Disaster management - Question of Cities

Communities are central to climate plans and action

From advocacy work and campaigns against unsustainable development projects, especially in areas with marginalised populations, mapping the areas for climate vulnerability was a seamless extension for Tamil Nadu’s Poovulagin Nanbargal (Friends of the Earth). It has run programmes in colleges…

‘Developing countries are struggling to get climate-related finance’

As the global powers work out the finance needed to address devastating climate change impacts in the developing world, for which the developed world is largely responsible, the focus has to be within India too. What kind of resources are…

Wayanad’s lessons on how not to manufacture ecological disasters

The 572-millimetres rain in two days triggering massive landslides in Wayanad shook the nation. Beyond the rising death toll and large-scale devastation is the question being asked of authorities in Kerala as well as across India’s hills, cities and towns…

India’s changing monsoon patterns demand shifting gears in preparedness

There is empirical evidence to show that changes in the monsoon or heavier rainfall is not merely our imagination. The tehsil-level study by the Council on Energy, Environment and Water maps, like never before, the many changes across India. As…

Urgent heat conversations and actions we need in India to cool down cities

As millions of Indians struggle through an relentlessly scorching summer with never-before high temperatures, Heat Action Plans have become critical to people’s lives and livelihoods. Although states and cities have prepared plans – and some have fitfully implemented them –…

Informal workers brave cruel heat for a few rupees a day

Outdoor and informal workers such as construction labourers, delivery drivers, hawkers and vendors are forced to brave the punishing heat to earn a few rupees a day. Their working conditions are deplorable, living conditions no better. As they bear the…

Nepal’s Melamchi, still recovering from 2021 flood, shows multiple risks of rapid urbanisation

Melamchi, 76 kilometres from Nepal’s capital Kathmandu, was bouncing back from the massive 2015 earthquake when the flood in 2021 brought further devastation. The ravaging flood also severely damaged its ambitious water supply project which had taken nearly three decades…

As floods ravage cities, the game changer is to plan with nature

Every monsoon, cities across India witness flood fury. Urban flooding, which is becoming more frequent and intense every year causing devastation and disrupting lives, has spawned mitigation measures. They are essential but are they enough? As Climate Change makes its…