Pramesh S Jain & Yogesh K Porwar
As one of the fastest growing cities in the world and a responsible member of global community,Bengaluru has decisively declared commitment to tackle climate change.
The Bengaluru Climate Action and Resilience Plan (BCAP) outlines a comprehensive approach and the city has embarked on an ambitious journey to reduce greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions and to build the city’s resilience to climate hazards.
The Bengaluru Climate Action Cell (CAC) was established in February 2024 as an institutional mechanism to implement the BCAP.
The CAC,Chaired by Special Commissioner,BBMP,Ms. Preeti Gehlot IAS,works under the supervision of Chief Commissioner BBMP,Mr.Tushar Girinath IAS.
The main role of CAC is to anchor the implementation of the BCAP by coordinating with various stakeholders including Government Departments,Research Organizations,Civil Society,Industry.
The Climate Action Cell monitors,evaluates and reports on the progress of climate actions and supports BBMP and other departments with Climate Budgeting.
CAC has been very successful at creating awareness about the Climate Action Plan by conducting various events and programs on a regular basis.
A new micro website for CAC within the BBMP website (https://apps.bbmpgov.in/bcap/) was designed on priority to make people aware of the BCAP and CAC activities.
The webpage provides extensive information on BCAP and allied resources, meeting minutes,activities and much more.So far more than 20 meetings have been conducted.
CAC has attempted to actively engaged with the water crisis by encouraging open well restoration,promoting rainwater harvesting in parks and lakes and at communities,identifying appropriate locations for tree plantation by engaging local communities and using technology.
More than 80000 saplings have been planted this monsoon season in open spaces,avenue,lakes and parks.
To bring attention to heat islands in our city,a Data Jam (hackathon)has been conducted with active participation from citizens.
The idea was to understand the reasons behind the emergence of local heat centers in various wards/areas of BBMP.
Bengaluru has many active citizens and organizations that are already engaged in climate actions.To bring them together and align their actions with the Climate Actions outlined in the BCAP,a new forum has been created called ‘Friends of CAC’ As of today,more than 500 organizations,including academic institutions, RWAs, Civic and Social Organizations,Research Institutes and even Corporate entities joined this forum.
The ‘Friends of CAC’ is shaping to be a thriving platform to share best practices and learn from each other. Besides building awareness, the CAC also invited collaborations from various organizations and so far 9 such proposals have been received. To become a Friend of CAC,register here bit.ly/friendsofcac
To enhance the capacities of CAC,a Fellows program has been instituted.Through this bright-minded young professionals passionate about climate change and civic issues will support the activities of the CAC with new perspectives, skills and innovation in solving real-life problems of Bengaluru.
Starting from November,CAC will engage 7 fellows for a duration of one year to support its activities.These fellows have been identified based on a competitive and transparent process which included written tests,group discussions and interviews.
CAC was also instrumental in facilitating the revision of BBMP parks timings (it is now open from 5am to 10pm), which was announced by Deputy Chief Minister of Karnataka in the month of June.
