1. Urban Journalism Academy (World Urban Forum 9) January 18, 2018
Cities and Climate Change Resilience
Urban Journalism Academy (World Urban Forum 9) January 18, 2018
Raina Singh
Fellow and Area Convenor,
Centre for Urban Planning and Governance, TERI

2. Climate Change – Affecting Communities and Infrastructure
Climate related Disasters costed an estimated 370 billon USD globally in 2011 (80 % of this was in Asia alone) Typhoon Haiyan (2013, The Philippines) – 10 bn USD Floods in Northern UK (2015) – 5 bn USD Hurricane Irma (2017, US) > 100 bn USD Cyclone Hud hud (2014, India) > 2 bn USD Associated social costs - Vulnerable groups are the most affected
Climate change is an emerging global phenomenon, but particularly it is the development of cities that is being given priority in the lens of climate change.
Urban poor by virtue of their financial status and residing in hazardous and low lying locations, are one of the most vulnerable sections of the society.

3. Cities and climate risk – Why does it matter?
Urban areas are concentration of large population, economies, infrastructure: central to growth of the nation or the region Over 50% of India’s GDP is derived from cities - Climate change impacts can wipe out development gains and significantly reduce quality of life Focused investments in urban areas – Smart Cities, AMRUT - More than 70% of India’s infrastructure is yet to be built
Climate change is an emerging global phenomenon, but particularly it is the development of cities that is being given priority in the lens of climate change.
Urban poor by virtue of their financial status and residing in hazardous and low lying locations, are one of the most vulnerable sections of the society.

4. Sea Level Rise & Storm Surges
Climate change impacts pose additional pressures on cities
Floods
Cyclones Water Scarcity Heat Waves
Sea Level Rise & Storm Surges
These existing pressures are further compounded due to impacts of climate change

5. Recent calamities have drawn attention towards the fact that development goals of cities are seriously undermined by climate change impacts
Mumbai Floods
Hudhud cyclone, Vizag
Chennai Floods
Building climate resilience is one option which offers holistic mechanisms to address climate variability and change without compromising on present development challenges.

6. Building Resilient Cities
Make cities and human settlements inclusive, safe, Resilient and sustainable
Prepare the cities to withstand climate change related gradual impacts like change in precipitation, temperature and sea level rise
Equip the city equally to respond to disasters and extreme events
Drive the city towards sustainable development encompassing environmental benefits

7. Climate resilience is not about development in new way….
….it is about adding climate variability and change considerations in the planning and development framework to ensure long term sustainability and preparedness to climate change

8. Urban Flood Management
Causes
Solutions
Increase in extreme rainfall events
Expanding impervious urban land cover
Storm water management engineered to meet past rainfall scenario
Poor maintenance of existing structures/Poor water and sewage management
Encroachment of river beds and wetlands
Green and
open spaces
Pervious surfaces
Reducing impervious surfaces
Maintenance of drains and infrastructure
Replacing old and aging infrastrcutre
Replacing old infrastructure

9. Climate Risk Management – Key Challenges and Enablers
Policy and mandate at national and state level
Integration of climate agenda with city development agenda
Institutionalization of urban climate resilience planning.
Local expertise to generate context specific locally driven solutions
Capacity building and awareness generation to generate momentum and facilitate action at all levels
Access to knowledge on climate variability and change
Data management and updating to facilitate decision making
So for building urban resilience, inputs are needed from the science, policy and capital. And to do so there is a need for capacity building and sharing of knowledge
Source:

10. TERI’s interventions for promoting climate resilient cities
Climate Resilience Planning
Policy Research on mainstreaming climate resilience
Training and capacity building
Knowledge creation and dissemination
Climate resilience strategy was prepared for the city of Guwahati, Assam as part of the Asian Cities Climate Change Resilience Network (ACCCRN)
USAID supported study focusing on the impact of sea level rise on infrastructure and services was conducted in two Indian cities- Panaji and Visakhapatnam
Capacity building programs on urban climate resilience in 4 states in India supported by the Asia Pacific Network
State level policy research and engagement on urban climate resilience in two States

11. Media sensitization and outreach
Media Sensitization Workshop for Vernacular Media
Multimedia-based Free Knowledge Resources
Social Media Engagement

12. Thank you!
Raina Singh Fellow, Centre for Urban Planning and Governnace, TERI