Cement, Energy and Environment

need for creation and dissemination of knowledge that penetrates from local to federal level of governance, across communities to sensitize various stakeholders and facilitate action towards cl imate resilience. A perspective policy must make adequate human resource development plans for all the levels of urban governance. Designing specific training programmes to suit local variations and availability of adequate resources for the training programmes would be a prerequisite. The broad objectives of the capacity bui ld ing would be to: • Acquaint stakeholders with the principles of resilience planning and its benefits for the cities' sustainability and development • Develop techniques, methods, and tools for assessment of climate risks and vulnerabi lity to climate change in cities. Customized material such as toolkits, guidelines, and case studies can be developed for use in resilience planning • Strengthen the . governance 1n development role of fostering Multi-level engagement institutions and climate-resilient Resilience planning is successful and apt when an integrated approach to various urban sectoral needs is followed through continuous stakeholder consultations, interdepartmental and institutional coordination and community participation. The policy should establish a mechanism to institutionalize the process of this multi-stakeholder engagement; e.g., the national government could incorporate climate resilience in the reforms agenda and resource planning under national schemes, and bring in incentive mechanisms for states and cities. They could also facilitate partnerships with international and non– government actors for technical and implementation support. Cities would need to assess and understand their vulnerability and develop responses to climate-proof urban systems. Integrating climate resilience into urban development laws and regulations Considering that the resilience options are not independent of the regular sustainabi li ty goals and planning needs of the city, it is pertinent to dovetail climate resilience to the urban development framework. This means integrating climate related issues and addressing them through the state-level acts and regulations. Also, resilience interventions could be included into the development regulations of the cities, e.g., building bylaws, development controls, and zoning regulations. There is meri t in establishing a nodal body at the city level; e.g., the Municipal Corporation. Capturing local communities' interest and involvement could be one of the responsibilities of the nodal body. Financing urban resi lience Reinforcing and climate proofing existing infrastructure would require additional funds. Therefore, financial allocation for resilience building and adaptation projects would also be an integral part of the proposed policy. Establishing national- and state-level climate funds and resource planning under various national schemes such as the JNNURM and the UIDSSMT can go a long way in this direction. Concl us ion The east coast of India had faced two large cyclones - Phail in and Helen - affecting the states of Andhra Pradesh and Odisha within a period of two months in 2013. The floods at Uttarakhand in June 2013 is yet another example. Even though these events cannot be attributed completely to impacts of global climate change, their severity and the volume of damage that they have caused demonstrate that actions for resilience and climate-proofing settlements are all the more important. They call for better planning and preparedness to deal with new and unforeseen cl imatic changes in the future. There is a need for a paradigm shift in which the cities of today are planned and managed. Integration of a climate resilience agenda has the potential to systematically build resilience of cities and its systems, reduce vulnerabil ity and achieve the desired development goal. A policy towards this end is an important stepping stone to achieve the larger goal of sustainable and climate-resilient cities. Courtesy: Aksllay Urja. Volume 7. Issue 5. April 2014 Pg. No. 28-31 35