ISC is not a disaster-relief organization. While we work in regions that have seen their share of tragedy and disaster – earthquakes in Sichuan, Hurricane Katrina, Tropical Storm Irene – our focus is on the long term – to help communities prevent disasters and become more resilient, healthy and prosperous.    We think this is the most cost effective approach to achieving a more peaceful and sustainable planet.

But in Bangladesh, our program will make an immediate difference to the most urgent issue these factory workers face right now – safety.

We simply cannot afford an economic system where people die to make clothes. 

Our Environment, Health and Safety Academies were conceived as a way to increase manufacturing sustainability and improve health and safety in the developing world. In 2008, we started in China, the ‘factory to the world’, and asked the question – Can we help them be a sustainable manufacturer, reducing resource consumption and GHG emissions? After all, what will happen to the planet if we don’t manufacture responsibly?  Now in Bangladesh, we’re asking, How can we help a global garment supply chain provide safe working conditions while protecting the global environment and the health of surrounding communities?

As I listen to US discussions about reducing consumption and buying local – all good practices, all worth pursuing – I am also thinking back to my visit to Bangladesh in mid-April, where I heard from workers and government ministers how critically important garment-making jobs are to reducing poverty for millions of people.  While we work on shifting consumption, we also have to work in the present. We need to be pragmatic and practical.

For Bangladesh, becoming the garment capital of the world IS about sustainability. These workers – mostly uneducated women-  are eagerly seeking jobs that pay enough to let them support their children – and educate their daughters.

As we shift toward sustainability, we must be cognizant of the fact that each community will get there in its own way.

In Bangladesh, creating conditions in factories that don’t put lives in jeopardy is how we can move toward sustainability. The first step is health and safety. From there, we can move onto environmental conditions, helping factories reduce energy consumption and eliminate pollution. We know it’s possible.

It’s going to take a lot of help – coordination, collaboration, and cooperation. We’re partnering with labor and government, with multi-national corporations and human rights activists. And we’re moving as fast as we can get to get the doors open in our Bangladesh training center.

Looking for more to read on this issue? Try this thoughtful article in The Economist.

by George Hamilton

Note: NBC News image.

The post For Bangladesh, Sustainability Starts with Safety. appeared first on ISC News.

Institute for Sustainable Communities:

Liz Schlegel, Communications Manager, 802-279-4695

International City/County Management Association:  Shraddha Kharel-Pandey, Director of Asia Programs, 202-962-3516

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

From Risk Barriers to Results:

CityLinks Announces Climate Leadership Academy on Urban Climate Adaptation

Montpelier, VT – April 23, 2013 – The International City/County Management Association (ICMA) and the Institute for Sustainable Communities (ISC) invite teams of senior municipal officials from ASEAN member states to participate in a regional Climate Leadership Academy (CLA) on Urban Climate Adaptation in Jakarta, Indonesia on August 13-15, 2013. This unique training and peer-learning opportunity, sponsored through a CityLinks pilot partnership between U.S. cities and ASEAN member states, will be focused on improving, expanding, and accelerating city efforts to better assess, prioritize, and manage the local risks of climate change.

ASEAN cities are some of the most vulnerable to climate change. With more than 50 percent of the approximately 600 million people of ASEAN now living in cities, new climate-related risks, including extreme precipitation, heat events, and sea-level rise, are forcing more adaptive approaches to urban development. As a result, city practitioners across Southeast Asia are designing and building more resilient, ecologically integrated urban infrastructure, engaging their populations in inclusive decision-making, and collaborating across jurisdictions. These activities are generating innovations and investment opportunities in climate adaptation that are shaping the future of growth throughout the region.

Topics addressed at the August workshop will include making the case for climate adaptation; communicating climate risks; developing and implementing climate adaptation plans, strategies, and actions; integrating climate mitigation and adaptation; and financing climate adaptation.

The deadline for applications is May 21, 2013; most costs for participating cities will be covered. Interested city leaders should visit the website for more information and the application.

