The OECD Blue Cities Project Building a sustainable blue economy in cities through the RISC-proof approach Contents The OECD Blue Cities Project ................................................................................................................... 1 What is the issue? ................................................................................................................................... 2 Why now?.............................................................................................................................................. 4 What should cities aim for?..................................................................................................................... 5 At which scale? ....................................................................................................................................... 8 How? Water governance as a means to an end ........................................................................................ 9 Moving forward.....................................................................................................................................10 Annex A. List of cities interviewed ..........................................................................................................12
This document is posted to help you gain knowledge. Please leave a comment to let me know what you think about it! Share it to your friends and learn new things together.
Transcript
The OECD Blue Cities Project Building a sustainable blue economy in cities through the RISC-proof approach
Contents The OECD Blue Cities Project ................................................................................................................... 1
What is the issue?................................................................................................................................... 2
What should cities aim for? ..................................................................................................................... 5
At which scale?....................................................................................................................................... 8
How? Water governance as a means to an end ........................................................................................ 9
Annex A. List of cities interviewed ..........................................................................................................12
What is the issue? Within the blue economy, water is a vector for economic growth, social well-being and ecosystem
preservation. While increasing attention has been paid to the blue economy over the past decades, no
universal definition has been agreed upon. Nevertheless, many definitions tend to comprise all economic
activities related to oceans, seas and coasts , covering a wide range of interlinked sectors , and include non-marketed economic benefits, such as carbon storage, coastal protection, cultural values and biodiver sity.
The blue economy is still an emerging concept for many countries, but it holds great potential for economic
value and job creation. According to the European Commission, if the global blue economy were a country, it
would be the seventh-largest in the world, and the ocean as an economic entity would be a member of the G7
(European Commission, 2021). In Europe alone, the ocean economy provides 4.5 mill ion direct jobs. The
worldwide ocean economy was conservatively valued at around USD 1.5 tril l ion per year in 2010 (OECD, 2016). In a business-as-usual scenario, ocean-based industries were anticipated to employ more than 40 million
people (around 1% of the global workforce) by 2030. However, the COVID-19 pandemic had a strong impact
on job growth in key blue economy sectors such as coastal tourism, transport and trade. The green recovery
from COVID-19 provides a unique opportunity to rethink the role of both freshwater and the marine
environment as a driver for sustainable development.
Extreme water-related events are increasingly putting economies at risk, while water pollution from land-
based sources, such as waste and sewage disposal, negatively affects human health and ecosystems. Over
70% of the consequences of climate change manifest themselves in water . By the 2030s, in the absence of
adaptation, coastal flood risk is projected to increase by a factor of four, while fluvial flood risk could more than
double (Sadoff et al., 2015). By 2050, the number of people l iving in severely water-stressed areas will double
to 3.9 bil l ion people, intensifying competition over water allocation across users (OECD, 2012). Moreover, the
lack of clean water l imits economic growth by one-third (World Bank, 2019), and polluted marine environments
directly affect bil l ions of people worldwide that rely on the ocean to provide jobs and food (World Bank, 2016).
Many of these water risks occur in cities and will be exacerbated by climate change, demographic growth
and rampant urbanisation. With a projected world population of 9.7 bil l ion by 2050, of which 55% will be l iving
in cities, demand for water is set to rise by 55% due to growing demand from manufacturing (+400%), thermal
electricity generation (+140%) and domestic use (+130%) (OECD, 2012). Megacities, which will rise from 33 to
43 in 2030, are mostly located in coastal zones with generally higher population dens ities (UN DESA, 2018). By
2050, over 570 low-lying coastal cities will face projected sea level rise by at least 0.5 metres, putting over 800
mill ion people at risk. Annual flood damage to urban property alone amounts to over USD 120 bil l ion annually,
of which around half in North America (Sadoff et al., 2015). The costs of sea-level rise could rise to tril l ions of
dollars a year in damages by 2100 (C40 Cities, 2018). In addition, 50% of solid waste comes from cities and an
estimated 60% of plastic marine debris derives from urban centres. Water pollution was identified as a
challenge for 75% of 48 cities surveyed by the OECD (2016), despite progress on water quality. On the other
hand, almost EUR 500 bil l ion worth of ecosystem services are generated within a 10 km coastal zone in the EU
alone (European Commission, 2021).
Cities have a key role to play in fostering a sustainable blue economy. First, a wide range of blue economic
activities such as tourism, fishing and aquaculture take place and provide employment at the local level.
