisdictions. Consequently, a set of identifiable practices is solidifying as a core element of local government practice and state–local relations. However, while practices have recently proliferated, it is easy to forget that they are relatively new. This article examines the legislative frameworks of Australian local government systems by chronologically mapping the development of legislation and other reporting requirements. It is argued that community engagement now occupies a central place in local government, and that the jurisdictions use four different types of approaches, often simultaneously, which can fruitfully be described as ‘prescriptive’, ‘aspirational’, ‘empowering’ and ‘hedging’. The discussion draws comparative observations and identifies key issues and challenges for the future of community engagement. KeywordsCommunity engagement; Australia; local government; public participation; legislation

scholarly journals Climate change adaptation and local government: Institutional complexities surrounding Cape Town’s Day Zero

2019 ◽  
Vol 11 (3) ◽  
Author(s):  
Godwell Nhamo ◽  
Adelaide O. Agyepong
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
South Africa ◽  
Local Government ◽  
Climate Change Adaptation ◽  
Network Theory ◽  
Local Governments ◽  
Climate Adaptation ◽  
Cape Town ◽  
Water Security ◽  
Landmark Learning

The challenges associated with climate change in local governments are growing daily. One such challenge is water security, an aspect that draws us to the subject matter of climate change adaptation. This article discusses findings about institutional complexities surrounding Day Zero, a concept associated with water taps running dry because of drought conditions as aggravated by climate change in the city of Cape Town, South Africa. The thrust on institutional complexities is deliberate, as this affects how crisis situations like Day Zero were handled. The data were generated mainly from the actor–actant–network theory, events study as well as document and discourse analysis methods. The actor–actant–network theory is used widely to trace how actors (humans) and actants (non-human phenomena) interact in space and time through their networks, following narratives like Day Zero, and act on climate-related matters. The analysis applied elements of grounded theory, resulting in categories and themes emerging for discussion. The article found that narratives surrounding Day Zero were embedded in both political and administrative dilemmas and red tape. Despite these challenges, the article concludes that Day Zero remains one of the landmark learning points for climate change adaptation and water security in Cape Town, South Africa, and in other cities across the world. The article recommends that Day Zero experiences continue to be embraced positively and documented further to enhance local government climate adaptation for water security currently and into the future as well.

scholarly journals Corrective Action Plans for Local Governments as Their Financial Health Barometers?

2018 ◽  
Vol 26 (4) ◽  
pp. 25-35
Author(s):  
Iwona Kowalska
Keyword(s):  
Local Government ◽  
Local Governments ◽  
Fold Increase ◽  
Corrective Action ◽  
Action Plans ◽  
Financial Health ◽  
The Public ◽  
Financial Position ◽  
Alternative Approach ◽  
Alternative Solutions

The implementation of corrective action plans in local government units (LGUs) takes place in the situation when they are unable to draw up a Multiannual Financial Forecast or the budget complying with the principles set out in Article 242-244 of the Public Finance Act (UFP). In the years 2012–2016, there was a six-fold increase in the number of LGUs which were obliged to implement these plans. Therefore, the aim of this paper is to assess their suitability as an actual barometer of the financial standing of local government units and propose an alternative solutions. The conducted analysis shows that the adopted legislative solutions regulating the implementation of corrective action plans are inconsistent and their effectiveness is not fully satisfactory. The paper suggests changes in current regulations and proposes alternative approach to the assessment of the financial position of local government units.

scholarly journals Local Governments as Nodes for Greenhouse Gas Abatement: Climate Change Governance in Multi- Level Frameworks

2013 ◽  
Vol 2 (4) ◽  
pp. 361 ◽  
Author(s):  
Magnus Franzén
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
Local Governments ◽  
Climate Change Mitigation ◽  
Structured Interviews ◽  
Address Climate Change ◽  
Multi Level ◽  
Mitigate Climate Change ◽  
Greenhouse Gas Abatement ◽  
Change Mitigation ◽  
Climate Change Governance

