This Spanish-language text brings together a large body of literature on climate change adaptation and mitigation at the municipal level in Mexico. The authors reiterate the common statement that the sustainability battle will be won and lost in cities; thus more attention to sub-national responses to climate change is needed. This is particularly true in Mexico, where 80% of the population lives in an urban area.

The book’s structure is loosely based around Chapter 12 [1] of the IPCCC’s Fifth Assessment Report, prepared by Working Group III. The analysis has eight prongs:

1)      Vulnerability and adaptation

2)      Population and urban settlement dynamics

3)      Urban settlements and greenhouse gas emissions

4)      Climate governance at the urban scale in Mexico

5)      Co-benefits

6)      Gender and climate change

7)      Adaptation and mitigation actions proposed at the municipal level

8)      Adaptation and mitigation actions in Mexico City

Reviewing the literature on these themes leads the authors to certain recommendations toward low-carbon cities. When it comes to city-level climate governance, for instance, four key action areas are suggested:

1)      Institutional agreements that integrate mitigation, adaptation, and other urban priorities

2)      A multi-level governance framework for urban transformation

3)      Spatial planning and political will that promote a holistic approach to land use and transport

4)      Adequate resourcing for mitigation

To lay out these kinds of themes and recommendations, the book draws on the current state of climate change planning and resourcing at different governance levels in Mexico (with particular attention to Mexico City). This shows progress, but also the long way still to go in driving municipal-level engagement; for instance, by early 2015, just 70 out of nearly 2,500 municipalities had prepared a climate action programme. Other challenges are that some of the programmes that do exist lack measurable indicators or plans for evaluation, and do not sufficiently integrate work on adaptation and mitigation. And gender is another aspect that often gets overlooked.

This work is particularly relevant for researchers and those devising climate action programmes. Nearly a third of the text is devoted to supplementary material, including annexes listing state and municipal climate action plans.

Available from:

http://computo.ceiich.unam.mx/webceiich/docs/libro/Adaptacion-web1.pdf [2]

Further reading:

Connolly, Priscilla (1999), “Mexico City: Our common future?”, Environment and Urbanization Vol 11, No 1, pages 53–78, available at http://eau.sagepub.com/content/11/1/53.abstract [3].

Hardoy, Jorgelina, Iván Hernández [4], Juan Alfredo Pacheco [5] and Guadalupe Sierra [6] (2014), “Institutionalizing climate change adaptation at municipal and state level in Chetumal and Quintana Roo, Mexico”, Environment and Urbanization Vol 26, No 1, pages 69 – 85, available at http://eau.sagepub.com/content/26/1/69.abstract [7].

Revi, Aromar et al. (2014), “Towards transformative adaptation in cities: the IPCCC’s Fifth Assessment”, Environment and Urbanization Vol 26, No 1, pages 11–28, available at http://eau.sagepub.com/content/26/1/11.abstract [8].

Book note prepared by Christine Ro