Second, how cities build resil ience to water-related risks directly impacts their ability to carry out blue
economic activities: for example, nature-based solutions can restore the natural drainage capacity of cities,
avoiding urban flooding. Third, core city competences such as land use, spatial planning and waste
management, among others, greatly affect the level of water security and quality which, in turn, affects the
blue economy. For instance, habitat degradation from sand harvesting, mangrove deforestation, coastal
development and poor land use practices, as well as litter and especially plastics, damage marine environments and the ecosystem services that they provide.
Three main issues hinder the “localisation” of the blue economy:
► The traditional approach to the blue economy has been extensively applied nationally and
internationally, with little consideration for local aspects. Despite the relevance of a localised
approach to the blue economy, l ittle attention has been paid to the blue economy in cities. First
raised at the UN Conference on Sustainable Development in Rio de Janeiro (Brazil) in 2012, the blue
economy gained traction with the dedication of a Sustainable Development Goal (SDG 14) to
“conserve and sustainably use the oceans, seas and marine resources ”. In 2017, the UN declared a
Decade of Ocean Science for Sustainable Development (2021-2030) to support the blue economy
among other objectives. The new EU approach to a sustainable blue economy “Transforming the EU's
Blue Economy for a Sustainable Future” (European Commission, 2021), mentions that coastal cities
should be supported in the recovery from COVID-19. Recently, UN-Habitat (2018) recognised cities
as being at the forefront of the blue economy. However, dedicated strategies and frameworks are
lacking at the local level.
► Blue economy definitions usually refer to the marine environment, but more recent approaches
encompass all waterbodies, highlighting the need for a functional city-basin approach to ensure
both economic growth and environmental preservation. While the OECD has specifically focused on
the ocean economy (OECD, 2016; OECD, 2020), the World Bank1 and European Commission2
definitions of the blue economy englobe oceans, seas and coasts. The term is generally used to
describe a sustainable development approach to coastal resources. This can include a wide range of
economic sectors, from the more conventional fisheries, aquaculture, maritime transport, port
activities, and coastal, maritime and fluvial tourism, to emerging activities such as tidal energy,
marine ecosystem services (e.g. blue carbon), seabed mining and desalination. UN-Habitat (2018)
suggests to expand the concept to all waterbodies, including lakes and rivers. This approach seeks to
“promote economic growth, responsi ble production and consumption […] through the circular
economy”. As such, a functional approach is key to addressing l inkages between coastal and inland
urban areas, where most people l ive, and the surrounding environments (rural and watersheds) that
sustain them.
► The logic of “water for water policies” hinders a holistic approach to water in relation to economic
growth and climate change. At local level, water policies focus on providing access to safe drinking
water and sanitation services, and managing water resources to ensure adequate quantity and
quality to users. However, water policies are often developed in a silo that is disconnected from the
urban economic growth and climate agendas. Water policy often lacks a proactive approach, and only
gains prominence on the political agenda as response to extreme water-related events. This reactive
approach fails to consider the reciprocal relationship between climate change mitigation measures
and water: measures in sectors such as energy and agriculture have an impact on water resources
and, conversely, water management policies can influence greenhouse gas emissions associated with
different sectors (IPCC, 2018). The IPCC (2021) highlights the link between land use and the water
cycle at global and local level, since land-use change is responsible for about 15% of CO2 emissions from human activities, affecting precipitation, evaporation, and plant transpiration.
1 According to the World Bank, the blue economy is the “sustainable use of ocean resources for economic growth, improved livelihoods, and jobs while preserving the health of ocean ecosystem”. 2 The European Commission defines the blue economy as “a l l economic activities related to oceans, seas and coasts”.
source of concern in cities across the world. To prevent the pollution of drinking and bathing water, the city
of Oslo, Norway, introduced a permit system for polluting industries to discharge their used water to the
treatment system. As a result, many industries have pre-treatment plants to enable water treatment before
discharge into the municipal system. Micropollutants are, however, an increasing source of concern, as pre-
treatment plant technologies struggle to retain them, and their presence in the sludge produced from treated
wastewater and going to agriculture poses a threat to human health.
Sustainability
Sustainability constitutes the ability of cities to maximise blue economy benefits while l imiting the blue economy’s impact on waterbodies and ecosystem services. Preserving and restoring coastal vegetation systems such as tidal marshes, mangroves and seagrasses, which act as carbon sinks and natural buffers
between water and land, can considerably contribute to climate mitigation and adaptation (European Commission, 2021). In the framework of the Climate Action Plan of the city of Salvador, Brazil, considers natural assets such as mangroves and coral reefs as beneficial for tourism and climate resil ience alike, and aims to implement a coastal management system to protect these ass ets from environmental damage.
