PHILADELPHIA (KYW Newsradio) — Philadelphia is one of 12 U.S. cities chosen for a competitive climate change project sponsored by the State Department.
The program, Cities Forward, teams U.S. cities with Latin American cities. Philadelphia will work with the city of Ambato, Ecuador to develop a project that will help the Ecuadorian city mitigate climate change and prepare for its impact in an equitable way.
“We see this collaboration as a way to build connections to a region where so many of our residents have roots and ties,” said Elizabeth Lankenau, director of the Philadelphia Office of Sustainability.
She said the project hasn’t been selected yet, but she thinks Philadelphia has expertise to share when it comes to making transportation and municipal energy more sustainable — even as it wrestles with those issues itself.
Ambato is high in the Andes but vulnerable to floods from the Rio Ambato that meanders through it. River floods are another area where Philadelphia is still working but has made some progress.
“Really, it’s a two-way learning experience for us as well,” said Lankenau. “We see this as a way to better understand the experiences of people who have been coming here seeking asylum after leaving their home countries because of extreme weather impacts related to climate change.”
The program is supported by the State Department and three other groups: Local Governments for Sustainability, Resilient Cities Catalyst, and the Institute of the Americas.