Towards a Climate Resilient Panaji
On 24th September 2014, a day after the Climate Summit 2014 hosted by United Nations Secretary General Ban Ki-moon in New York, the Corporation of the City of Panaji in collaboration with ICLEI South Asia organised a workshop to review the efforts undertaken so far and to plan for a climate resilient future for Panaji city. An initial version of Panaji City’s Greenhouse Gas Emissions Inventory was released at the event by Mr. Sanjit Rodrigues, Commissioner of Panaji and Mr. Emani Kumar, Deputy Secretary General of ICLEI – Local Governments for Sustainability.
This city level inventory undertaken by ICLEI South Asia with support from the European Commission and UNHABITAT in collaboration with the City Corporation is an effort to measure and monitor its GHG emissions and to take steps to improve its share of renewable energy and energy efficiency measures across different sectors. It was found that the Transport sector contributes 38.7% of the city’s GHG emissions followed by 29.9% from the Commercial sector and 26.2% from the Residential sector. This is part of the Promoting Low Emission Urban Development Strategies in Emerging Economy Countries (Urban LEDS) project that is being implemented across 37 cities in four countries, namely, India, Indonesia, South Africa and Brazil. The participants rigorously discussed how emissions were produced by different sectors and suggested sources and actions that can help the city reduce their emissions. A discussion on various adaptation measures that are the need of the hour also took place.
From a climate adaptation perspective, ICLEI South Asia with support from the German Development Cooperation, GIZ, and the Rockefeller Foundation under its Asian Cities Climate Change Resilience Network programme, has also undertaken an assessment of the potential climatic impacts that the city could face due to climate change in the near future. The participants took part in a group activity in discussing risk analysis and urban vulnerability analysis identified for various sectors.
ICLEI and the City Corporation are combining the results from both these initiatives to develop a comprehensive climate resilience action plan for the city of Panaji.
For further information, visit:
- http://www.thehindu.com/todays-paper/tp-national/tp-karnataka/plans-to-make-panaji-climateresilient-city/article6451636.ece
- http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/goa/CCP-has-plans-for-climate-resilient-Panaji-Sanjit/articleshow/43362648.cms
For more information about ICLEI South Asia’s ACCCRN and Urban LEDS activities, visit:
