14 municipalities participate in the fight, representing approximately 47% of the country’s entire population
Ecuador now has a National Local Climate Action Strategy within the Global Covenant of Mayors for Climate and Energy, which was presented on June 21 at an event attended by high-level local, national, and European Union representatives. The National Local Climate Action Strategy in Ecuador includes measures to support Ecuadorian cities and municipalities that are members of the Global Covenant of Mayors in implementing concrete climate actions over the next two years, thus contributing to the goals of the Paris Agreement on climate change to limit the global average temperature increase to 1.5 degrees Celsius. The presentation of Ecuador’s strategy, moderated by environmental journalist Isabel Alarcon, took place during the “GCoM in Action Week: Latin American Cities for Climate,” where the strategies of Brazil, Ecuador, Chile, Colombia, Peru, and Argentina were also presented. The European Union will contribute over five million euros until 2025 to support these actions in the Latin American region. The financing and training support will be managed through the Global Covenant of Mayors, the largest network of climate cities, with more than 11,000 members worldwide, of which 551 are Latin American cities and municipalities, together with a population of 243 million people. It is estimated that up to 75% of the world’s total emissions come from cities. Thus, Charles-Michel Geurts, Head of Cooperation of the European Union Delegation in Ecuador, reminded that “it is important that the cities that emit the most greenhouse gases work with decarbonization plans.” “Here in Ecuador, the main axis of our bilateral cooperation is precisely to support these activities at the local level. This emerging European model establishes the imperative to empower local authorities for the development and implementation of climate action plans and forms the basis of the Global Covenant of Mayors for Climate and Energy initiative,” he said. Karina Barrera Moncayo, Deputy Secretary of Climate Change, Ministry of Environment, Water, and Ecological Transition, presented concerning data. Ecuador emits around 75,000 gigagrams of carbon dioxide equivalent, and 51% of the emissions come from the energy sector. “We are facing a dynamic that requires actions at all levels, which also needs each of the decentralized autonomous governments to know what their contribution to national climate action is, and us as a country,” she added. Currently, there are 14 municipal GADs at the forefront of this fight. These are located in the four geographical areas of the country and together have an approximate population of 8,340,000 inhabitants, representing approximately 47% of the country’s entire population. Alex Rojas Alvarado, Executive Director of the Association of Ecuadorian Municipalities (AME), added: “We are pushing for the transition of cities towards low greenhouse gas emissions economies, the creation of climate-resilient cities, and demonstrating the global impact of local action.”
Tarsicio Granizo, Director of the World Wildlife Fund (WWF) in Ecuador, was responsible for presenting the country’s national strategies and outlined a series of action lines for strategic plans, including: promoting and disseminating the Global Covenant of Mayors for Climate initiative; strengthening the capacities of Municipal Decentralized Autonomous Governments; presenting a climate financing proposal from one of the cities adhered to the GCoM; implementing 3 greenhouse gas inventories and at least 1 climate risk analysis within the municipalities adhered to the Global Covenant of Mayors. “The idea here is to exchange best practices so that we can replicate the good practices that some municipalities have done, and we can replicate them not only at the level of the municipalities that are in the GCoM but also hopefully others can join the GCoM and replicate these action plans,” he said.
Promoting active mobility Winters that never seem to end, situations that at some point result in a percentage of the population, for example, in Latin America, around 50% being in risk areas, complex areas, whether due to floods, droughts, landslides, etc. The Mayor of Cuenca, Pedro Palacios Ullauri, added that “greenhouse gas effects, climate change, are creating increasingly complex conditions and sometimes much harsher summers. […] So, this issue is certainly very important to us.” The Cuenca tram already has about 6 million passengers who have used the tram since September 2020. Another measure was to increase the extension of the bike lanes. “We are promoting active mobility at this moment. In that sense, we currently have 67 kilometers of bike lanes and hope to reach 125, which has allowed the growth of bicycle use to be exponential within the city, not only for recreational purposes but also for daily activities,” said Palacios.
An awarded city Representing the mayor, Fernando Bedoya, Coordinator of Territorial Planning of the municipality of Portoviejo, said that the city is the winner in the Territory Habitat category of the first edition of the award. This award provides the city with the opportunity to receive $100,000 in technical assistance to finalize the project details in the river corridor. “Portoviejo is crossed throughout its urban area by the Portoviejo River. It is a river that not only covers the territorial extension of the Portoviejo canton but also its neighboring cantons. In previous years, the river had already become an environmental problem for the canton. We have had the advantage of receiving great international cooperation from some international agencies,” he said. Jordan Harris, Coordinator of the GCoM in the Americas, noted that this leadership of the cities of Cuenca and Portoviejo in Ecuador as drivers of innovative climate action is remarkable. He emphasized that the work and capacities of local governments are strengthened and expanded when working in a network, when there is this space for collaboration with the support of the European Union and through the national coordinators of the GCoM in Ecuador. “In the coming years, we will be working to ensure that more and more municipalities, always consistent and aligned with the public policy tool and national commitments, can develop their climate action plans, both for mitigation and adaptation.” And he added: “We hope to build a much better, more sustainable, and resilient future together in the face of the climate crisis.”
More than 500 municipalities united in Latin America The Global Covenant of Mayors for Climate and Energy is a global alliance of more than 12,500 cities and local governments in over 140 countries voluntarily committed to climate action, reducing their inevitable impacts, and facilitating access to sustainable and affordable energy for all. The Covenant was created in 2016 with the merger of the two largest networks of mayors and cities working on climate and energy issues: the Compact of Mayors and the Covenant of Mayors. Today, more than 500 municipalities and cities in Latin America are part of the Global Covenant of Mayors for Climate and Energy. These are cities and municipalities that are taking bold local actions and working together in a network to share innovative solutions that enable mayors to do more, faster. The Covenant invites new municipalities and cities to join this initiative.