This research concentrates on the governance aspects of sustainability, and moreparticularly how local governments can work asnodes in a wider system of governance.The question at the center of the study is: how do cities address climate change mitigationand how do their actions relate to other levels of governance? The study takes a mixedqualitative-quantitative approach based on a multi-level theoretical framework to addressthe issue. The study concentrates on a smallnumber of cases and the material used isfound in official documents and semi-structured interviews with key individuals in thelocal governments. The results of the study show that the cities investigated do takeaction to mitigate climate change; however,their actions are heavily dependent on otherlevels of governance, i.e. regional or national, or other actors. This dependence,nonetheless, seems to be reciprocal. Thus, cities can constitute nodes or hubs in thegovernance of climate change mitigation,working simultaneously as actors ofimplementation and channelizing local knowledge and input.

scholarly journals Motivations and Intended Outcomes in Local Governments' Declarations of Climate Emergency

2021 ◽  
Vol 9 (2) ◽  
pp. 17-28 ◽  
Author(s):  
Xira Ruiz-Campillo ◽  
Vanesa Castán Broto ◽  
Linda Westman
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
Civil Society ◽  
Local Government ◽  
Local Governments ◽  
Local Level ◽  
Environmental Action ◽  
Future Planning ◽  
Long Run ◽  
Global And Local

Near 1,500 governments worldwide, including over 1,000 local governments, have declared a climate emergency. Such declarations constitute a response to the growing visibility of social movements in international politics as well as the growing role of cities in climate governance. Framing climate change as an emergency, however, can bring difficulties in both the identification of the most appropriate measures to adopt and the effectiveness of those measures in the long run. We use textual analysis to examine the motivations and intended outcomes of 300 declarations endorsed by local governments. The analysis demonstrates that political positioning, previous experience of environmental action within local government, and pressure from civil society are the most common motivations for declaring a climate emergency at the local level. The declarations constitute symbolic gestures highlighting the urgency of the climate challenge, but they do not translate into radically different responses to the climate change challenge. The most commonly intended impacts are increasing citizens’ awareness of climate change and establishing mechanisms to influence future planning and infrastructure decisions. However, the declarations are adopted to emphasize the increasing role cities are taking on, situating local governments as crucial agents bridging global and local action agendas.

Philippine Institutions and Complex Institutional Arrangements for Climate Change Adaptation in Agriculture

2021 ◽  
Vol 4 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Sining Cuevas ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
Local Government ◽  
Climate Change Adaptation ◽  
Local Governments ◽  
Institutional Environment ◽  
Local Governance ◽  
The Philippines ◽  
Institutional Arrangements ◽  
Local Agriculture ◽  
Institutional Dimension

Addressing climate change necessitates creating new, or building the capacity of old, institutions. Institutions are vital tools that determine the intensity by which climate change considerations are incorporated into the decision-making process, designs, and plans. This article aims to illustrate that it is necessary to understand the institutional environment where the CCA endeavors will be implemented such that local climate change adaptation (CCA) policies, plans, and programs can be implemented effectively. The paper also intends to demonstrate that, along with the scientific and technological discussions, institutional conversations should be among the initial vital steps in CCA planning, and that the institutional dimension should be the foundation of broader reforms toward an effective CCA implementation. The paper accomplished this by investigating the conditions in the local agriculture and CCA in the Philippines. The paper applied the Institutional Environment Matrix as the main analytical framework. The analysis showed that the existing institutional dynamics in the Philippines have impacted the effectiveness of the introduced CCA policies and efforts. The Local Government Code of the Philippines had counterproductive interplays with other institutional rules; first in agriculture, and afterwards, in CCA. The Code has devolved tasks to the local governments, provided local government units with extensive authority over their jurisdictions, and improved autonomy in local governance. However, it lacks the arrangements that would create (dis)incentives for individual and collective actions (i.e., rewards and penalties, payoffs on actions). Likewise, institutional mechanisms to support the devolution of government services are wanting. Such institutional environment in local governance has curtailed the effectiveness of local agricultural policies and the efficient implementation of new CCA policies. This article advocates that analyzing the institutional environment where the CCA endeavors will be implemented will enable policy makers and CCA planners to understand better and to have deeper perception of the interlinkages between and among institutional arrangements. In the case of the Philippines, if the local agricultural institutional environment was considered in the design and implementation of the CCA policies, institutional support mechanisms that can address the existing issues and concerns in local agriculture may have been incorporated into these policies. Such action may have helped implementers to avoid the same difficulties in operationalizing CCA initiatives. Accordingly, the paper analyzed how CCA is operationalized through an institutional lens, and presented how institutional analysis is important in policy making. It further demonstrated the complexity of institutional linkages and raised the conversation on the institutional dimension of CCA.

