The Department of Sustainable Development of the Executive Secretariat for Integral Development of the Organization of American States held a one day roundtable event on June 3, 2013, as part of the activities under the 43rd OAS General Assembly on the theme: Building Sustainable Cities and Communities in the Americas: From Demonstration Projects to Scale.

During the event, hosted by the Spanish Cooperation Training Center in Antigua and jointly organized by the Department of Sustainable Development of the OAS and the Permanent Missions of Guatemala and the United States, participants discussed the challenges associated with rapid urbanization in the Americas and exchanged best practices for the sustainable development of cities and communities.

The Secretary General of the OAS, José Miguel Insulza, opened the event, which featured the participation of the Minister of Environment and Natural Resources of Guatemala, Marcia Roxana Sobenes García; the Permanent Representative of the United States to the OAS, Carmen Lomellin; the Executive Secretary for Integral Development of the OAS, Sherry Tross; the Director of the Spanish Cooperation Training Center in Antigua, Jesus Oyamburu and the Mayors of Puebla (Mexico), Santa Catarina Pinula (Guatemala), and a representative from the City of Medellin (Colombia) among others.

The event forms part of the “Sustainable Communities in Central America and the Caribbean" initiative, which was launched in 2012 under the Energy and Climate Partnership of the Americas in 2012 with support from the Permanent Mission of the U.S. to the OAS. The objective of the initiative is to strengthen the capacity of civil society organizations and community associations to contribute to sustainable community development in four priority areas: 1) Clean Energy and Energy Efficiency; 2) Sustainable Waste Management; 3) Resilience to Natural Disasters; and 4) Sustainable Transport Solutions. In this context, the DSD selected fourteen non-governmental organizations from ten countries to receive $50,000 to execute innovative demonstration projects at the community level.

In the context of OAS support for these projects, the objective of the roundtable was to exchange lessons learned and best practices for the implementation and scaling-up of demonstration projects. The event also provided a forum for policymakers, NGO representatives, and the private sector to discuss priority areas for cooperation on Sustainable Cities in preparation to the 7th World Urban Forum, scheduled to take place in Medellin, Colombia in 2014.

Mayors Roundtable: Portrait of a Sustainable City

	Hon. Eduardo Rivera Pérez Municipal President	Municipality of Puebla, México	Presentation
	Hon. José Antonio Coro Mayor	Municipality of Santa Catarina Pinula, Guatemala	Presentation
	Dr. Ricardo José Arango Representative of the Municipal Government of Medellin and Manager, Local Organizing Committee	World Urban Forum Medellin 2014	Presentation

Experts Panel

	Yuri Giustina Director Accessibility and Urban Planning Policies	Ministry of Cities, Brazil	Presentation
	José I. Larios Emerging and Sustainable Cities Initiative	Inter-American Development Bank	Presentation
	Dr. Kirstin Miller Executive Director	EcoCity Builders	Presentation
	Maria-Paz Gutierrez Senior ECPA Fellow	University of California Berkeley	Presentation

Moving from Demonstration to Scale: On-the-Ground Perspectives

	Marta de Rivera Coordinadora del Eje de Energía	Fundación Solar	Presentation
	Asad Mohammed Director, Caribbean Network for Urban and Land Management	University of the West Indies, St. Augustine Campus	Presentation
	Miguel Araujo Director	Basel Convention Regional Center for Central America and Mexico	Presentation
	Jim Aronson Director	The Grenada Project	Presentation

Meeting Webcast

Opening Ceremony	Mayors Roundtable
Experts Panel	Moving from Demonstration to Scale

For further information on this project please contact Richard Huber at [email protected].

 

 

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