Transcript New York City, sustainability, and human rights

New York City, Sustainability, and
Human Rights
Ramin Pejan, UN Office of the High
Commissioner for Human Rights
(former Senior Counsel, New York City Law
Department, Environmental Law Division)
“benchmarking.”
http://www.nyc.gov/html/planyc2030/html/ho
me/home.shtml
Examples of “Rights language”
• “need to create and preserve affordable
housing”
• “Poor and disadvantaged communities that
suffer the greatest burden”
• “The health, welfare, and economic-well being
of all New Yorkers are linked to the quality of
our drinking water”
• “These reductions are critical to protect the
health of New Yorkers”
Air Quality
• Monitor and model
• Green the City’s fleet of
vehicles
• Reduce emissions from
taxis
• cleaner-burning
heating fuels
Climate Change
• In 2009, New York City
emitted 50.8 million
metric tons of carbon
dioxide equivalent, a
13% reduction from
2005 levels.
• Much more needs to be
done to reach 2030
target
Adaptation - Resilience
• Risk Assessment
2010
• New York City
Climate Change
Adaptation Task
Force
City-funded mini-wetland system in the
parking lot of an MTA bus depot in
Brooklyn
Greening Buildings
• Greener Greater
Buildings Plan (4 main
pieces of regulations)
• In 2010, the Green
Codes Task Force
presented 111
proposals to green the
City’s construction
codes (29 enacted by
2012).
Water Supply
Catskill Watershed
Delaware Watershed
These watersheds cover 2,000 square miles and contain 19 reservoirs and
three controlled lakes that have a storage capacity of 580 million gallons.
Watershed Protection
Other initiatives
• Land Acquisition
• Going after polluters
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Infrastructure repair
UV plant
Water conservation
Back up water supply tunnels
Protection from fracking
Automated Meter Reading
(AMR) devices for 94% of our
customers
Parks and Public Space
• By 2030, acquire or
upgrade more than
4,700 acres of
parkland and public
space throughout
the five boroughs.
• By 2030, every New
Yorker will live
within a 10-minute
walk of a park.
Parks and open space initiatives
Making existing sites available to more
New Yorkers
Schoolyards to Playgrounds: open
schoolyards across the city as public
playgrounds.
Regional Parks: complete underdeveloped
destination parks.
Expanding usable hours at existing sites
Asphalt to Turf: provide more multi
purpose fields.
Field Lights: install lights to maximize time
on our existing turf fields.
Greening the Cityscape
Greenstreets: plant new roadside gardens.
MillionTreesNYC: plant and protect one
million new trees over ten years.
Reforestation: plant nearly 2,000 acres of
parkland
Landfill Reclamation
Example: Fresh Kills Park in Staten Island. At 2,200 acres,
it will be almost three times the size of Central Park.
• 662,111 trees planted
• targeted plantings
• Community involvement
Food
1. Food Production
• Community gardens
City wide school
gardens initiative
2. Food Distribution
3. Food consumption
• creation of 300 healthy
food retail options in
underserved areas
4. Post-consumption
Monitoring and Evaluation
Sustainability Indicators
Example:
Water Supply
1. Number of drinking water
analyses below maximum
contaminant level
2. Water usage per capita
Annual Progress Report with
milestones
Some obstacles/Criticisms
• Lack of public
participation
• Greening taxis
• Congestion
pricing
• Recession
Thank you