Mainstreaming Climate Change: Puerto Vallarta PMCC

Background

In 2015, the state of Jalisco adopted its Ley para la Acción ante el Cambio Climático (LACC; Law for Action on Climate Change) that requests all municipalities to have a Programa Municipal de Cambio Climático (PMCC; Municipal Climate Change Programme). Between 2017 and 2018, the Vertically Integrated Climate Policies Programme (VICLIM) supported Jalisco’s Secretariat of Environment and Territorial Development (SEMADET) in preparing guidelines for municipalities for the development of these PMCCs. And in 2019, in cooperation with the Adaptation to climate change in the tourism sector Programme (ADAPTUR), VICLIM supported the piloting of the guidelines in the coastal city of Puerto Vallarta so that Puerto Vallarta Municipality could further develop and mainstream its climate policy in order to respond to both adaptation and mitigation challenges imposed by climate change.

Process

The development of the 12 WEB.pdf Puerto Vallarta PMCC followed the steps given in the official guidelines. It was a test-run and SEMADET wanted to learn from the use of the guidelines and make amendments if needed. However, the process was also handled in a flexible way and from time to time adapted according to interim results during the process, the degree of access to information and the demands of the actors involved.

In brief, the process looked as follows:

• Start-up: The beginning of the process was made public through a high level public event and workshop with the participation of the Municipal President of Puerto Vallarta and the State of Jalisco´s Secretary of the Environment. In the course of this event, the Municipal President also signed the Municipality’s accession to the Global Covenant of Mayors for Climate and Energy (CoM).
• Diagnosis: The first key activities consisted of several climate related studies to lay the foundation for the planning:
  • Institutional and social diagnosis, analysing the social, institutional and capacity dimension installed in the municipality in the matter;
  • Diagnosis of vulnerability to climate change;
  • GHG Inventory: The calculation of the GHG inventory for 2017 was prepared, taking as a reference the methodology proposed in the Global Protocol for Community-wide Greenhouse Gas Emission Inventories (GPC).

• Definition of measures: Based on the diagnosis, a first list of measures was prepared, which were reviewed and enriched in a wider workshop. With the results, the measures were grouped into five thematic axes.
• Prioritization of measures: Workshops were held to complement, characterize and prioritize the measures, as well as bilateral meetings with the different departments of the municipal administration that will be responsible for implementation of measures. A cost-benefit analysis was carried out to identify the most cost-effective measures that represent the greatest benefits to society. The results were presented through a webinar to the target group to socialize the up-to-date results and collect comments for integration.