Cusco, Peru receives help from World Bank in adapting to climate change

Via Andina in Peru This Week: The Andean city of Cusco in southern Peru has received assistance from the World Bank to strengthen local climate change adaptation planning. The World Bank’s disaster risk management team in Latin America and the Caribbean recently piloted a regional study and technical assistance initiative in Cusco and other four small and medium sized cities (SMSC) in the region.

The initiative’s main objective was to support SMSC with their adaptation planning for floods and landslides, two of the most recurrent climate-related hazards in the region. SMSC in the LAC region are diverse in location, topography and socio-economic and institutional make-up, yet many are struggling with similar challenges caused by rapid urban growth, weak capacities in urban planning and inadequate provision for public services and infrastructure.

SMSC are also less likely to have had access to climate change adaptation (CCA) training, financing or knowledge networks. The ultimate goal of the initiative was to strengthen local adaptive capacity and to increase urban resilience through mainstreaming climate change adaptation into current planning systems. The other medium sized cities selected were Castries, Saint Lucia; El Progreso, Honduras; Estelí, Nicaragua; and Santos, Brazil.

Over the course of one and a half years, the task team worked with these cities to conduct three assessments to evaluate their i) climate related risks, ii) institutional adaptive capacities, and iii) socio-economic capacities to adapt to climate change.

These assessments, in conjunction with a series of consultative workshops with city planners and decision-makers, resulted in the development of Strategic Climate Adaptation Investment and Institutional Strengthening Plans for each city. These plans identify priority investments and activities to strengthen institutional capacities for climate change adaptation....

Roofs in Cusco, shot by Colegota, Wikimedia Commons, under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 2.5 Spain license