Land use planning can help avoid habitat degradation, which diminishes the ecosystem services provided by marine and non-marine environments. Land use planning rules can incentivise nature-based solutions such green roofs or gardens to retain rainwater and reduce surface run-off; bioswales and tree pits can reduce
impervious paved surfaces and create green infi ltration zones, allowing rainwater soak into the subsurface and groundwater restoration; and the use of storage or detention basins can prevent floods. For example, the city of Hoboken, United States, implemented its Green Infrastructure Strategic Plan to bring forth substantial amounts of green infrastructure to curb coastal flooding and storm surge. City planners in
Portland, United States, take a holistic approach to assess the impact of natural risks (e.g. from wildfires, landslide and heat domes) on the city’s infrastructure, including water infrastructure. Green infrastructure is typically used to maintain and improve water quality at the watershed level and limit s ewer and surface flooding risks.
Circularity
Circularity refers to the ability of cities to l imit resource extraction by closing material loops, to tackle pollution by halving plastic l itter, and to create new material from waste. A total of 80% of marine pollution comes from land-based sources, such as untreated sewage, including plastics (UNEP, 2021). By reducing waste generation,
keeping resources in use for as long as possible, and transforming waste into resources, the circular economy can help tackle the mismanagement of plastic residuals, as well as create new materials that reduce the need for resource extraction. For example, the Barcelona Metropolitan Area, Spain, in its “Green and Circular
Economy Promotion Programme” (2019), incorporates water as a key sector for the circular economy, along with solar energy, energy efficiency, recycling and food. The Programme identifies innovation opportunities related to water in the food sector (using alternative resources l ike rainwater or ground water for efficient irrigation); in the chemistry, energy and resources sectors (through innovation in wastewater treatment and
resource recovery); and in the design sector, promoting a water saving culture (cisterns, wells, irrigation channels). The city of Rotterdam, Netherlands, aims to have a fully circular and climate-resilient water system by 2050, building on current projects that reuse wastewater and recover phosphate, cellulos e, bioplastic and energy from wastewater. These materials could potentially be sold to local farms later on, for instance, as
fertil iser, should new or updated legislation enable to do so. One of the city’s key initiatives is BlueCity, a platform and accelerator for circular entrepreneurs. It aims to contribute to the climate and resil ience agendas. The start-ups and initiatives hosted within BlueCity will contribute to reducing pollution by reusing
existing products and materials, thus reducing plastic pol lution among others.
At which scale? Water boundaries cut across administrative perimeters. As such a “functional” approach is needed to map centres of water demand (urban areas where most people l ive) and water supply (the surrounding environments where point sources are located) and to consider relevant scales that combine
administrative and hydrological considerations.
Source: OECD (2016)
Several countries have set up river basin organisations to manage water within integrated basin governance systems. River basin organisations are official organisations set up by political authorities
or in response to stakeholders’ demands or legal requirements. As administrative and hydrologic perimeters do not coincide in most cases, a diversity of situations can be observed in terms of how many river basin organisations operate within a city’s perimeter (from one to more than three; see Figure below). According to a 2016 OECD survey across 48 cities, river basin organisations carry out
different water-related tasks such as monitoring (85%), data collection (81%), as well as co-ordination, planning and stakeholder engagement (above 60%) (OECD, 2016).
Cities usually take part in the governance of the RBOs in several ways: by sitting in the directive committees (Belo Horizonte, Calgary, Grenoble, Lisbon, Nantes, New York City, Oslo, Prague, Rio de Janeiro, Rome, Toluca, Zaragoza); voting or taking decisions (Culiacan); participating in meetings
(Athens, Mexico City, Naples); being consulted for river basin plans (Edinburgh, Glasgow); and/or advising the committee (Malaga, Queretaro). Such collaboration can lead to joint exploration of blue economy activities requiring adequate planning of water use, quality and preservation at the basin
Efficient, effective and inclusive water governance is key to unlock the potential of a blue economy in cities. Coping with current and future challenges requires robust public policies , targeting measurable objectives in pre-determined time-schedules at the appropriate scale, relying on a clear assignment of duties across
responsible authorities and subject to regular monitoring and evaluation. To unlock the benefits of a Resil ient, Inclusive, Sustainable and Circular (RISC) blue economy in cities, governance challenges should be overcome, such as: i) Lack of effective and updated integration across land use, transport, environmental management,
housing and solid waste; i i) Lack of strategic vision towards intergenerational equity and resil ience to climate change; and, i i i) Fragmentation of urban water management, with conflicting interests and overlapping responsibilities across multiple government levels, communities and economic sector s; and vi) Different technical, human and financial capacities of subnational governments to respond to water challenges.
