AFRICAN CITIES: RESILIENT INFRASTRUCTURE FOR THE URBAN POOR
African cities are urbanizing fast and informally and are vulnerable to climate change. There is a need to invest in resilient infrastructure. Investments must eliminate backlogs and enable future households to settle in the right places. Local governments are not in a position to respond. A partnership is needed that includes organizations of the urban poor and different ways of delivering infrastructure leveraging small com munity contractors.
SPEAKER
Julian Baskin (1:09) works at the Cities Alliance Secretariat as the Principal Urban Advisor supporting the design and implementation of country programmes including Uganda, Mozambique, Ghana, Burkina Faso and Liberia. He is a Town and Regional Planner with over 30 years of experience in urban programming, with a focus on participatory planning, slum upgrading and affordable housing.
IMPACT OF UBAN GROWTH AND ANNEXATION OF ROAD/RAILWAY RESERVATIONS
Road/Railway reservations are perhaps most susceptible urban land space to informal development/settlements. The pervasive annexation, plaguing urban reservations scar the landscape. Municipal authorities must comply with the Environmental Assessment Regulations in land use planning and grant of development approvals to eliminate the audacious annexation of reservations.
SPEAKER
Yaw Amoyaw-Osei (20:24) is an environmental/social assessment specialist with over 30-year experience – as a former Director at EPA Ghana (for Impact Assessment) and a full-time practitioner, delivering over 70 IA services as CEO of CEHRT Consult. Yaw is both a former President of IAIA and the IAIA-Ghana Affiliate.
THE ROLE OF ENVIRONMENTAL AND SOCIAL SAFEGUARDS FOR RESILIENT INFRASTRUCTURE PROJECTS IN CITIES
Recent research into the effectiveness of national ESIA laws and development bank environmental and social systems shows that while these safeguards are present in theory, there are many shortcomings in their application during implementation. This is exacerbated in urban environments and in the context of climate change.
SPEAKER
Bryony Walmsley (31:24) has over 40 years’ experience as an ESIA practitioner, covering most development fields across Sub-Saharan Africa. Since 2004, she has focused on capacity building, institutional strengthening, independent ESIA review, development of EA guidelines and manuals and compliance auditing. She was elected to the IAIA Board of Directors in 2021.
MODERATOR
Heather M. H. Goldstone of Woodwell Climate Change Research Center. Heather is a science communicator working to put climate science in the hands of those in a position to make real-world change. She holds a Ph.D. in ocean science from M.I.T. and Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution, and she brings to her work a decade of experience in research and another decade in journalism. She is an award-winning journalist who founded and hosted Living Lab Radio on Boston Public Radio, a weekly live-interview show about science and society, and also hosted Climatide, a US National Public Radio blog exploring the impacts of climate change on coastal communities. Her research has been featured on: