Validating the Low Emission Development Strategies for the Lao Cities

ICLEI Southeast Asia Secretariat (ICLEI SEAS), with the support of the European Commission and UN-Habitat, hosted the third consultation workshop on the review of the low-emission development (LED) strategies under the Urban LEDS II Project on 30-31 March held in Kaysone Phomvihane City, Savannakhet province. This brought together 45 representatives from national and subnational governments, institutions, and businesses. The workshop was chaired by Mr. Immala Inthaboualy, Deputy Director of Climate Change Department, and co-chaired by Mr. Chanphengsay Dalasavong, Deputy Director, Provincial Office of Natural Resources and Environment, and Mr. Pasongsin Chaleunsouk, Mayor of Kaysone Phomvihane City.

ICLEI Southeast Asia Secretariat (ICLEI SEAS), with the support of the European Commission and UN-Habitat, hosted the third consultation workshop on the review of the low-emission development (LED) strategies under the Urban LEDS II Project on 30-31 March held in Kaysone Phomvihane City, Savannakhet Province. This brought together 45 representatives from national and subnational governments, institutions, and businesses. The workshop was chaired by Mr. Immala Inthaboualy, Deputy Director of Climate Change Department, and co-chaired by Mr. Chanphengsay Dalasavong, Deputy Director, Provincial Office of Natural Resources and Environment, and Mr. Pasongsin Chaleunsouk, Mayor of Kaysone Phomvihane City.

The two-day consultation workshop focused on presenting, validating, and seeking feedback on the first draft of the two model cities’ Low Emission Development Strategies and Action Plans. The workshop also presented the technical specifications included in the demonstration projects’ Terms of References for their acquisition purposes and discussion. This allowed city representatives to provide more detailed information about the two small-scale demonstration projects for the model cities.

Dr. Mone Nouansyvong, LED Expert, presented the highlights and discussion of the LED Strategy including objectives, strategic actions, and the LEDS action planning processes. The workshop consisted of group discussion and was followed by a presentation of its outputs to revisit the low emission actions and projects discussed during the previous workshop. Some observations of the consultation workshop have been listed below:

• Soudone Khambouasy, Director General, Urban Development Administration Authority (UDAA), Pakse City, proposed to include creating the sustainable urban green spaces into the list of priorities;
• Khampachack Keophuvong, Director General, City Office of Planning and Investment, Pakse City, indicated that some of the presented low emission development actions need to be revisited to ensure appropriate budgeting for actual implementation.
• The participants have agreed that in the coming month, there will be a final consultation workshop to validate the LED Strategy before a final compilation and packaging.

As a concrete implementation mechanism of the LED strategies, the project also supported the development of bankable projects of priority actions such as a demonstration of solar photovoltaic (SPV) system technology and LED solar street light kits in Kaysone Phomvihane and Pakse cities.

The meeting was followed by a presentation on the technical specifications required for the compliance of pilot projects delivered by the technical expert from the Institute of Renewable Energy Promotion, Ministry of Energy and Mines. ICLEI SEAS team also presented the overall procedure of the pilot project implementation including an indicative timeline, terms, and conditions, qualifications, among others. The presentations allowed the city participants to discuss further and agree on the most appropriate design capacity considering the monthly electricity consumption of the project site ensuring the maximum use of the available area and optimization generation for Kaysone Phomvihane City and for solar street light kits to be installed in Pakse City. 

Recommended links:

• ICLEI, UN-HABITAT train Lao cities on climate tools and low emission strategies
• Lao cities conduct workshops for CRVA validation and LEDS review
• Enhancing the multi-level governance on LEDS in Lao PDR
• Lao cities verify low emission development strategies for Urban-LEDS II project