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Source(s):
Climate and Development Knowledge Network (CDKN)
Uttar Pradesh is one of India’s poorest states and its farmers have experienced considerable changes in the climate in recent years – from longer summers and harsher winters to much less predictable rains. Gorakhpur Environmental Action Group (GEAG) has been working with local people, mostly farmers on small and marginal plots, to address these climatic changes and to empower women to embrace a more climate-compatible form of development.
GEAG’s recent experiences in peri-urban areas are now highlighted in a ‘CDKN Inside Story on climate compatible development’.
Challenges
As rapid urbanisation occurs in Uttar Pradesh, traditional gender roles are also subject to change. Kinship networks erode, which leaves families and communities with less ability to bear shocks such as extreme weather events.
India has aspirations for its cities, as articulated in the Indian Atal Mission for Rejuvenation and Urban Transformation (AMRUT) and Smart Cities Mission. In the design of these policies, the urban population is treated as a homogeneous group; however, it is anything but that. There are differences of class, age, gender and spatial location in cities, all of which affect people’s exposure and vulnerability to natural hazards, including climate hazards. If the government wants to make cities climate-resilient and fit for the future – this case study argues – they must consider these complex factors.
Women’s participation in delivering these major climate-smart development programmes is currently low, especially in urban areas. The 74th Constitutional Amendment Act of the Government of India devolved planning to the ward, neighbourhood, and city levels, but devolution is not yet well implemented.
Challenges for truly inclusive and effective climate-compatible development in cities include:
Gender-responsive, climate-smart development solutions
As detailed in the ‘Inside Story’, success factors for climate-resilient development in this context include:
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