Article:
The Vice President of India recently emphasized the crucial role sustainable solutions such as solar energy harvesting, increased green cover, and water conservation should play in urban planning at the 4th Resilient Cities Asia-Pacific (RCAP) Congress 2019.
Resilient Cities Asia-Pacific Congresses: A Background
The RCAP Congresses are a series of forums focused on building resilience and climate change adaptation in cities across the Asia Pacific region. The Congress was initiated in 2015 with the inaugural edition held in Bangkok, Thailand. Subsequent Congresses took place in Melaka, Malaysia in 2016 and Vietnam in December 2017.
The 4th RCAP, organized by the International Council for Local Environmental Initiatives (ICLEI) ā Local Governments for Sustainability, was hosted by the South Delhi Municipal Corporation from 15th to 17th April 2019 in New Delhi. The Congress provides an annual global platform for fostering dialogue, forging partnerships, and identifying practical, implementable solutions to create lasting impacts for urban areas across the Asia Pacific region.
Focus Themes of the 4th RCAP Congress
The themes proposed for the 4th RCAP Congress were diverse, addressing various facets of urban resilience building and climate change adaptation. Key themes included integrated climate resilience planning to manage risks and vulnerabilities, good governance and resilience, nature-based solutions to adaptation, climate knowledge brokering, and opportunities for regional networking and collaboration.
The event also addressed Sustainable infrastructure development and green growth, Urban Nexus, financing mechanisms for Asian cities, and resilient Cities Asia-Pacific.
| Event | City | Year |
|---|---|---|
| 1st RCAP Congress | Bangkok, Thailand | 2015 |
| 2nd RCAP Congress | Melaka, Malaysia | 2016 |
| 3rd RCAP Congress | Vietnam | 2017 |
| 4th RCAP Congress | New Delhi, India | 2019 |
The Urgency for Urban Resilience Building in Asia Pacific
The Asia Pacific region is one of the most vulnerable regions to climate change impacts in the world. This vulnerability can be attributed to rapidly changing climate conditions, unplanned urbanization, and increasing population.
Rising temperatures, altering precipitation patterns, intensification of extreme weather events, and surging sea levels have already revealed their effects across the region. The situation is exacerbated by increasing human settlements in low-lying, flood-prone coastal areas, further intensifying the risks associated with climate change-related disasters. Such circumstances significantly increase the vulnerability of people, particularly the urban poor residing in hazardous zones.
In this context, the call by the Vice President of India for incorporating sustainable solutions into urban planning assumes significant importance. It echoes the need to prioritize and integrate such solutions in order to enhance resilience, especially in our cities which are increasingly bearing the brunt of climate change impacts.