Local Government-Led Pathways: Unlocking
the Potentials of CES Approach

Bijon Kumer MITRA, Deputy Director

Human societies are today faced with multi-faced social, economic,
and environmental challenges which hinder sustainable development
Population
growth andurbanization

Energy use
andclimatechangeWaste
generation
andpollution

Naturaldisasters
and lifesaving

Deforestation
Water scarcity
New and emerging risks

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Progress of 2030 Agenda and SDGs•

Adopted in 2015, the 2030 Agenda provides a shared blueprint for sustainable development.

•At midpoint stage of 2023, almost half of set targets show moderate or severe deviations from desired trajectory.

•The Asia-Pacific region, in particular, is not on track to achieve any of the 17 SDGs by 2030.

How we canachievesustainabledevelopment?

Source: United Nations (2023) The Sustainable Development Goals Report 2023: Special edition

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Climate Change Actions and Progress
Despite the set goals andwidespread actions, global
emissions continue to rise andare at an all-time high.

For the first time in 2022, global average CO2 concentrations
exceeded pre-industrial values by 50% - [World Meteorological Organization.]A third of the world’s population could be exposed to heatwaves by 2090.
- International Organization for Migration

28th annual UN climate meeting held in Dubai, with representation from 197 countries and the European Union

After intense
negotiations, thegathering’s final
declaration
acknowledged theessence of“transitioning away”
from fossil fuels.

The declaration
stipulates tripling of
the world’s
renewable energy
capacity by 2030, atarget endorsed by 116
parties at COP28.

COP28 calls for fasttracking a just, orderly,
and equitable energy
transition, while also
mitigating the impacts ofrecord-breaking
temperature and climateinduced disasters.

The COP28 Local
Climate Action
Summit duly
recognized the roleof local leaders in
reducing emissions
and furthering climateprogress.

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Traversing Interconnected Local-to-Global Action Spheres to Advance
Sustainable Development Agendas
Globally agreed agendas

Advocacy decentralization

International partnership

City-Region Integrated Planning
Catalytic partnership
Ruralareas

Cities andtowns

Collective localactions

Integrated policy
Commitments & integrated
planning implementation of
Global Agendas

Achieve nationalcommitments

5Urban-rural linkages are crucial for localization of SDGs, Climate
Actions and Biodiversity conservation: CES approach
Urban

Economic revitalization &ensure wellbeing

Rural• Depopulation• Abundance of local
natural resources• Lack of capacity• Weaker financial capability

NaturalCapital

Trade-off
Synergies• Rapid urbanization

Partnership for
Integrated planning
Uncoordinatedplanning
and actions Actionsand Collective• Growing Population

Synergies
Trade-off

Produced
Capital• Resource intensive lifestyles• Ambitious commitments(eg. CC, BD, SDGs)

Nature positive growth andmaintain planetary health

Optimum use of local ecosystem servicesConnect people, skills and money

Urban-rural partnership maximise synergies through integrated and collective actions
6The CES-Asia Consortium was established on 14th October, 2021
Goal: Mainstreaming theRegional-CES concept to address
sustainability challenges throughintegrated actions in city regionsof Asia

IGES and START International, Inc. together with Ten (10) leading academic andresearch institutes in South and Southeast Asia have signed the Partnership Agreement

Footprint of CES-Asia Consortium
Bangladesh I Bhutan I India I Indonesia I Japan I Nepal I Philippines I Thailand I Vietnam

7Co-development Approach of IGES towards Advancing the CES-application

Milestones

Whom to engage

Setting up a vision, aligned with local needs/ interests

Local governments,Private sector, Civil
society, Academic andResearch Institutions

StagesKnowledge
Building
Stage
Consideration
Stage

Identifying avenues of collaboration/shared interest

Formal Agreement•Local + Research + Local
government
partner••

Co-development ofLocal Action Programand Integration withplans and policies

ActionStage

Launch ofDecision
Stage

Local-Action
PlanNational Goals•Local government (city,prefecture)
All relevant stakeholders
IGES and local collaborator• Local government• Local community• All relevant stakeholders• Donors
Government officials (local, national),IGES, local partner and donors

Global agenda

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Leveraging Co-benefits for A Healthy Net Zero Transition: Long-term partnershipwith Hachinohe City

IGES and Hachinohe city signed
MOU of collaboration

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Enabling environment for Local-Led Pathways to Resilient
Society❖ In the Post-2030 Development agenda, need to essentially bridge thelocal-to-global feedback loops, and CES provides a means ofsynergistic localization of global goals❖ Local government should be on the front line for acceleratingcollective local actions towards a carbon neutral and resilient society❖ Populating the science-policy co-production space to ensure needbased knowledge generation and advance co-design andimplementation of actions with local/regional stakeholders can help togive ownership to the stakeholders❖ Facilitating collaboration and cross learning through established theCES local/regional platform
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Thank you for your attention!

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