Urban India and climate change: Mitigation strategies towards inclusive growth

Climate change has been emerged as a major challenge for the sustainable human settlement. The recent studies have established scientific evidences for climate change. This paper presents impacts of climate change in the urban India, which has about 30 percent of population and expected to grow over 800 million by next 50 years. Citizens are already facing adverse impact of climate change, which is evenly spread throughout the country and mostly to vulnerable citizens. India’s expenditure on adaptation measures was exceeded 2.6 percent of the GDP in 2006-07 shows the magnitude of monetary loss by climate change. Due to complexity of issues, systematic strategies are needed for adaptation and mitigation. In the light of ‘National Action Plan on Climate Change’ two urban sectors viz. urban transportation and municipal solid waste management are assessed and suggestions have been made for mitigation strategies. This study is broadly based on published researches and documents. Findings reveal that yet the climate change is not taken seriously by policy makers, hence blue print for mitigation haven’t placed. Findings suggest systematic mitigation measures for sustainable development which will lead to inclusive growth too. The need for collaborative planning among various stakeholders is emphasized