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About CityLinks

This workshop is part of USAID’s CityLinks program, which enables municipal officials in developing and decentralizing countries to draw on the resources of their U.S. counterparts to find sustainable solutions tailored to the real needs of their cities. ICMA is the primary manager of the CityLinks program; ISC is the lead partner on climate adaptation. To learn more about CityLinks, visit icma.org/citylinks, and follow us on Twitter at @ICMACityLinks.

About the Institute for Sustainable Communities

The Institute for Sustainable Communities (ISC), founded in 1991 by former Vermont Governor Madeleine Kunin, works with communities around the world to address pressing climate adaptation issues via the tools of civil society. ISC has led over 91 projects in 25 countries, and presently works in China, India, Bangladesh, Serbia and the United States. iscvt.org

About the International City/County Management Association

The International City/County Management Association (ICMA) combines the experience of local government practitioners with that of seasoned international experts to design, implement, and evaluate municipal development and management projects worldwide. ICMA has successfully implemented projects in more than 60 countries, establishing a solid reputation for its practical, hands-on approach to meeting global challenges. Learn more about ICMA’s international programs at icma.org/international.

The post From Risk Barriers to Results: CityLinks Announces Climate Leadership Academy on Urban Climate Adaptation appeared first on ISC News.

Institute for Sustainable Communities: Liz Schlegel, Communications Manager

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Accelerating Sustainability through Environment, Health & Safety Management:
ISC to Launch EHS Academy in Bangladesh

Montpelier, VT – April 9, 2013 – Recent tragedies in Bangladesh apparel factories have raised awareness of the critical need to improve environment, health and safety (EHS) standards to protect workers and improve working conditions. To address these urgent needs in Bangladesh, the Institute for Sustainable Communities (ISC), creator of the successful Environment, Health and Safety Academies program in China, will expand its EHS Academy Network into Dhaka, Bangladesh this summer.

ISC’s innovative EHS programs began in the heavily industrialized region of Guangdong, China, in 2009; a second Academy opened in Jiangsu in 2011. Each Academy, a public-private partnership that pairs international nonprofit ISC with a local host organization, provides technical training in essential skills for EHS management and sustainability leadership. After completing the training, factory managers work to improve health and safety on the job and drive improvements in environmental health, energy efficiency, and greenhouse gas management. Hundreds of global brands have sent their local EHS managers and suppliers to the EHS Academies, and consider the program an integral part of achieving their global sustainability goals.

ISC’s rationale for the program is simple: the need is urgent, and the potential impact on the lives of workers is exponential.  Recent factory fires in Bangladesh underscore the need for better practices around worker health and safety, while the country’s profound vulnerability to climate impacts such as cyclones, flooding, and drought reinforce the need for action to improve the economic sustainability of manufacturing. ISC’s approach focuses on the systemic change needed to achieve long-term impacts.

“Bangladeshi workers and communities are at risk – but we can’t tackle these challenges one at a time. From fire safety, to toxic chemicals, to greenhouse gas emissions– we need to stress comprehensive, systemic change in how factories understand and address interrelated environment, health and safety issues over the long term,” said ISC President George Hamilton. “In partnership with the Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency (Sida) and several corporate partners, led by Walmart, ISC is developing a locally owned and operated nonprofit Environment, Health and Safety Academy that will train 2,000 Bangladeshi factory managers annually in the skills they need to drive factories toward better safety and sustainability. It’s good for them, it’s good for their communities, and it’s good for the world.”

To date, more than 8,000 EHS professionals have been trained at ISC’s EHS Academies in China, and over 200 corporations have already sent their own managers or encouraged their suppliers to participate in Academy courses.  Partnerships with global manufacturers are especially important to the success of ISC’s EHSA Network, since they provide valuable curriculum input as well as the motivation for supplier factories to participate.

