Green Plus Issu 14

Resilient Cities Asia - Pacific 2016 Congress
A
FEW years ago Melaka embarked
on a journey to become a “Green
City State”. Now, the State is busy
setting up an example of how
efforts from local governments
can ensure environmentally sustainable
economic development.
Melaka’s alliance with the global association of
local authorities, regions and sub-national authorities
ICLEI – Local Governments for Sustainability,
datesback to 2014, when the State became a member
city of the association.
Soon after, Chief Minister Datuk Seri Ir. Idris
Haron decided to develop a Greenhouse Gas
Emission Inventory Report for Melaka and its cities,
in order to track the baseline and to further assess the
impact of implementing the GCAP. The report, prepared
in collaboration with ICLEI South Asia and
ICLEI Southeast Asia, was released at COP 21 in
Paris in December 2015. The report has defined the
baseline for the State and paved the way for the next
step of the project – preparation of GHG emission
inventories forthe four urban local governments in
three districts of Melaka (Melaka, Alor Gajah and
Jasin District).
Smallest of 14 States in Malaysia, Melaka aspires to
become Green Technology City State by 2020. With
an objective of translating this vision into reality, last
year, Melaka decided to host the Second Resilient
Cities Asia Pacific Congress and invited over 600 dignitaries
from across the region and the globe to deliberate
on multiple aspects of urban climate resilience.
SYNERGY FOR ENERGY
Melaka’s quest to ensure sustainable economic
growth started with the adoption of Green
Technology Blueprint in 2011. The State also defined
a target of 20 per cent renewable energy contribution
to its total energy consumption by 2020. In addition,
Melaka established the Melaka Green Technology
Corporation for the purpose of overseeing efforts
to achieve the vision and also adopted the United
Nations Urban Environmental Accords to assess its
green city performance. Later, in September 2012, the
State was chosen as a model city in Malaysia, under
the Indonesia-Malaysia-Thailand Growth Triangle
(IMT-GT) Green City Initiatives, along with Medan
Green dream
for Melaka and ICLEI
Melaka aspires to become Green Technology City State by 2020
6th Global Forum on Urban Resilience & Adaptation IN BONN, GERMANY
in Indonesia and Songkhla in Thailand among the
pilot cities.
The 2013 report for an inventory prepared with
the approved principles and standards of the Global
Protocol for Community-Scale Greenhouse Gas
Emissions (GPC) gives a picture of Melaka’s total
carbon emissions and forms the basis to plan and
develop mitigation programmes to reduce emissions.
For the purpose of preparing the inventory,
Harmonized Emission Analysis Tool Plus (HEAT+),
an emissions accounting software developed by
ICLEI, has been used andthe GHGs considered in
the GHG emission inventory are carbon dioxide
(CO2), methane (CH4) and nitrogen oxide (N2O).
“The report captures fundamental information
on energy profile and emissions. It can help us take
informed decisions to undertake mitigation and
adaptation measures to reduce the carbon emissions
of Melaka,” said Datuk Kamarudin Md Shah,
Chief Executive Officer of Melaka Green Technology
Corporation, only department of its kind in Malaysia,
during the release.
Much of Melaka’s inspiration also comes from
Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak’s declaration
in 2009 “that Malaysia is adopting a commitment of
a voluntary reduction of up to 40 per cent in terms
of emissions intensity of GDP by the year 2020 compared
to 2005 levels”.
Now, the Eleventh Malaysian Plan, the national
government’s flagship development strategy for the
years 2015-2020, also seeks to attain high income
status for Malaysia while recognizing the need
to be inclusive and environmentally sustainable.
Formulation of Melaka’s Green City Action Plan, with
support from Asian Development Bank, is another
leap ahead for the state.
THE ROAD AHEAD
Melaka’s commitment to sustainability and its association
with ICLEI is progressively and systematically
developing over the years. With financial support
from ADB and technical support from ICLEI, Melaka
state is currently developing a Green City Indicator
and Benchmark System and a “PINTAR” tool, which
will be used to monitor implementation of the GCAP.
The “PINTAR” tool is modelled after ICLEI’s flagship
ecoBUDGET tool. In June 2015, Datuk Seri
Idris enlightened the audience at the Resilient Cities
Congress in Bonn, Germany, where he spoke about
how some local and regional governments are leading
actions to build resilience in cities. Besides, Melaka
mayors were present at the ICLEI World Congress
2015, in Seoul, South Korea along with the Melaka
state Executive Council member (Exco) for State education,
higher education, science & technology, green
technology and innovation). The Seoul Declaration –
a document that sets out a clear path to global urban
sustainability – was then officially adopted by ICLEI
World Congress participants, ICLEI members, partners,
and other local governments.
In the post COP 21 and Sustainable Development
Goals (SDGs) world, Melaka’s zeal for climate resilience
and its collaboration with partners or organizations
that share and enable this vision, is an inspiration
for many.
Greenplus TM MARCH 2016 19