Author : Rumi Aijaz

Expert Speak Urban Futures
Published on Jan 15, 2025

Amidst rapid urbanisation, it is imperative to protect the environment, develop tailored policy solutions, and ensure their effective implementation

Building urban resilience to climate change

Image Source: Getty

Weather patterns and climatic conditions are showing unusual trends across the world. Some places are recording temperatures significantly higher than normal, while others are witnessing unexpected occurrences of excess rainfall, storms, and cyclones. These climatic changes negatively affect the earth’s surface and its inhabitants. The rising temperatures cause glaciers to melt, resulting in higher sea and ocean levels. The rise in water levels threatens communities living on islands and low-lying coastal areas. Prolonged heat spells lead to droughts, water shortages, the spread of diseases, forest fires, desertification, and loss of biodiversity. Moreover, regions experiencing increased rainfall face problems of landslides and flooding.

The unusual climate changes are due to greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions from various human activities. These gases remain in the atmosphere and prevent the sun’s heat from reflecting into space. As a result, the trapped heat in the atmosphere causes the Earth to warm up.

The rise in water levels threatens communities living on islands and low-lying coastal areas. Prolonged heat spells lead to droughts, water shortages, the spread of diseases, forest fires, desertification, and loss of biodiversity.

There is growing concern over the socio-economic challenges associated with climate change. As a result, many nations are creating conditions that promote environment-friendly human behaviour. This essay outlines and evaluates four popular approaches to managing the threats posed by climate change.

India is an urbanising country with a large concentration of population and significant economic activities centred in and around its cities. Due to various factors, such as the quality of governance and people’s lifestyles, city regions in India are contributing enormously to climate change. The data on air quality confirm that many Indian cities have alarmingly high levels of harmful GHG emissions, primarily caused by various urban activities, including transportation, industry, construction, and sanitation.

Cities in India are dealing with the problems arising from climate change through the following approaches:

  • Conservation and restoration of natural habitats and expansion of green cover
  • Increased efforts to use clean sources of energy
  • Functional improvements in various urban sectors and human activities
  • Introduction of urban planning and governance reforms

Similar measures have been undertaken in certain urban areas of India, but there is a need to scale up these efforts. Furthermore, deficiencies in current approaches must be dealt with urgently.

Conservation of natural habitats and green cover

Natural habitats, wetlands, water bodies, and green cover play a crucial role in mitigating the adverse impacts of climate change. The European Commission observes that “climate change will accelerate further if biodiversity and ecosystems are not effectively protected.” These blue-green assets help purify the air by absorbing carbon dioxide emissions from human activities, thus limiting global warming. Further, planting trees or shrubs (like mangroves) along shorelines protects from storms and flooding. The dense natural vegetation and trees on hillslopes also help prevent the occurrence of landslides.

Planting trees or shrubs (like mangroves) along shorelines protects from storms and flooding.

A number of Indian cities, including Agra (Uttar Pradesh), Bengaluru (Karnataka), Chandigarh, and Srinagar (Jammu and Kashmir), offer examples of environment management initiatives. These include roadside plantations, the development of parks, afforestation on unutilised land, and the rejuvenation of lakes and rivers. However, it is important to deal with the problems of environmental degradation caused by rampant construction and inefficiencies in wastewater and solid waste management.

Transition to clean energy

The use of fossil fuels, such as coal, oil, and gas, to power various sectors and activities is a significant contributor to climate problems. Many nations have learnt from past mistakes and are reducing their dependence on conventional energy sources by transitioning to environment-friendly and renewable sources, also known as green energy. India, for its part, has prioritised the reduction in emissions and scaled up its efforts and investments. States and local governments are receiving support through various ongoing initiatives, including the National Solar Mission, National Bioenergy Programme, National Green Hydrogen Mission, Faster Adoption and Manufacturing of (Hybrid and) Electric Vehicles (FAME) India Scheme, as well as projects for energy generation from wind, wind-solar hybrid, and small hydropower.

