ADAPTING CITIES TO CLIMATE CHANGE ■ 207At the city level, the Delhi climate action plan outlines diff erent projects that
are taken up by specifi c local departments.
In cities with dedicated local action strategies, the primary mechanism for
coordination is the action plan or framework itself. Th e process of implementa-
tion, however, varies substantially (table 8.5). In some cases (Cape Town and
Singapore), technical working groups took over the responsibility to advance
specifi c projects such as the Western Cape Reconciliation Strategy Study
(WCRSS) to facilitate the reconciliation of predicted future water requirements
over a 25-year horizon. In the case of São Paulo, the local action plan prescribes
the formation of a dedicated multistakeholder committee (Comite Municipal
de Mudanca do Clima e Ecoeconomia) under the Environment Department.
Th e task of engaging private sector, civil society, and local community
stakeholders is undertaken in diff erent ways in each city. In Cape Town, the
WCRSS involves citizens through newspaper advertisements, public meetings,
capacity-building exercises, newsletters, and workshops with key stakehold-
ers. Th e objective is to induce behavioral change in water consumption. In São
Paulo, the dedicated multistakeholder committee invites the private sector, civil
society, and science community to participate. Across almost all cases, partici-
pation is generally “top-down” oriented. Th is may be associated with the per-
ception that action is primarily undertaken within the public sector domain.
An important exception is Pune, in which a large number of nongovernmental
organizations act as important drivers of change. A reason for strong public
engagement is the limited civil society engagement and level of organization,
either in general (Cape Town and Singapore) or with respect to adaptation
in urban areas in particular. In São Paulo, a noticeable sensitivity for climate
change and adaptation exists, but this is largely associated with the issue of the
Amazon rainforest. With respect to local communities and individual citizens,
some evidence across cities suggests that climate change adaptation is still only
loosely connected to individual living conditions or lifestyles, especially in the
emerging middle classes, which are becoming increasingly globalized as their
resource demands and supply patterns change.
Tools and Instruments for Implementation
Our third question reviews the knowledge base and means of communica-
tion for planning eff orts. More specifi cally, we ask: How do the actors com-
municate information and generate awareness, what measures are in place to
ensure compliance and evaluation of action, and how are adaptation projects
fi nanced?
Not surprisingly, all existing local plans and resulting projects benefi t
somehow from research on the uncertainty of local climate change impacts