Key partners in the China Academies include GE, Walmart, Alcoa, Adidas, Pfizer and USAID, while for the new Bangladesh venture, ISC has obtained funding from the Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency (Sida) and Walmart Corporation, and is in conversations with some of the other global brands who manufacture in Bangladesh about supporting the Academy.  Officials at Sida note: “The international sourcing of apparel from Bangladesh has grown considerably in recent years, creating job opportunities for many Bangladeshis, particularly women. Sida acknowledges this trend’s positive contribution to poverty reduction, as well as concerns about environment, health and safety conditions in many factories. To ensure sustainable development of the sector, industry needs to fill these gaps and that is why initiatives such as the ISC EHS Academy – which mobilizes the companies’ own managers but also their own funding – are important. With the concept proven successful in China, Sida expects the EHS Academy in Bangladesh to be at least as effective. “

“The EHS Academy is an important part of our ongoing commitment to improve fire safety standards in Bangladesh and we are proud to partner with ISC to address the critical need for training around environment, health and workplace safety,” said Rajan Kamalanathan, Vice President of Ethical Sourcing for Walmart. ”As we work to raise standards in the global supply chain we continue to actively seek out partnerships with government stakeholders, nonprofits and NGOs. That is why we are partnering with ISC, who is known for combining expertise in leadership, institutional development and community capacity building to improving people’s lives and the earth’s ecosystem.”

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About the Institute for Sustainable Communities

A global nonprofit organization, the Institute for Sustainable Communities (ISC) has 22 years of experience working with local leaders to accelerate pragmatic solutions in governance, climate change and sustainability. ISC has led over 91 projects in 25 countries, and currently works in China, India, Bangladesh, Serbia and the United States. www.iscvt.org

The post ISC to Launch EHS Academy in Bangladesh appeared first on ISC News.

Date: August 13-15, 2013                             Location:  Jakarta, Indonesia

Link to Application

Application Deadline: May 21

Overview of the Opportunity

The International City/County Management Association (ICMA) and the Institute for Sustainable Communities (ISC) invite teams of three-to-five senior officials and/or key decision-makers from up to 10 second tier (populations between 1 and 4 million) and third tier (populations less than 1 million) cities and metropolitan regions to participate in a regional Climate Leadership Academy (CLA) on Urban Climate Adaptation – a unique training and peer-learning opportunity, focused on improving, expanding and accelerating cities’ efforts to better assess, prioritize and manage the local risks of climate change.  Most costs for participants will be covered.

ASEAN cities are some of the most vulnerable to climate change. With more than 50 percent of the approximately 600 million people of ASEAN now living in cities, new climate-related risks, including extreme precipitation, heat events, and sea-level rise, are forcing more adaptive approaches to urban development. As a result, city practitioners across Southeast Asia are designing and building more  resilient, ecologically integrated urban infrastructure, engaging their populations in inclusive decision-making, and collaborating across jurisdictions.  These activities are spurring new innovations and investment opportunities in climate adaptation that are shaping the future of growth throughout the region.

This workshop is part of ICMA’s USAID-funded CityLinks program, which enables municipal officials in developing and decentralizing countries to draw on the resources of their US counterparts to find sustainable solutions tailored to the real needs of their cities.

Who Should Come?

Each city-led team should consist of:

1. A team leader, either a departmental-level director or another senior city official with leadership responsibility for climate change adaptation; and
2. Up to four other key stakeholders who are—or will need to be—deeply engaged in the local/regional climate adaptation strategy and/or infrastructure decisions. At least one team member must be a representative from your national government.

Teams should be composed of individuals with decision-making authority in programs that are directly related to the climate adaptation challenges faced by your community. These may include managers with responsibilities for public works and infrastructure, water supply, utilities, public health, emergency response, ports, natural resource management or land use planning.

Additionally, as appropriate for the local context, teams may also wish to include a senior representative of a key regional and/or national partner, such as a regional or state planning agency, non-governmental organizations, universities, private-sector organizations, foundations or advocacy groups.

The idea is for team leaders to assemble partners across agencies with whom they can both share this unique training and peer-learning opportunity, and continue collaboration for building climate resilience and adapting to climate change after they return home. Team composition choices should be driven by the nature of the adaptation challenges your community faces.

While this academy is geared towards serving community teams that have some experience in developing local adaptation strategies, it is also open to those communities which have yet to begin formalizing an adaptation strategy but have identified adaptation as a key priority for their city.

