Santiago, Chile, October 19, 2018. Reflections on policies for sustainable urban mobility and the inequities that women experience in transport marked the participation of EUROCLIMA+ in the “Second Conference of Cities: Towards Safe, Affordable and Sustainable Mobility”, held at the headquarters of the Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC), in Santiago, Chile.

EUROCLIMA+, the flagship programme of the European Union for climate change that promotes exchange between Europe and 18 Latin American countries, organised two sessions during the conference that lasted from October 16 to 19, and collaborated with the organisation of the seminar for the “Women in Motion” initiative.

In the sessions, pilot projects of the region’s countries and cities to develop National Urban Mobility Policies and Programmes (NUMP) and Sustainable Urban Mobility Plans (SUMP) were presented. Their implementation is supported by the Urban Mobility component of the EUROCLIMA+ Programme, which is led by the French Development Agency (AFD) and the German Society for International Cooperation (GIZ).

The Urban Mobility component also launched the website for the community of practice of the Platform for Sustainable Urban Mobility for Latin America (Spanish acronym PLATMUS), a tool that will be online starting on January 15, 2019. It will allow dialogue, interaction and collaboration among various stakeholders interested in issues of low carbon urban mobility.

The development of the community of practice is coordinated by the Latin American Federation of Cities, Municipalities and Local Government Associations (Spanish acronym FLACMA), with technical assistance from the Institute for Transportation and Development Policies, ITDP Mexico, and the participation of ECLAC, UN Environment, and Mobilise Your City as permanent partners.

Mónica Solórzano of FLACMA and PLATMUS coordinator highlighted the role of the platform as a “facilitator and convergence tool for the public and private sectors and civil society to share experiences and information on sustainable urban mobility”.

For his part, Michael Engelskirchen, coordinator of the EUROCLIMA+ Urban Mobility sector, said that “one of the final objectives of the community of practice is to become an entity that allows the replication and scaling-up of sustainable mobility projects in different cities and countries.”

“ECLAC contributes to this community with its experience and studies on issues such as development, climate change, how cities will be by the year 2030 and what the decarbonisation rate would have to be compatible with economic growth rates,” said Joseluis Samaniego, Director of ECLAC’s Sustainable Development and Human Settlements Division.

Gender and sustainability

The Women in Motion initiative, at a seminar in the Conference of Cities that was supported by EUROCLIMA+, provided a study on the harassment women suffer in public transport in South America done by the Development Bank for Latin America (CAF). The results indicate that 9 out of 10 women in Santiago perceive that their ways of mobilising are highly unsafe, while in Buenos Aires 7 of every 10 transport system users consider it risky, and in Quito only 1 of every 3.

Regarding the Ecuadorian experience, Quito councillor Daniela Chacón said that “since 2014 in Quito, we have been implementing a system that allows breaking the silence and promoting effective reporting, through the use of a panic button via SMS that triggers an alarm inside the bus and in booths that the Municipality implemented where professionals give psychological and legal support to the victims”.

The closing day of the Second Cities Conference included sessions on public-private cooperation on matters of sustainable urban mobility, urban health and well-being, and the role of local governments in the implementation of the New Urban Agenda (NUA).

More information about EUROCLIMA+

To date, EUROCLIMA+ has funding of 88 million euros (about 100 million US dollars) provided by the European Union for the execution of climate actions in six sectors prioritied by Latin American countries, as well as the cross-cutting area of climate governance. These sectors are: Disaster risk management and reduction; Forests, biodiversity and ecosystems; Urban mobility; Energy efficiency; Resilient food production and Water management with an urban resilience perspective.

The Programme is implemented through the synergistic work of seven agencies: Spanish Agency for International Development Cooperation (AECID), French Development Agency (AFD), Economic Commission for Latin America (ECLAC), Expertise France (EF), International and Ibero-American Foundation for Administration and Public Policies (FIIAPP), German Society for International Cooperation (GIZ), and UN Environment.

General press contact for the EUROCLIMA+ Programme

Alexandra Cortés. Programa EUROCLIMA+: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

Other press contacts: 

Nicole Tondreau. CEPAL: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.