scholarly journals The Participatory and Responsiveness of Local Budget Policy in Malang, Indonesia

2019 ◽  
Vol 9 (1) ◽  
pp. 56-72
Author(s):  
Salahudin Salahudin ◽  
Vissanu Zumitzavan ◽  
Achmad Nurmandi ◽  
Tri Sulistyaningsih ◽  
Kisman Karinda
Keyword(s):  
Local Government ◽  
Local Governments ◽  
Central Government ◽  
Local Communities ◽  
Policy Support ◽  
Budget Planning ◽  
Governance Practices ◽  
Decentralized Governance ◽  
Budget Policy ◽  
Local Budget

Since political reform in 1998, the Indonesian government has decentralized governance practices in order to provide a space for local governments to develop the local potential of each region. Consequently, the local government should be responsive to people’s needs and more accountable for regional development. Therefore, local governments should be willing to involve local citizens in the public policy-making process. On the other side, local communities should actively engage in development processes, particularly in budget policy planning. This article reports on a study to determine to what extent the local government is responsive and accountable to the local citizens in Malang Municipality in Indonesia. A qualitative approach was applied to the process of data collection and data analysis. The results show that the local government has low responsiveness and accountability to local citizen’s needs and local preferences. The findings reveal a lack of willingness on the part of local government to involve local citizens and civic groups in budget planning, and elected officials demonstrate little responsibility in arranging budget policy support to achieve social welfare, one of the main points of decentralization. These findings show that central government should pay more attention to improving the awareness of local governments and the capacity of local communities so that decentralization may be supported.

scholarly journals Analysis of Water Retention Possibilities Based on Programs, Strategies and Selected Projects in Poland

2021 ◽  
Vol 1203 (3) ◽  
pp. 032103
Author(s):  
Szymon Opania ◽  
Paulina Gama Marques
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
Local Government ◽  
Green Infrastructure ◽  
Local Governments ◽  
Water Retention ◽  
Adaptation To Climate Change ◽  
Adaptation Measures ◽  
Effective Response ◽  
Rainwater Management ◽  
The City

