In the daunting questions of how the cities of coastal India will adapt to climate change effects, there is one city which is uniquely standing out in terms of responses in recent years, Visakhapatnam. Incidentally, the ‘City of Destiny’ as it is popularly called, is transforming its narrative as the first in the country to be directly affected by a cyclone to becoming a leading role model for disaster resilience and urban sustainability. With Niti Aayog’s recent intent to pilot a robust economic growth strategy for the city region, its importance has been reflected at the national level.
Major commitments towards sustainable urban growth and development, governance and fulfilling the UNSDGs have been reflected in various aspects of the Draft Metropolitan Region Master Plan 2041. These advances are timely, given Visakhapatnam’s exposure and vulnerability to climate extremes, as observed by both the OECD and CEEW. More importantly, the involvement of young people in shaping the sustainability of cities takes centre stage due to the disproportionate effects of climate change experienced across urban generations.
Therefore, in order to further explore and build upon the strong local governance structure, the National Institute of Urban Affairs and Youth Ki Awaaz organised a roundtable discussion earlier last month on ‘Creating a Youth-Led Engagement Framework for Urban Climate Action’, with the support of the Greater Visakhapatnam Municipal Corporation, under its flagship ‘Eco Vizag’ environmental campaign. While Visakhapatnam faces unique adaptation challenges and building resilience to cyclones, storm surges, urban floods, earthquakes, tsunamis and droughts, its responses through youth interventions are also on the rise.
In support of the ongoing efforts of the urban local government, youth and related stakeholders, here are six potential opportunities that stakeholders highlighted during the recent roundtable discussion, which merit more detailed explorations:
- As per the 2011 census, ~27% of the total district urban population comprised young people (10-24 years). While the number is anticipated to decline gradually over the current decade, an open channel of communication in urban areas becomes crucial for fostering active civic engagement for sustainable urban development. Therefore, setting up ‘liaisons’ between youth groups and the urban local government can ensure that an inclusive channel of communication can be sustained for acting on urban sustainability aspects.
- Given Visakhapatnam’s vulnerability to extreme weather, there is a need to empower young residents with crucial life-saving skills. While the NSS and UNICEF have already engaged in concerned areas, tapping into a larger segment of uninitiated youth is necessary. Therefore, institutionalizing peer-learning networks between the NSS, uninitiated youth and the urban local government can help scale awareness and skill-building for disaster management and relief.
- Aligned with this year’s UN International Youth Day theme, mainstreaming hands-on environmental learning is a key aspect of building ‘green skills’ which are expected to be an important future industry demand. In this regard, good starting points include conducting exposure visits to impacted areas and communities. Also, practically learning about how the city’s infrastructure functions and is managed, in collaboration with the urban local government can help the young understand nuanced complexities and challenges, and ideate potential solutions. This can be facilitated through consistently graded workshops, assessments, projects and student theses, in turn, scaling the involvement of youth in contributing towards urban sustainability.
- Given that environmental sustainability (and in turn, the protection of natural resources) is a defined objective of the draft metropolitan region masterplan, youth-training in collaboration with local partners and the urban local government, on tree restoration, the basics of tree census, and recording urban flora and fauna can help largely inform necessary steps for conserving biodiversity. This is important as environmentally sensitive areas account for 24% of the total metropolitan region.
- Youth volunteers can help support WASH and medical aid interventions for protecting the health and wellness of vulnerable labor force members and, particularly, children in informal settings during periods of extreme rainfall. Establishing channels for building youth capacities through leveraging partnerships and collaborations with concerned stakeholders is important here.
- More investigative research is required with respect to understanding the intersection of climate change and disability in the context of Visakhapatnam, and youth can play an important role by conducting ground surveys. Making information and infrastructure accessible for Persons with Disabilities, especially in times of individual emergencies and disaster, through formalising ‘buddy’ systems can also present a promising opportunity. Also, with the support of the urban local government, youth volunteers can help geo-tag persons with disabilities and accessible infrastructures by location. Young designers can also help contribute towards ensuring shelter constructions are accessible by learning about and incorporating harmonised guidelines.
Ensuring effective youth engagement for supporting larger adaptation and mitigation measures is a strong step towards securing inter-generational equity in the urban context. This aligns with the call to localize global sustainability agendas and directly feeds into ‘Actions for Climate Empowerment (ACE) – a term used to describe work under Article 6 of the UNFCCC and Article 12 of the Paris Agreement. Young people represent the future of a sustainable Visakhapatnam city, and therefore, their involvement in accelerating climate action can prove beneficial for urban stakeholders across the board.
Read about the work of Youth Ki Awaaz’s Policy Lab here and learn more about India’s net-zero transition here.