Parallel session | Panel 1.2 | Green and blue infrastructure to reduce the risk of disasters aggravated by climate change

Session Organizer: Municipality of Quito – Clever Cities, USFQ – Tomorrow’s Cities

Session Description: In Quito, rough estimates foresee an increase in droughts and heavy rainfall, combined with the accelerated growth of the city, much of it informal, over a topography and soil characteristics that will make morphoclimatic events such as alluvium, mass movements, and floods more frequent and above all affect the growing population more severely, especially the most socio-economically vulnerable strata settled in informal neighbourhoods.

In July 2023, municipal ordinance n°060-2023 on “Blue Green Infrastructure” came into force, “for biodiversity conservation, disaster risk reduction due to hydrometeorological phenomena and mass movements, and strengthening resilience to climate change”. However, there are challenges in its implementation. The proposal of this session is to discuss the contributions of the experiences from different sectors (academia, community, local government) to share and discuss cases of the recovery and restoration of streams, hillsides and landscapes and application of nature-based solutions to reduce the impacts of mass movements and floods in the city of Quito. Subsequently, these interventions could be published in a possible publication to inform public policy and future development projects where the new “Verde Azul” ordinance will be applied.