User:Ruffingb/sandbox

Mission

SUD-Net aims to improve the resources available for entities ranging from national to local governments to assist in the efforts to cultivate productive, sustainable urban cities. The organization seeks to improve social equity, social resilience, economic development, and the quality of urban environments all over the world. Through the use of urban and environmental planning, SUD-Net intends to help local decision makers mitigate the effects of urbanization on climate change and support poverty reduction strategies.

The consequences that are linked with growing populations in cities are known, however, many government and local decision makers in developing and semi-developing countries still remain unaware of the strategies and resources that can be used to implement sustainable urban development policies. SUD-Net seeks to address this issue with the use of furthering education about sustainable urban planning and provide access to tools and communication networks to further enhance the resources for cities to practice good, sustainable habits.

With these goals in mind, UN-HABITAT and SUD-Net provide a coordinated global portal through which urban decision makers can access information and resources, interact, and cooperatively engage through the SUD-Net partnerships and access to basket funding. Within UN-HABITAT, SUD-Net joins existing initiatives while also strengthening interdisciplinary collaboration on sustainable development issues.SUD-Net is recognized as one of the targeted ongoing actions for advancing the Global Campaign for Sustainable Urbanization that will enable cities to make more sustainable decisions.

Initiatives and Projects

The Cities and Climate Change Initiative (CCCI) was formally launched at an international conference in Oslo, Norway on 17 March 2009. The conference took place with two main goals in mind: integrating the principles of sustainable development into policies and programs and reversing the loss of natural resources in developing countries through the promotion of resilience to climate change. The main objectives of the conference were to officially launch the CCCI and share experiences on how to address the CCCI in both developing and developed countries. About 100 participants from the countries of the Philippines, Uganda, Mozambique, and Mexico were all in attendance. The issue of climate change is a key mandate connected with SUD-Net. The network places a strong emphasis on local urban planning and enhancing the competence of cities in the subject of global climate change.

SUD-Net Workshop took place in Cape Town, South Africa on 17-19 February 2009. The topic of the workshop was how to promote sustainable urban development networking in African cities. Prior to the conference, five pilot cities in Africa were added to the Cities and Climate Change Initiative (CCCI), which continued to fulfill the major goal of SUD-Net that is strengthening the voices of urban dynamics for developing cities. Major objectives of the workshop were to identify and strengthen urban planning networks in Africa and identify any possible weaknesses or gaps in the plan, share experiences, define SUD-Net’s role in the Africa region in the promotion of urban planning and management, and to officially launch the SUD-Net Africa regional network. The countries of Botswana, Ethiopia, Ghana, Malawi, Namibia, Rwanda, South Africa, Tanzania, and Zimbabwe were all in attendance. 41 participants were present at the workshop.

Wiki Stub Project:

Possible Headings-

History, Conferences, Reports, What is Sustainable Development?, Partnerships

Paraphrasing Exercise:

Original Text: A strong consensus that emerged from the workshop was that there was a great need to define the regional roles and the functions SUD‐Net is positioned to fulfill. In the African context, the conclusion was that SUD‐Net will require clarity and speed on resolving four critical issues:  i) identifying, supporting and growing effective champions for the urban agenda within governments (at all levels), knowledge institutions and civil society at large;  ii) channelling a highly focused and refined advocacy agenda to raise the awareness of key decision‐makers but also to facilitate broad based learning about the centrality of sustainable urbanization to national and regional development efforts; iii) Undertaking these activities at scale will demand the creation and expansion of effective portals and entry points for various urban actors with a stake in the sustainable urban development agenda; and finally,  iv) SUD‐Net’s success will depend on knowing what is already existing and how best to work with those initiatives so that the players in the field see and feel the network will add value to their work.  http://www.preventionweb.net/files/12640_690421579PromotingSustainableUrbanD.pdf

Paraphrased Text: The conference in Cape Town, South Africa shaped the way SUD-Net viewed its role in the realm of environmental advocacy. The conclusion was that SUD-Net will see that 1) there is government, business, and civil involvement in the sustainable urban development process, 2) awareness is spread about the idea of sustainable urban development and how to enact critical policy at both a grassroots and national scale, 3) realistic goals and opportunities are created to actually make change happen, and 4) the use of current resources will be used in a sustainable and creative way in order to ensure that marginal benefit is created and the future stock of those resources are considered.

Partners Paraphrase: Since Urban centers are a primary source of pollution and are the most vulnerable to it they are indispensable to reduce the effects of greenhouse gas emissions.

My Paraphrase: Known areas with high population densities like urban cities play a critical role in the reduction of greenhouse gas emissions.

Second Partners Paraphrase: In an attempt to educate cities and countries in early stages of development about climate change, the Climate Change Initiative has adapted UN-Habitat practical tools and government programs that generate support from the communities of stakeholder .

My Paraphrase: Through the use of grassroots efforts, the Climate Change Initiative (CCI) aims to spread awareness to communities around the world about the importance of sustainable urban development with the importance of climate change in mind.

SUD-Net Conferences

The Cape Town conference Defined SUD-Net's key area of focus for sustainable development. It became clear that stakeholders must be involved in partnership, the tools, programs and outcomes must be publicized, and the outcomes must be shared equitably within a vision for future generations.

Blair Ruffing

Major

I am officially a Natural Resource Major but I have a specialty option in Economic Soil Resources with two minors in soil science and resource economics. Pretty complicated, but it works. I love soil science and the field of economics, so I wanted to combine the two aspects into a broad major such as Natural Resource Management.

Interests

I am super into cycling, hiking, and adventure stuff in general. I work for the OSU Challenge Course, so I love doing things like jumping off of tall poles or rock climbing. I am also obsessed with listening to podcasts (Stuff you Should Know, This American Life, etc.).

Travel

The two most interesting places that I've visited would have to be Ireland and Central Oregon. I have duel citizenship with Ireland, so I love visiting all of my family and listening to the cool accents. I also recently did a road trip through central and eastern Oregon, and I loved the different landscape and climbing and Smith Rock is just stellar.

Group Work Preferences

• I'm a big believer in communication
• I love working with other people that like to get stuff done and communicate with each other about the different requirements or roles for the project.
• Things that drive me nuts when working with other people include but are not limited to:
  1. not responding to emails
  2. not doing your part of the project until the night before its due
  3. putting in the minimal amount of effort (not caring).