The final team selection will be determined by national representatives from the ASEAN Working Group on Environmentally-Sensitive Cities.

Why Participate?

The Climate Leadership Academy (CLA) will help you and your team advance and improve climate change adaptation efforts by providing you with the best available information, expertise and thinking in the field, and by offering opportunities to learn from your peers across the region. Cities that take systematic approaches to adapt to a changed global climate will be best positioned to inform and benefit from national efforts and investment opportunities, and will ultimately be able to better protect their residents and local economies from climate disruption.

The CLA will provide training support to help participants:

•  Understand local and regional risk barriers to adopting new, resilient urban infrastructure;
• Learn new tools and strategies for addressing risk barriers, including law, policy agreements, regulations, and financing options;
• Understand the various technology tools, such as spatial data analysis, to support urban adaptation
• Learn from, network, and collaborate with peer cities facing similar challenges, as well international experts;
• Share local best practices with regional counterparts;
• Appreciate the importance of designing urban infrastructure in the face of resource constraints, climate change, and new challenges associated with urban growth.

The CityLinks team will finalize the scope and design of this CLA over the next three months, by consulting with the selected cities. ISC staff will contact participants to learn about the specific challenges they are facing and to determine the types of training and peer-learning opportunities they most need and want.

Highlights of this CLA workshop will include:

• A diverse mix of 10 city-led teams of practitioners from throughout Southeast Asia;
• Plenty of time for networking, learning and strategizing within and across those teams;
• A “Resource Team” consisting of leading international experts and practitioners;
• One or two inspiring keynote presentations;
• A resource guide synthesizing best available information, ideas and “promising practices”;
• A blend of interactive panel discussions and small-group working sessions focused on key challenges, including but not limited to the following:

• Prioritizing risks and setting priorities for action;
• Making the case for climate adaptation and communicating climate risks (e.g. cost-benefit analysis, communications strategies, etc.)
• Developing and implementing climate adaptation plans, strategies and actions;
• Integrating climate mitigation and adaptation strategies and actions;
• Financing climate adaptation;
• Collaborating with key partners at the local/regional, state and federal levels; linking national and subnational climate plans;
• Monitoring, evaluation, and adjustment of risk management strategies.

By leaving daily responsibilities behind and working with your team for three days, you will have the chance to cement new relationships and return home with shared understandings that can inform your future efforts. Unlike other events where individuals attend in isolation, the CLA creates powerful team learning opportunities, which resonate long after participants return home.

The CityLinks Pilot Partnership 

After the Climate Leadership Academy, CityLinks will select up to four cities to participate in a CityLinks Pilot Partnership to gain more exposure to innovative approaches, good governance tools, and appropriate technologies to enhance their ability to adapt to climate change impacts. The program will match selected cities with counterparts in the US to enhance peer learning and technical exchange.

Where and When–And Who Pays?

This CLA workshop will take place in Jakarta, Indonesia, beginning on August 13  and ending after noon on August 15.

Most costs are covered.

City Links will cover the flight costs and hotel stay of the three-five team members for the workshop dates and will provide breakfast, lunch and snacks to participants throughout the course of the program. A stipend will be provided to cover dinner, local transportation and incidentals. Expenses for any additional days and nights must be covered by the participant.

ISC is proud to be part of the CityLinks team. CityLinks is a program run by ICMA on behalf of USAID.

The post International Climate Leadership Academy on Urban Climate Adaptation appeared first on ISC News.

Imagine the energy of thousands of activists, artists, business leaders, media experts, and other techies from around the globe joining forces under one roof to harness the powers of social media, new technology, and digital activism in order to affect positive social change on a worldwide scale. Creative juices are flowing, knowledge is shared, connections are made, and the level of innovation and zeal is unprecedented. With support from the Institute for Sustainable Communities, this inspirational phenomenon has now occurred not once, not twice, but three times in the last two years… it’s called SHARE.

