City of Tucson, Arizona Framework for Advancing Sustainability
In 2008, Tucson’s Mayor Walkup and Council formally established the "Framework for Advancing Sustainability," developing a comprehensive sustainability program for the City of Tucson.
The purpose of this Framework is to provide a structure to how City departments will identify priorities and key actions to take to integrate sustainability into the City’s operations and administrative culture. The intent is to also create a decision-making framework that explicitly considers sustainability and facilitates sustainable development within the community. Further, this Framework promotes a collaborative effort between the City and other entities to address regional issues related to sustainability and, more specifically, climate change.
An important component of the Framework is the creation of a Climate Change Advisory Committee. Among the Committee’s principal functions is to develop a Climate Change Mitigation and Adaptation Plan (MAP). The MAP includes recommendations to achieve the City’s greenhouse gas reduction commitments under the Mayor's Climate Protection Agreement (MCPA), along with strategies and action steps needed to prepare for both the direct and indirect effects of climate change on the City’s infrastructure and operations, as well as its ecological, economic, and social capital. Thirteen areas of expertise and stakeholder groups are represented on the Climate Change Committee: climate change science, sustainable land use/transportation, architecture and sustainable design, community grass roots efforts, urban green space/urban heat island mitigation, low-income representation, local economy, workforce advocacy/training, social services, small/local business, neighborhood advocacy/support, human health, and food security.
Under the Framework's focus area of "Partnerships" specific goals are designed to address climate adaptation, including to:
- Promote collaborative, community-wide action regarding climate change.
- Build meaningful public-private partnerships to address climate change.
- Encourage public and private action in support of resilient social and economic systems that can withstand the stress induced by anticipated climate change impacts within the region.
- Provide outreach and education to the community to enable individuals and groups to take action to improve the sustainability of Tucson.
- Pursue the objectives as outlined in the MCPA.
Three initiatives are proposed in order to meet the policy direction provided by the Mayor and Council including to:
- Develop a Climate Change Mitigation and Adaptation Plan;
- Identify and build collaborative partnerships and offer incentives to encourage individual action to address climate change; and to
- Provide outreach and education to the community to encourage individual action to address climate change.
Publication Date: 2008
Related Organizations:
- City of Tucson, Arizona
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- Plans (other)
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