Abstract A particularly important and topical issue in contemporary urban planning and urban design is to prevent the current climate threat. The scale of the problem and the forecast of the effects of climate change are shown in the publication of numerous research centers such as NASA and the IPCC. The Report of a temperature increase of 1.5 degrees relative to the preindustrial era has shaken public opinion, however, a less optimistic scenario assumes an increase of 3 degrees. Local governments often face the challenge of rapid and effective response to the effects of climate change. Adaptation strategies to climate change have been developed at the EU level since 2009, in which the so-called White Paper has been passed, recognized as one of the first documents to define goals and measures, and on the national (Polish) level from around 2010. On the basis of strategic documents and research of scientific institutions, many local government units adopt programs aimed at implementing specific solutions. In the light of climate reports, it turns out that one of the most sensitive areas to climate change is water management. Therefore, effective adaptation measures include those aimed at rational management of rainwater. As a result, there are created comprehensive adaptation programs focusing on various sectors of the economy. Some of them are based on elements such as: green infrastructure, support for biodiversity or the implementation of activities in the field of blue-green infrastructure and the idea of "sponge city". They have been analyzed by the authors in terms of their usefulness and compliance with higher level documents. The aim of the study was to look at what actions are undertaken by cities in order to implement adaptation postulates. Selected activities undertaken by local government units of the cities of Olsztyn, Bydgoszcz and Gdańsk were analyzed. For educational purposes there are prepared information brochures for investors, residents and officials. They present the available tools and methods for sustainable rainwater management and increasing the city's resilience to the effects of climate change by increasing retention based on natural-based solutions. Equally important are the projects themselves, which is why another objective of the research was to analyze the implementation for compliance with the stated goal of increasing the retained water and adaptation to climate change of the city. The research methodology is based on desk-research and indirect inventory. A representative example of the research carried out is the implementation of the programs: "Rainwater management systems in the city of Olsztyn" and „Expansion of the rainwater management system in the city of Olsztyn”. The authors conclude that the adopted programs and strategies, as well as the implemented investments, are examples of both beneficial measures to improve water retention in the city, but unfortunately, they are also examples of "tools" to raise funds for investments, there are many in which rainwater is treated as sewage and still go directly to the sewage system.

scholarly journals The Role of Local Government in the Drive for Sustainable Development Public Policies. An Analytical Framework Based on Institutional Capacities

2021 ◽  
Vol 13 (11) ◽  
pp. 5978
Author(s):  
Miquel Salvador ◽  
David Sancho
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
Sustainable Development ◽  
Local Government ◽  
Local Governments ◽  
Public Policies ◽  
Analytical Framework ◽  
City Council ◽  
Combat Climate Change

The role of local governments in promoting policies to combat climate change is critical. In order to play this role, local administrations must have different capacities that allow them to analyze, manage and transform their environment through public policies. This article aims to contribute to the academic debate on the role of local governments in the articulation of climate change policies and sustainable development. The proposal combines a conceptual and analytical contribution, which is illustrated by means of a case study analysis. At the conceptual and analytical level, the article proposes a review of the contributions from the perspective of public policies and organizational management models in order to introduce an analytical framework based on four capacities: strategic, analytical, managerial and collaborative. This framework is developed based on the design of a strategy to measure the existence of these capabilities in a given local government by means of specific indicators. This analytical framework is applied through a case study of Barcelona City Council and its policies to combat climate change and promote sustainable development. The results of the analysis highlight the importance of the combined action of the four management capacities mentioned as a precondition for the articulation of this type of policies at the local government level.

scholarly journals Urban climate adaptation and the reshaping of state–society relations: The politics of community knowledge and mobilisation in Indore, India

Urban Studies ◽  
2017 ◽  
Vol 55 (8) ◽  
pp. 1766-1782 ◽  
Author(s):  
Eric K Chu
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
Climate Change Adaptation ◽  
Local Governments ◽  
Climate Adaptation ◽  
Urban Climate ◽  
Political Networks ◽  
Infrastructure Provision ◽  
Indian City ◽  
Urban Futures ◽  
Adaptation Processes

Current research on climate change adaptation in cities highlights the role of local governments in facilitating adaptation actions, but rarely assesses whether (and if so, how) local communities organise around emerging climate priorities to affect political change. This paper explores changing state–society relationships through the reconstitution of community collectives and advocacy organisations for advancing climate change adaptation in the Indian city of Indore. The paper shows that communities are indeed recognising the need for adaptation but are, at the same time, integrating adaptation actions with existing strategies for advocating development rights. Communities are also rebuilding alliances between municipal and local institutions for public service and infrastructure provision, which point to the centrality of community politics in urban climate adaptation processes. However, such mobilisations are often dependent on existing political networks and a legacy of advocacy around poverty alleviation needs, which sideline more transformative agendas around inclusiveness, equity, and resilient urban futures.

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