The Asian Cities Climate Change Resilience Network (ACCCRN) is a nine-year initiative launched in 2008. Supported by the Rockefeller Foundation, ACCCRN has played a significant role in recognising the need to address urban climate vulnerabilities in the region. Over the years, the ACCCRN has worked in ten cities in four Asian countries; this paper, published by the International Institute of Environment and Development, analyses the different methodologies adopted by the seven Indian ACCCRN cities in particular. Since the expected outcome of the ACCCRN process includes expansion of the network to new geographies, the aim of this paper is to facilitate this goal through the identification of potential replication opportunities of individual methodologies and processes employed by ACCCRN cities thus far, as well as identify inherent challenges, gaps, and opportunities.
The paper is structured into four main sections, beginning with some contextualising of the topic: summarising India’s vulnerability to climate change, the challenges the country faces, and the background of the ACCCRN and its methodologies. Section two provides a more detailed review of the ACCCRN process and methodologies, before section three assesses the different ways each ACCCRN city adopted them. Additionally, this section also presents the results of the questionnaire completed by ACCCRN and city partners, and the replication potential of individual strategies adopted in each city. Section four provides detailed observations on replication potential, together with recommendations to scale up the ACCCRN programme and enable cities to take the lead in planning for their resilience. Recommendations cover a number of issues, including: motivation and drive, an urgent need for more and better data, the need for toolkits and manuals, participatory practice, and capacity building.
In conclusion, the authors note a number of qualifications and limitations of the study, such as the difficulty in finding accurate comparative data across cities. From interviews with city partners, it is clear that a strong policy and mandate at national and state level is required to scale up resilience planning across India. Also noted was the need for efficient integration of resilience planning with the urban planning process. Significant replication could only occur when government systems and institutional mechanisms are designed, updated, and channeled towards the goal of resilience. Capacity building, facilitation of climate projection results, and data management systems also have to be developed to inform decision making.