Building a post-COVID Climate Resilient Future: State-level Experiences from Sikkim and Madhya Pradesh

With extreme events like droughts, cyclones and floods increasingly becoming the norm, climate change threatens to unravel decades of developmental progress in India. States, recognizing these threats are working to create sound plans and policies to account climate risks, and to climate-proof their developmental activities. There is also an urgent need to mobilize climate finance, to meet the states’ various climate agendas, build resilient communities and carry forward the mandate of sustainable development.

The various vulnerabilities and developmental threats faced by the states have been thrown into sharper focus in the wake of the COVID-19 crisis. As states struggle to flatten the curve and revive the economy, what does this mean for climate action? Amidst shifting priorities and reorienting developmental plans, focusing on bottom-up and participatory planning, shown to be a good response to the COVID-19 crisis, would continue to be important going forward - especially with the multiple stressors faced by the vulnerable communities.

With this background, Climate Action Network South Asia (CANSA) and World Resources Institute ( WRI) India in partnership with the Sikkim State Disaster Management Authority (SSDMA) in Sikkim and Environmental Planning and Coordination Organization (EPCO) in Madhya Pradesh are pleased to host a webinar bringing together key stakeholders working in the climate change and development space, to share their learnings, challenges and how the priorities are shifting in the wake of covid-19 for mainstreaming resilience and adaptation.

Speakers

• Rinzing Chewang, Secretary, Department of Agriculture, Government of Sikkim
• Vinod Sharma, Vice Chair, Sikkim State Disaster Management Authority (SSDMA)
• Lokendra Thakkar, Senior Scientific Officer, Environmental Planning & Coordination Organization (EPCO), Madhya Pradesh
• Aditya Bahadur, Principal Researcher, International Institute for Environment and Development (IIED)
• Representative from Ministry of Finance / MoEFCC (TBC)
• Anu Jogesh, Policy and Governance Lead, South Asia, Acclimatise (Moderator)