The OECD Principles on Water Governance aim to enhance water governance systems that help manage “too much”, “too little” and “too polluted” water in a sustainable, integrated and inclusive way, at an acceptable
cost, and in a reasonable time-frame (OECD, 2015). The Principles consider that governance is good if it can help to solve key water challenges, using a combination of bottom-up and top-down processes while fostering constructive state-society relations; and bad if it generates undue transaction costs and does not respond to place-based needs. They provide a framework to understand whether water governance systems are
performing optimally and help to adjust them where necessary.
Moving forward To address water-related risks and unlock the benefits of blue cities in a systemic way, good governance is
key, especially in terms of cross-sectoral policy integration and horizontal coordination between local,
regional and national governments and stakeholders.
The OECD Blue Cities Project will support interested cities and basin authorities through:
► Learning: engaging multi -level policy dialogues in cities and basins to identify challenges and
opportunities for the blue economy applying the RISC-proof approach.
► Sharing: favouring peer-to-peer learning, national -subnational exchanges, best practice and lessons
from international experience across cities and basins to strengthen the link between blue economy
and green recovery.
► Measuring: collecting and analysing data on the state of the art and progress of cities and basins
towards the RISC-proof approach.
► Guiding: defining policy recommendations, action plans and checklist for action for blue cities.
The OECD Blue Cities Project builds on the work carried out within the OECD Programme on Water Governance,
the OECD Programme on the Circular Economy in Cities and Regions, and broader OECD work on urban policies
and green growth studies within the Centre for Entrepreneurship, SMEs, Regions and Cities . An overview of
the policy dialogues, benchmarking across cities on water and circular economy, networking platforms and
standards is provided below. This note benefitted from ad hoc interviews with city representatives held in 2020 and 2021 (Annex A).
Policy Dialogues
Benchmarking across cities
► The OECD has accompanied several countries in their efforts to reform water policies as a means to
achieve sustainable development through Water Policy Dialogues in Peru (2021), Argentina (2019), Brazil (2015, 2017 and forthcoming), the Netherlands (2014), Jordan (2014), Tunisia (2014)
and Mexico (2013). ► The OECD Programme on the Circular Economy in
Cities and Regions is supporting the definition of
► The OECD Water Governance in Cities report (2016) analysed key factors affecting urban water
governance, trends in allocating roles and responsibilities across levels of government, and multi-level governance gaps in urban water management. It built on a survey of 48 cities in OECD
countries and emerging economies. ► The OECD Synthesis Report the Circular Economy in
Cities and Regions (2020) provides a compendium of
stakeholder processes in seven cities and two countries: Umea (Sweden); Groningen (Netherlands); Valladolid and Granada (Spain), Glasgow (UK), Montreal (Canada), Tallinn
(Estonia), Ireland and Italy.
circular economy good practices, obstacles and
opportunities, building on a survey of 51 cities and regions in Europe, the Americas and Asia-Pacific.
► The OECD Water Governance in African Cities (2021) report provides a regional overview of urban water
governance, building on a survey of 36 cities of all sizes in African.
Networks
Standards
► Created in 2013, the OECD Water Governance Initiative (WGI) is an international multi-stakeholder network of 100+ delegates from public, private and
not-for-profit sectors gathering twice a year to share experience on reforms, projects, lessons and good practices in
support of better water governance. The WGI advances its goals through two Working Groups on Capacity Development and Indicators. The 14th meeting took
place virtually in November 2020. ► The OECD Roundtable on the Circular
Economy in Cities and Regions gathers
circular economy stakeholders from cities, regions, national government, business, academia and international organisations to share knowledge, experiences and best
practices. The 3rd Roundtable (May 2021) gathered 400+ participants over four sessions, including one on linking the blue and circular economy.
► The OECD Principles on Water Governance contribute to tangible and outcome-oriented public policies, based on three mutually reinforcing and complementary dimensions of water governance:
effectiveness, efficiency and trust and engagement. To date, they have been endorsed by 170+ stakeholder groups and governments. They are available in 18
languages and are accompanied by an implementation strategy based on an extensive bottom-up and multi -stakeholder process within the OECD Water Governance Initiative (WGI).
► The OECD Principles on Urban Policy consolidate the lessons from the past 20+ years of work on cities to guide policymakers in building smart, sustainable and
inclusive cities. They were co-developed with stakeholders including international organisations, development banks, networks of cities and local governments, research institutes and academia, and the
private sector. The Principles were welcomed by Mayors and Ministers during the 7th OECD Roundtable of Mayors and Ministers in March 2019 in Athens, Greece.