Economic Resilience in a Changing Climate: Tales of Adaptation from Four Indian Cities

Friday, January 4, 2019

Climate change has emerged as a defining issue of our time. Cities, with their dense urban and economic agglomerations and concentrations of human life are especially vulnerable to the pressures of a changing climate. The devastating effects of many recent extreme events from intensive precipitation, to coastal flooding to rising temperatures have vividly underlined these risks. Learning lessons from experiences on the ground, and from history, about possible paths toward more economic and climate resilient cities has never been more urgent.

The Seminar marks the culmination of our Rockefeller (ACCCRN) funded project the economic competitiveness of cities in an era of climate change. This project focused on two pressing challenges of the 21st century city: coping with the growing pace of urbanization in countries like India, and the need for existing and emergent cities to adapt to the risks of climate change. Through case studies of four cities, the project traced the complex overlaps between a city’s development and adaptation goals. It explored how everyday development decisions, if made in more climate aware and innovative ways, can foster both climate resilience and inclusive urban economic growth. This seminar is aimed at disseminating our findings and initiating discussions to help inform policy design in this arena.

Working Papers / Reports

• The economic Impacts of Temperature on Industrial Productivity: Evidence from Indian Manufacturing, Anant Sudarshan and Meenu Tewari, July 2014, ICRIER Working Paper No. 278

   

  • Solid Waste Management in India: An Assessment of Resource Recovery and Environmental Impact, by Dr. Isher Ahluwalia and Utkarsh Patel.  ICRIER Working Paper, No. 356

   

  • The Role of Waterways in Promoting Urban Resilience: The Case of Kochi City, by Zeba Aziz, Indro Ray and Sandeep Paul.  ICRIER Working Paper No. 359, May 2018.

   

  • Meeting the Challenges of Climate-Proofing a Water System: How Surat Learned and Adapted, by Indro Ray and Meenu Tewari. December 2018 (Under Review)

   

  • Burden of Disease and Climate Interactions: An Illustrative Study of Surat City,India.  by Amrita Goldar, Meenu Tewari and Flavy Sen. April 2019 

   

  • Economic Resilience of Cities in a Changing Climate .  Policy Brief No.6, UCCR Policy Brief Series. Asian Cities Climate Change Resilience Network

   

  • List of Other Background Papers
     

     

    • Other Resources
       

       

       

       

      Agenda

       

       

      09.30 am Registration

       

      10.00 am Welcome Remarks : Dr. Isher Judge Ahluwalia, Chairperson, ICRIER

       

      10.10 am Presentation of the summary report by Dr. Meenu Tewari
      [Download Presentation]

       

      10.45 am Presentation of selected studies from the project:
          -Climate-Proofing a Water System: How Surat Learned and Adapted – Dr. Indro Ray
          [Download Presentation]
          -Climate Adaptation in Manufacturing firms: lessons from Surat – Dr. Saon Ray
          [Download Presentation]
          -Burden of Disease and Climate Interactions – Dr. Amrita Goldar
          [Download Presentation]
          -Role of Waterways in Promoting Urban Resilience of Kochi – Mr. Sandeep Paul
          [Download Presentation]
          -Solid Waste Management in India – Mr. Utkarsh Patel
          [Download Presentation]

       

      11.35 am Tea/Coffee Break

       

      11:45 am Panel Discussion: Climate Adaptation in India: Insights for Public Action

       

      Panelists :

          Mr. Gopalakrishna Bhat, Chairperson, Taru Leading Edge

          Dr. Usha P. Raghupathi, Professor (Retd.) National Institute of Urban Affairs (NIUA)

          Dr. Amit Prothi, Head, India National Strategy at 100ResilientCities

       

      Moderated by Dr. Meenu Tewari

       

      12.35 pm Q and A Session

       

      12.55 pm Vote of Thanks

       

      01.00 pm Lunch

  
  [Seminar Videos]