Issue
The effects of climate shocks cause significant disruptions to the lives of residents in Bengaluru. The majority of the city's inhabitants are urban dwellers facing socio-economic challenges due to the absence of a well-structured and coordinated climate action strategy.
How we are helping
This project aims to create practical and community-driven climate action plans and response strategies that take account of the vulnerabilities of specific groups, sectors, and localities. It will engage with elected officials.
About the project
Despite significant advances in infrastructure and environmental and public health monitoring, the challenge of effectively addressing climate change persists. Cities throughout India are challenged by the repercussions of various environmental stresses, including floods, heatwaves and pollution. These stressors, exacerbated by extreme weather events resulting from climate change, are taking a toll.
The project builds on a climate action plan developed by Environment Support Group (ESG) in 2021, which emphasises strategies for making the city more climate-friendly. The actions and strategies this project seeks to take forward are closely aligned with the commitments made by the city’s Commissioner to create and implement the first climate action plan in support of the Paris Agreement on Climate Change. The highly democratic, participatory, and bottom-up approach to be undertaken in Bengaluru is expected to serve as a model for other metropolises, ensuring more effective implementation of climate action plans tailored to local needs and participatory processes.
This will be achieved by:
- Producing and publishing maps of areas and populations most vulnerable to climate change, in consultation with communities, ward committees, and public officials. This effort aims to enhance the effectiveness of emergency response measures.
- Developing a handbook outlining the process for crafting ward-level climate action plans and conducting capacity-building workshops for ward committee members, empowering them to lead in this endeavour
- Convening a city-wide seminar that brings together representatives from civil society, academia, the media, public officials, and elected representatives to identify climate action priorities for Bengaluru
- Collaborating with stakeholders to formulate a draft Bengaluru climate action plan, drawing from ward-level plans, and making it accessible to the public for consultation
- Presenting the draft plan to policy-makers for implementation and sharing the report at a national level.
As a result of the project, it is hoped that climate action in Bengaluru will be better coordinated and built through participation from every ward committee. Awareness of climate change impacts will be enhanced and the capabilities of ward committee members in areas highly susceptible to climate change will be strengthened, enabling them to develop inclusive ward-level climate action plans, based on local needs, that have the potential to become part of a blueprint for other metropolises.
Project Partners
Environment Support Group works with a variety of environmental and social justice initiatives across India and the world. They proactively address environmental and social justice issues, collaborating across sectors and disciplines, upholding the interests of affected communities and voiceless ecosystems.
We support people's participation in democracy and development by providing grants, platforms, and expertise.
