Pathways to Resilient Cities: The India Forum for Nature-based Solutions

Improperly planned cities adversely impact the economy and the environment with the most vulnerable facing the brunt of the outfall. Extreme weather events and climate hazards are experienced very differently by different people and communities, depending on a range of social, economic, political and cultural factors. Research shows that historically marginalized communities like women, minorities, certain castes and classes, and marginal farmers, are much more likely to be impacted due to reduced access to land, opportunities, finances and social support networks leading to multiplied adversities in the face of climate change.

The threats are aggravated by the lack of systematic investment in key infrastructure. These go beyond the immediate impact on vulnerable communities and endanger national water security, food production, social stability, and the existence of healthy climate and ecosystems. For example, in 2020, floods and storms caused USD 26.3 billion in economic losses, equivalent to 0.8% of India’s GDP. On the other hand, over 68% of the country’s agricultural lands are vulnerable to droughts. Additionally, over 70% of India’s water is severely polluted due to dumping of raw sewage, silt and garbage; and nearly 160 million Indians — more than the entire population of Russia — lack access to clean drinking water. Urban development, thus far, has been fueled by grey and inflexible infrastructure, and is causing the city’s carbon footprint to grow manifold, intensifying climate change and its impacts.

Development models based on blended grey and green solutions hold promise. Understanding and deploying them prudently is the need of the hour. To that end, Nature-based solutions (NbS) can be instrumental in achieving India’s climate goals and are increasingly being used globally for climate change mitigation and adaptation. These solutions include embedding and resuscitating wetlands as part of urban planning. Wetlands can act as a buffer for flooding and droughts, regulate microclimate and enable urban greening. Greening increases permeability to manage waterlogging, recharges groundwater and offers the co-benefits of reduced heat island effects, improved biodiversity, and access to healthy and green urban spaces.

While there is no shortage of NbS and hybrid infrastructure strategies to achieve these goals, along with eager entrepreneurs and project developers to implement them, few projects make it past the idea stage. This is often due to the lack of contextual evidence, technical know-how, project management experience, fluency with project financing and access to a supportive network of partners. Moreover, local systems to implement NbS are fragmented, with actors working in silos and lack of trust between stakeholders. Public finance remains the primary source for funding. However, governments have a limited appetite for risk and often the responsibilities across departments are unclear. There is a massive, unmet need for support to prove the effectiveness of NbS, build an economy of NbS enterprises, and change the policy, governance and finance dynamics that hamper scaling up.

On the positive side, there is signaling from the government through various policies and schemes targeted at urban areas, like the Nagar Van scheme, the Mangrove Initiative for Shoreline Habitats and Tangible Incomes, Amrit Dharohar and others that recognize the potential of these solutions. Despite this, funding for NbS in India and across the globe remains woefully insufficient. The State of Finance for Nature, released by the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP), identified that only USD 154 billion per year is being invested in NbS globally. This is less than one-third of what is needed per year by 2030 to meet climate, biodiversity and land degradation goals. Furthermore, since most projects lack bankability, reliable business models and scale, the contribution of the private sector constitutes only 17% of the total amount.

In order to bridge these gaps, the India Forum for Nature-based Solutions was formed in 2022. The forum seeks to build evidence, develop common narratives and mainstream the adoption of NbS and hybrid solutions. This is India's first national coalition platform for urban NbS, bringing together research, practice and finance organizations. Its vision is to climate-proof 100 million residents and infrastructure worth USD 100 billion in Indian cities by 2030. The forum seeks to strengthen local knowledge around the use of nature-based solutions within the local context of social, economic, political and institutional structures of Indian cities and city regions.

In line with these ambitions, the India Forum for NbS held its maiden annual summit on 6th August in Delhi. The summit saw over 100 public and private actors come together to build synergies and foster dialogue, across the ecosystem, to increase awareness on NbS. The event engaged participants in discussions on decision-making tools and methods for choosing and evaluating solutions, unlocking investment and financial opportunities, and developing actionable strategies for cities that support adoption of NbS at scale.

Claudia López, former Mayor of Bogotá, Harvard 2024 ALI Fellow and Advisor to WRI, advocated an inclusive community-centric approach to integrating NbS in city planning. Keynote speakers Debashree Mukherjee, Secy, Ministry of Jal Shakti, Rahul Kapoor, Joint Secy, MoHUA, and Dr. Krishna Vatsa, Member, NDMA, joined other distinguished panelists to discuss pathways to bridge gaps and strengthen the NbS ecosystem. The Summit culminated with the NbS awards ceremony felicitating exemplary work across three categories – Champion, Enabler, and Implementation.

With these insights and the momentum generated by the Summit, the Forum will continue to cut across silos, capacitating stakeholders and driving collective action towards scaling-up and unlocking the potential of NbS.

Ritesh Kumar is Director, Wetlands International South Asia. All views expressed by the authors are personal.