In Indore (Madhya Pradesh), the city’s transport agency utilises the biogas produced from segregated wet waste to run their bus services.

The solar projects implemented in Chandigarh, Coimbatore (Tamil Nadu), and Salem (Tamil Nadu) are helping meet the electricity demand while saving conventional energy and funds. In Indore (Madhya Pradesh), the city’s transport agency utilises the biogas produced from segregated wet waste to run their bus services. Moreover, there is a growing trend in Indian cities to develop the electric vehicle (EV) sector, evident in the increasing number of EV users and greater availability of charging infrastructure. In the national capital, existing buses are being replaced with electric buses, with plans to charge their batteries from renewable energy sources. To promote the widespread use of green energy and EVs, city governments must offer affordable and efficient alternatives and work towards establishing clean energy grids.

Improving the functioning of urban activities

Improvements in existing activities and practices are necessary to reduce GHG emissions. For example, providing better and integrated multi-modal public transport services, facilities for non-motorised transport, and pedestrian infrastructure can help decrease ownership and use of private motor vehicles. Proper monitoring of construction sites, implementation of dust management plans, and use of environment-friendly building material like fly ash can further reduce air pollution, which is increasingly affecting urban areas in India.

Instead of relocating polluting economic activities and industries to peri-urban areas, civic agencies must assist them in adopting clean energy solutions. Further, all open burning of plastic and municipal waste, as well as dumping in landfills, must be replaced with eco-friendly waste-handling methods. Urban local governments must strictly adhere to the Solid Waste Management Rules 2016. Indore serves as an example with its 100-percent door-to-door garbage collection, segregation, and treatment system. Furthermore, the problems of frequent flooding in a growing number of cities, including Delhi, Bengaluru (Karnataka), and Mumbai (Maharashtra), can be controlled by constructing proper drainage networks, ensuring maintenance, and using flood monitoring sensors. Some of these initiatives have been undertaken in Agartala (Tripura), Davanagere (Karnataka), and Srinagar (Jammu and Kashmir).12

Reforming urban planning and governance Practices

Urban and regional planning documents—referred to variously as master plans or metropolitan regional plans—increasingly incorporate provisions of climate mitigation and adaptation. These planning interventions are considered necessary for ensuring development that is compatible with climate goals. For example, street designs and infrastructure that prioritise walkability as well as the use of electric vehicles and energy-efficient buildings can help reduce emissions. Similarly, the damage caused by flooding can be minimised by introducing changes in building designs, streets, and public spaces, including raising the level of streets using permeable material. Urban and regional planning strategies can also deal with the challenges arising from droughts and water supply shortages. Planning regulations that protect groundwater and restore flood plains, for instance, can help secure water resources for communities.

Urban and regional planning strategies can also deal with the challenges arising from droughts and water supply shortages.

Reforming urban governance is equally important for dealing with the problems of climate change. In this regard, a significant measure has been the establishment of integrated command and control centres (ICCC) in the select 100 smart cities of India. These centres are equipped with the technology that facilitates the collection of cyclone-related information and its dissemination to disaster management agencies. This approach has helped concerned agencies in Surat (Gujarat), for example, in making prompt decisions and taking timely action. Similar initiatives have been observed in the public health sector, where an integrated hospital management information system has been designed in Vadodara (Gujarat) to maintain the health records of registered patients. The availability of vital statistics on health indicators can help in the early detection and prevention of disease outbreaks.

Conclusion

Many nations find themselves trapped in a cycle where cities are damaging the climate, and the resulting climate change is harming the cities themselves. This leads to the suffering of large populations as precious resources necessary for maintaining a balanced ecosystem are lost or wasted. The imperative is to protect the environment, develop tailored solutions, and ensure their effective implementation.

Rumi Aijaz is a Senior Fellow with the Urban Policy Research Initiative at the Observer Research Foundation

This essay is part of a larger compendium “Confronting the Climate Crisis: Pathways to Urban Resilience

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