Free and non-commercial, the SHARE Conference is designed to serve as a forum for exploring and sharing various methods of online social activism including social media networks, blogging platforms, open-source software for advocacy initiatives, political campaigning, and watchdog activities. The first two annual SHARE conferences were held in Belgrade, Serbia in 2011 and 2012 and were jointly developed by the SHARE Foundation and ISC through the USAID-funded Civil Society Advocacy Initiative (CSAI).

The first SHARE conference hosted more than 60 domestic and international social media experts, including representatives from Google, Harvard, and U.S. President Barack Obama’s public relations team. Over 2,500 activists, bloggers, organizers, programmers and artists attended from more than 30 countries including Gaza, Lebanon, Egypt, Tunisia, and Zimbabwe. The impact of SHARE 2011 in Belgrade was monumental. Shortly following the conference, CSAI received more than 60 project proposals submitted by more than 100 CSOs on a variety of topics that envisioned innovative usage of new technologies and social media. Over half of these organizations were first-time applicants to CSAI, which highlights SHARE’s ability to open up space for new, nontraditional and innovative civic activists and CSOs. The 2012 conference was just as successful and had a similar line-up of high profile speakers as well as ordinary citizens using online platforms to achieve powerful change in their communities.

Since the SHARE conferences in Serbia, ISC has noticed a significant uptick in the use of social media and new technologies for activism. Nearly all advocacy campaigns in Serbia—and every CSAI funded program—now contain a strong social media component. This has been accompanied by notable improvements in CSO efforts to inform and establish better links with citizens through social networks and web and mobile applications, to share important data with key stakeholders, to empower citizens and other non-state actors to become information providers, and to exert additional pressure for greater transparency and accountability.

“It all started as an experiment” describes Srećko Šekeljić, Innovation Projects Strategist at ISC Serbia, of ISC’s initial decision to support digital activism in the Balkans. “In 2010, we noticed an extraordinary increase in the use of Internet-based media and technologies in Serbia, yet CSOs and community groups were fairly unaware of the powerful opportunities to garner social impact these tools offered. We designed a program that would help traditional social activists build partnerships with web developers, graphic designers, bloggers, and creative thinkers to support their respective social causes. For the next two years, we’ve helped establish Share Foundation as a regional hub for digital activism and supported dozens of other creative initiatives. As a result, ISC became recognized as a pioneer in assisting Serbian CSOs in developing innovative methodologies and using new media and technologies to address citizens’ needs and advocate for positive change.”

The third SHARE Conference marked a transfer of knowledge, capacity, and passion from Serbia to the Middle Eastern country of Lebanon. Known as “SHARE Beirut,” this conference was modeled after the first two Belgrade SHARE events and signified a spread in digital activism and global impact. Nearly 500 people from across the globe attended SHARE Beirut, held October 5-7, 2012 at the Solea V Art Center in Beirut.

“After two successful SHARE events in Belgrade we had a great opportunity to create something similar in Beirut—arguably one of the most vibrant political and cultural activist locations in the world at the moment,” said Vladan Joler, Director of the Share Foundation. “Even in such a complex environment, we realized that activist groups around the world share common values, are forward thinking, and harness creativity. Those values, empowered by the Internet as an open and decentralized media and communication tool, are creating one strong and powerful international community ready to protect Internet freedom and other human rights.”

SHARE has established strategic partnerships with prominent global companies such as Google and Vimeo—both of whom supported SHARE 2012—and with leading international organizations such as the Electronic Frontier Foundation, Stanford University , the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and Oxford University.  In a very short period of time, SHARE has managed to build a strong, internationally recognized brand.

The SHARE conference in Belgrade.

An image from the SHARE conference in Beirut

The post SHARE-ing Success appeared first on ISC News.

The Southeast Florida Regional Climate Compact was formed by the county governments of Broward, Miami-Dade, Monroe and Palm Beach in 2009. Through a series of summits and ongoing working groups, the Compact partners have forged a Regional Climate Action Plan to build lasting prosperity for the region by reducing the emissions that cause climate change and preparing for its inevitable impacts. The recommendations – more than 100 of them – range from coordinated approaches for protecting critical infrastructure to spurring new business opportunities to improve regional quality of life. The regional approach at the heart of the Compact represents a model for coordinating public, private and non-profit sector engagement.

