Greater Visakhapatnam Municipal Corporation (GVMC) Mayor G. Hari Venkata Kumari, at a programme on Transformative Climate Action using Participatory Data-Driven Decision Making Platforms (T-CAP) on Wednesday, welcomed solutions to mitigate the impact of climate change on Visakhapatnam city.
The Mayor, while participating as chief guest, spoke on ‘Current Scenario - Visakhapatnam (Impacts of Climate Change)‘. She insisted on people’s participation in every action taken by the government, especially rainwater harvesting, tree planting, control of plastic use, use of public transport and others which are part of environment protection.
The National Institute for Urban Affairs (NIUA) in collaboration with the United Nations University - Institute of Environment and Human Security (UNU-EHS), Bonn, Germany and The Energy and Resources Institute (TERI), New Delhi has undertaken action research on T-CAP for Visakhapatnam, through the Sustainability and Resilience Unit of the GVMC from October 2022 to December 2024, she said.
The objective of T-CAP is to design and develop a participatory planning framework for climate-informed decision-making for Visakhapatnam that can inspire cities across the globe, the Mayor added.
Later, the Mayor inaugurated Visakhapatnam Urban Living Lab (ULL), as part of the T-CAP project. The ULLs can encourage a re-evaluation, re-assessment, and even a revision of urban planning practices. It can play a crucial role in promoting participatory data-driven governance for Urban Local Bodies (ULBs), she added.
Introducing of ULL in Visakhapatnam will help in promoting collaborative actions towards anticipated and existing climatic challenges by using real-time data sets to enhance and connect various urban thematic for development and planning. It will provide an environment for affected groups, citizen welfare associations, academia, businesses among others, the Mayor said.
GVMC Commissioner C.M. Saikanth Varma said that since Visakhapatnam is a coastal region, there are high chances of adverse weather due to the impact of cyclones, and suggested that the T-CAP team should also think about advanced measures and solutions to reduce such problems.
The project presentation was made by Himanshu Shekhar, Associate Academic Officer, UNU supported by Sarath Babu from NIUA and Sharif Qamar from TERI.
