SURAT: The vulnerability of Surat city to climate change will be assessed by a two-member team of Asian Cities Climate Change Resilience Network (ACCCRN) project. The team will be in the city for a week from November 29 to meet stakeholders from all sections at one-to-one discussions, seminars and workshop to develop indicators needed to develop Surat's resilience to climate change. The team is led by Sachin Bhoite.
Flood-prone Surat is one of the 10 cities from Kenya, South Africa, the USA, Colombia, Chile, Indonesia and India identified by ACCCRN for the project. An urgent need is felt for an early warning system to forecast floods in the city. The work to develop climate resilient indicators in Surat would be done by ARUP International with TARU's support on behalf of Rockefeller Foundation. The Surat City Climate Change Trust was set up with a funding of Rs 2 crore from Rockefeller Foundation. The Urban Health Climate Resilience Centre (UHCRC) in the city was also set with the objective to define its capacity to combat the effects of climate change.
Surat Municipal Corporation city engineer and Surat City Climate Change Trust chairman Jatin Shah told TOI, "It helps if you know the resilience capacity of the city. Future projects can be undertaken keeping in mind the defined parameters."