Steve Adams, Senior Program Officer at ISC, has staffed the Compact since its inception. “The Compact is at the cutting edge of local government climate innovations and Kresge Foundation support was vital to early development efforts. This new investment from Kresge – the nation’s premiere funder for these issues – is a real validation of what the Compact Counties have achieved.”

John Nordgren, Program Officer for the Kresge Foundation has supported the Compact since its inception. “These four counties have already shown remarkable political leadership in developing the Climate Compact. It is an exceptional example of regional, bipartisan cooperation by local government leaders. It also exemplifies a comprehensive approach to community resilience in the face of climate change, something that other regions around the country and the Federal government should look upon as a model. That said, the hard work of implementation is in front of them. The Kresge Foundation is pleased to be a small part of this remarkable initiative.”

The Summit, held Thursday Dec. 6 and Friday Dec. 7 at the Jupiter Beach Resort, featured nationally renowned climate expert Heidi Cullen and Ron Sims, a noted national authority on local government sustainability efforts. More information about the Southeast Florida Regional Climate Compact, including the Summit agenda, can be found at the Compact’s website.

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About the Institute for Sustainable Communities

The Institute for Sustainable Communities (ISC), founded in 1991 by former Vermont Governor Madeleine Kunin, works with communities around the world to address pressing climate adaptation issues via the tools of civil society. ISC has led over 80 projects in 24 countries, and presently works in China, India, Serbia and the United States. More information on ISC’s U.S. climate leadership program can be found on the Sustainable Communities Leadership Academy website.

The post Moving In the Right Direction: Kresge Supports Southeast Florida Regional Climate Change Compact appeared first on ISC News.

Since 1960, the population of the Metropolitan Region of Bangkok has expanded from 3 million people to over 12 million. This has brought with it the mounting challenges common to so many rapidly growing mega-cities, namely, that most of the materials and energy used by a city come from outside its physical boundaries. Coupled with the escalating pressures from climate change, there are new, more complex and urgent governance issues to be addressed.

It was in late October 2011 that one of greatest floods ever to swamp a city so large in world history peaked in Bangkok, submerging an estimated 20% of the city. The World Bank estimated economic damages and losses from the disaster over US$45 Billion. Across the country, the flooding lasted 175 days, affected 65 of Thailand’s 77 provinces and flooded the homes of almost 19% of the country’s 67 million people.

An MRTA vibration monitor next to a statue at Wat Pho. Photo credit: Scott Muller, ISC

Responding to calls for action, the Government of Thailand concluded that the flooding in Bangkok was exacerbated by extensive deforestation in the watershed of the city. This has resulted in an official plan outlining intensive efforts by the government to reforest the watersheds of Thailand. Over the next 4 years, the program will plant 800 million saplings. This proactive response in the rural environment is an example of valorizing the ecosystem services upon which a city depends.

This is not an isolated phenomenon. International investments to protect ecosystem services are rapidly increasing as the vulnerability of urban systems to climate change and the physical adaptation limits to the water-energy-food nexus are increasingly clear (and costly). In essence, the urban led efforts to revalue and protect ecosystem services along the urban-to-rural gradient are simply smart economic decisions to secure the benefits obtained by cities and people from ecosystems.

While most residents are quite familiar with their city’s dependence on the provisioning services of surrounding ecosystems (eg. food, clean water, timber, beer, etc.), other types of benefits may not be so readily apparent – one of the reasons for their past unmonitored appropriation by cities to fuel rapid growth. Other oft-overlooked assets include the regulating services (e.g. flood control, water quality, air quality, climate control, disease regulation and pollination) and supporting services (e.g. soil formation and nutrient cycling) of various ecosystems. Despite their location, inside or outside the city’s traditional physical boundaries, they are being increasingly recognized as integral parts of the urban system.

