222 ■ CITIES AND CLIMATE CHANGE
the capacity of local actors to internalize climate change into local responses.
Th e exercise demonstrates that the challenge of climate change adaptation to a
large extent connects to and emphasizes existing local development concerns
that have been debated for quite some time. For example, the eff ects of sea-
level rise, changes in temperature and rainfall, and changes in the intensity and
frequency of extreme events add to existing vulnerabilities of populations or
infrastructure. Likewise, they are inextricably linked with local driving factors
that determine vulnerability. Examples include migration, land-use change, and
the inequitable distribution of risks and opportunities across diff erent popula-
tion groups. Equally, many of the obstacles highlighted here with respect to the
political, fi nancial, and administrative capacity are not entirely new. Th ey have
been identifi ed and discussed in previous contexts, for example, connected to
decentralization or, more recently, “good urban governance.”
Aside from reemphasizing existing necessities, what new insights do we
derive?
Th e cases of Cape Town, Delhi, São Paulo, and Singapore show that cities (or
city-states) can play a leading role as forerunners in designing local responses.
Th ey highlight the multitude of existing options, including the instruments
needed to ensure compliance and fund sourcing. In addition, they show how the
issue of climate change can be integrated into local development strategies. Even
in the most proactive cases, the main emphasis is on mitigation action. However,
all cases off er important lessons. In each city, opportunities exist for connecting
local climate action to already ongoing activities or instruments in areas of major
concern. Th us, a fi rst lesson for applied research and policy is to better understand
existing local opportunities and the ways to connect them to local climate action.
Although the cases highlight that local climate action is integrated in “estab-
lished” policy fi elds or sectors, they demonstrate the need for applying holistic
approaches, particularly in respect to consumption levels. As the water sec-
tor shows, individual and collective preferences can no longer be disconnected
from the policy and practice of service delivery but, rather, need to be inte-
grated. Th us, a second lesson is that a main strategy to confront the trend of
growing scarcities will have to focus on adjusting consumption levels as a com-
plement to reuse and recycling schemes.
Adaptation will invariably push concerns about the distribution of scarce
resources across sectors (for example, domestic water use versus water use for
agriculture) as well as across communities and locations further to the forefront
of the adaptation debate. Th is will be particularly true and highly problematic
in cities where scarce resources are linked with highly inequitable access of
diff erent population groups (Johnston and others 2008). Th us, the third lesson
is that policy needs to pay increasing attention to long-term regulation of the
distribution of resources between competing uses and users.