Bandar Lampung is the first of ten Indonesian pilot cities who established a City Working Group on Climate Change, marking its commitment to participate in the Climate Resilient and Inclusive Cites (CRIC) Project implementation from 2020 to 2024. This City Working Group consists of 33 members representing diverse voices of local government, universities, civil society organisations and the media who work together to accelerate climate actions at a city level.
Dr. Khaidarmansyah, SH, MPd who serves as the Head of Bandar Lampung City Planning Agency said that the City Working Group is the catalyst for change. “In Bandar Lampung, communities who work in the fisheries, agriculture and construction sector are among the most vulnerable groups. In the context of city working group, we can educate and inform these groups about the impact of climate change. We can advocate for better planning and policies that can improve communities’ resilience. We can work together with them to come up with local solutions to adapt to climate change,” he said.
Bandar Lampung is not immune to the climate-related disasters, such as flooding, landslide, drought and rising sea level. Based on the focus group discussion held last June, the representative of Bandar Lampung shared that the city seeks to improve air quality, better manage its waste and provide a better access to clean water, housing and infrastructure. To address these, the city has several programmes and activities in the pipeline that include upgrading informal settlements, improving urban drainage system, promoting trees-planting and bio-pores and building waste bank.
“Our mayor is already aware of the urgency to act now to adapt to climate change. With our participation in the CRIC Project, we expect to build our capacity in planning and building a more sustainable city, that will also refer to Sustainable Development Goals,” said Dr. Khaidarmansyah.
In Bandar Lampung, the City Working Group unites representatives from governments, universities, NGOs working in urban and environment issues and the media. Government members are those coming from the Regional Planning Agency, Environmental Department, Agriculture Department, Tourism Department, Health Department and Public Library. The role of media in the working group, Dr. Khaidarmansyah said, is important in “bridging climate change information gap between government and local communities.”
Moving forward, Dr. Khaidarmansyah said that the CRIC Project could help Bandar Lampung prepare itself better when developing a Regional Mid-Term Development Plan. He emphasised that there is a need to integrate mitigation and adaptation plans into the planning and development processes.
City commitment
Apart from Bandar Lampung, nine other cities are still assembling members to establish the City Working Group. From all ten pilot cities, seven cities have signed City Commitment. These cities are Bandar Lampung, Cirebon, Mataram, Pangkal Pinang, Pekanbaru, Samarinda and Ternate. With this commitment, cities pledge to play an active role in the adoption and promotion of tools and policies to achieve good governance, sustainable use of resources, social inclusiveness, innovation and technology, resilience and climate action and also triangular cooperation. City Commitment document outlines plan and activities where cities are committed to undertaking through the formulation of city working group.