4 Types of Ecosystem Services

• Provisioning
• Regulating
• Supporting
• Cultural

In addition to Thailand’s forward thinking investment in the regulating services of the watersheds of Bangkok, there are other exemplary valorizations of ecosystem services present in the city. Specifically, this is the valorization of cultural services within the urban ecosystem itself. These benefits are too often overlooked by cities. The cultural services of ecosystems can be recreational, aesthetic, and spiritual, and include the tourism industry as well. This is demonstrated by the case of Bangkok’s giant reclining golden Buddha and the Blue Line train expansion.

Wat Pho is a 200 year old royal monastery and one of Bankgok’s largest and oldest temple complexes. It is built on the site of a much older temple, Wat Phodharam, which dates back to 1300 AD. Home to the reclining golden Buddha, the temple serves the multiple purposes of being a very important religious center, a major tourist attraction and is one of Thailand’s oldest learning centers hosting the WATPO Traditional Medical School – the birthplace of Thai massage. When Wat Pho was constructed by King Rama 1, the city’s population was around 50,000 people. Today with 12 million residents, the sacred site continues to deliver key services that benefit all age groups, income classes, residents and tourists alike.

An up-close view of the reclining golden Buddha. Photo credit Scott Muller, ISC

One of the common challenges of mega-cities is the planning, implementation, operation and scale-up of efficient public transportation. In response to Bangkok’s strong growth, the Mass Rapid Transit Authority of Thailand (MRTA) has worked tirelessly since 2000 to implement efficient mass transit across the city. Today, there are over 87 km of high quality rail service operating with an additional 149 km approved or under construction. By 2030, the city plans to have 509 km of rails serving the city.

The MRTA is undertaking a number of rail projects, one of which is the US$1.53 billion expansion of the “Blue Line.” This includes the 14 km section of Hua Lamphong – Bang Kae that will have a capacity of 50,000 pax/hour/direction and should be operational by 2015. It includes a 4.8 km underground section containing 4 underground stations and runs under the Chao Phraya River and the Wat Pho complex itself.

With the purpose of monitoring and protecting the important cultural urban-ecosystem services of the Wat Pho temple from the potential impacts of the Blue Line expansion, the MRTA has implemented careful monitoring of any settlement and vibration impacts. This will ensure the conservation of the valued cultural services of the temple for the city now, and for future generations.

Climate adapted urban systems will be the economic drivers of the global future. Bangkok demonstrates proactive management of a new fitness landscape, one that both valorizes a sustainable use of ecosystem services beyond traditional spatial political boundaries, and monitors second and third order consequences of climate change.

The post Adaptation & Ecosystem Services in Bangkok appeared first on ISC News.

Harry was a founding board member of the Institute for Sustainable Communities and served on our board from 1991 – 2010. His contributions to our success were invaluable and we would not be the organization we are today without his advice, experience, wisdom and passion.  Notes ISC President George Hamilton,

“Harry was a gentle soul who worked tirelessly to improve the human condition. Harry played a particularly important role in developing ISC’s programs in the area of active citizenship and governance and for that I will always be very grateful.   We shared wonderful adventures together, traveling the world, and I deeply appreciate his wisdom and friendship.”

When he retired in 2010, we celebrated his contributions to the Board and asked his fellow board members about their experience working with Harry.  Here are some of their thoughts:

Former ISC board member Kevin F. F. Quigley:  “Ambassador Harry Barnes is a prince of a man, a gem. He is thoughtful and experienced, with a truly global perspective… Harry always brings a great combination of experience and insight to bear on whatever the issue at hand, and he does it in the most gracious of ways.”

Richard Paisner (incoming ISC board chair): “Harry has that rare human gift to penetrate to the heart of complex issues analytically and to ask the most insightful questions. And his personal courage is inspirational.”

ISC board member Laurel Colless: “Harry brings together in his personality and demeanor all that can be good in diplomacy.”

And ISC Founder Madeline Kunin said,

“You were there at the start, when ISC was more a dream, than a reality. Without your sage advice, we would not be where we are today. …You lent your vast diplomatic experience to ISC and helped us to mature into a strong, effective organization. You will be greatly missed.”

Greatly missed indeed. Thank you, Harry, for all your service – not only to ISC but to the world.

The post Remembering Harry G. Barnes, Jr. appeared first on ISC News.