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Making Life in a Metro Liveable: Experts Opine on Cause-Affect-Solutions Approach for Climate Change in Mumbai

Grappling with numerous civic issues, Mumbai is also going through the impact of climate change in various forms, but experts show hopes through the collaborative efforts of stakeholders.

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As Mumbai deals with constant 'very poor' air quality this winter, a recent discussion over the city's new climate action plan highlighted the major causes of pollution: not the industries but the carbon footprint generated by sectors like banking, services, IT, and entertainment.

Labelled as the second most polluted city in the world in 2023, Mumbai has always been in the critical eye of experts and environmentalists over its poor urban planning. Speaking at the recent event named, 'Climate Solutions For Future-Ready Cities' over a new Climate Action Plan for the Mira-Bhayander area, close to Mumbai, the CEO of the Maharashtra Institution for Transformation (MITRA), Pradeep Pardeshi stated that Mumbai does not have industries and hence, it is the tertiary sector that amounts to the pollution in the city.

Vasai-Virar projected to be underwater in the future!

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Settlements around Mithi River.

While Mumbai has been expected to be underwater many a time by the experts, such a claim was reiterated at the event that included the municipalities, the department of Climate (Maharashtra) and experts. Going by this speed and if not curbed, Mr. Pardeshi said that the Vasai-Virar area will be underwater in some years. “Vasai-Virar and the coastline of Mumbai will be under the sea water and Mithi river — that regulates the flood level — by that time,” he said.

The effect of climate change is already evident in Mumbai; however, he says that it falls differently on people living in slums and buildings. “Slum dwellers live in ‘natural areas’ that are around the river and the coastal lines where buildings can’t be made, so any change in the climate is likely to affect the people differently”

Can Mumbai take inspiration from other countries?

On the other hand, claiming that it is the bigger countries that are behind the real causes of climate change, he cites the reference to the double-glazed windows in the U.S. in combating it. Mr. Pardeshi pointed out how it reduces the energy consumption in the building by, firstly, reducing the requirements to heat and cool homes excessively while saying that such an approach can be used in Mumbai.

Moreover, giving an example of Tokyo’s anti-flooding plan, he said, “Surplus water in such countries goes inside the water. In the case of Mumbai, it needs to happen with Mithi river, in the absence of which flooding takes place,” adding that “they don’t create urban sprawls.” However, he also stated that with the same population density as Tokyo, Mumbai still has 73% of the green cover.

‘Metro running 80% below capacity in Mumbai’

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Focusing on transportation as one of the major causes of pollution in the city, Manas Rath, founder of LEAP Cities and Mumbai Donut CoLab, said that the Mumbai metro is already running “80% below its capacity” as people use personal vehicles to commute. As a solution, he said, “The introduction of the fleet of 15,000 buses in the city can solve 80% of the transportation problems.” Showing faith in the move, he further said, “Initially BEST was doing good ads people would commute through buses. The numbers changed when the people got the financial capacity to use an autorickshaw or other mode of transport, even if not a personal car.”

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On asked by the moderator of the session in which he was speaking as to what could be the cost of the implementation of such a plan, he said, “It might require 8,000 crores to put these numbers of buses on the road.” Ahead of the Union budget of 2025, Mr. Rath clarified the budget is never the problem in the implementation. “We have the annual budget. It is about the fact that the work stops after the tenure of a government official is completed; it happens almost every nine months or so,” he said.

This apart, he emphasised the need for "urban agriculture" as a solution to the climate-change problems of Mumbai city. “Mumbai has zero space for any other roads to be built. The coastal roads, perhaps, were the last. But we can create urban farms and reuse water which is used in it as a practice,” he said, adding that the housing building needs to meet the criteria and get the certification of ‘Gold’ green building standards referring to the National Green Building Standard (NGBS) Certification.

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Along similar lines, Abhijit Ghorpade, the Director of the State Climate Action Plan, mentioned that the “decarbonisation of the buildings” in Mumbai is important.

Coming with a new number, Parul Agarwala, the Country Program Manager, India at UN Human Settlements Program, mentioned that Mumbai offers 30 square metres per person space to individuals, and it is only they who can also contribute majorly to the change. “It can be as simple as changing toilets for individuals,” she said.

Need for awareness and collaborations

Neha Awasthi, who has been working with various cities across India and abroad to help them reduce their carbon footprint shared the significance of awareness to be able to promote climate-based solutions for people. “For one of our projects, we spoke to the Truck drivers as to what was making them hesitant towards using the electric alternatives for their vehicles and they would ask: ‘What if the vehicles break down in between when we are driving on isolated roads, what will we do’ which shows the lack of awareness,” Awasthi, the Senior Manager at C40 Cities said. 

At the climate action conclave that also included several government officials, when asked whether the government is also hesitant in working with the climate agencies for action plans released by them, Sunil Pote, the Executive Director (Operations) of MAHAPREET said, “Government is willing to take part in climate action plans as they aim to reach the people of their blocks too,” positively nodding towards collaborations for initiatives led by the private environmental agencies, like the one conducted by the Akah Khan Agency for the Mira-Bhayander climate action plan.

Climate change solutions Climate action plan Mumbai