News
Welcome to the new Subnational Integration of LEDS Working Group co-chairs
With the objective of continued network evolution, and to capitalize on the successful growth and increasing connectivity of the Subnational Integration of LEDS Working Group, the regional secretariats of LEDS GP have selected three new co–chairs. We are very pleased to announce as co-chairs:
- Mr. Charles Akurugu, Kumbungu District Assembly, Ghana.
- Mr. Kinlay Dorjee, Honorable Mayor of Thimphu, Bhutan
- Mr. Francisco Maciel, Executive Secretary, CIOESTE, Sao Paulo, Brasil
He is the first elected Mayor of the capital city of Thimphu and is determined to alleviate the challenges related to land management, providing basic service deliveries, and green initiatives to promote Bhutan as a happy nation. To become a greener city, waste management (through segregation and recycling) and promotion of electrical buses for mass transit have both been identified.
Francisco is the Chief Executive Officer of CIOESTE—the Intermunicipal Consortium of the Western Region of Metropolitan Sao Paulo (Consorcio Intermunicipal da Regiao Metropolitana Oeste de São Paulo). Their mission is to drive local development on a sustainable basis, since the eight municipalities represent 2.5% of the entire Brazilian GDP. CIOESTE’s leading role in Sao Paulo’s metropolitan area planning and governance is recognized by the adoption of programs and projects that leverage economic development with green national and international opportunities. CIOESTE is working hands on within the LEDS GP network and Subnational Integration of LEDS Working Group to develop studies and implement projects and models; as well as to serve as a reference to other municipal urban associations and metropolitan areas.
CIOESTE identifies their principal challenge as establishing, once and for all, that low emission development strategies and subnational integration are a key principles of development—achieving social, environmental, financial and cultural impacts, along with expanding possibilities and opportunities. CIOESTE has successfully collaborated with the Subnational Integration of LEDS Working Group and LEDS LAC in addressing these challenges—achieving consistent results and creating new opportunities. In addition, CIOESTE is working to scale up the integrated subnational approach, to the entire Sao Paulo metropolitan area; working to include it as part of the planning tool under development. Francisco is discussing CIOESTE’s approach with state and federal authorities in order to scale and replicate in other metropolitan areas and municipal associations in Brazil. Finally, CIOESTE is now starting to assess the integration of LEDS planning (with studies developed under REAL assistance) into the geo-reference tool, in collaboration with the Sao Paulo state government planning division. This will bring accurate measurements and monitoring into coordinated LEDS planning and integrated actions