Survival roadmap for climate change

By Jayanta Basu

The Telegraph - February 21 , 2008

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Calcutta is to have a “detailed, scientific plan” to combat the effects of climate changes, courtesy a World Bank initiative.

A three-member team from the bank was in town recently to kick off the project, which will use a simulated model to predict Calcutta’s vulnerability to climate changes till 2050 and prepare a survival roadmap.

“Calcutta is among the 10 cities in the world that are most vulnerable to climate changes. The Bengal government has okayed a World Bank proposal to launch an initiative to predict the changes,” said state environment secretary K.L. Meena.

The Union ministry of environment and forests and the ministry of external affairs, too, are backing the project, partnered by the University of Tokyo and the Japan Bank for International Cooperation.

The World Bank team was in talks with experts from the state pollution control board, Calcutta Municipal Corporation, Jadavpur University, Calcutta Metropolitan Development Authority and the Survey of India.

The team sought information about the rainfall pattern, rise in the sea level and the temperature graph over the past 50 years; details of drainage, electricity and drinking water networks; and the location of thermal power plants, hospitals and defence facilities.

“All these may have to be shifted over the next 50 years or so because of the climate change,” said an environment department official.

“Calcutta is selected for its size (second largest city in India), the level of vulnerability because of its slum headcount (one third of its population) and the lives and livelihood at risk,” stated the draft concept note of World Bank.

The note was prepared by the visiting team that included environment expert Adriana Jordanova. A report placed at the recent climate conference in Bali predicted that in 2070, Calcutta will be the worst sufferer of climate disruptions.

“If everything goes according to plan, the team will make an interim presentation on Calcutta’s vulnerability at the G-8 meeting in Tokyo in May,” said an official.

“A similar attempt was made earlier. But Calcutta Environment Management and Strategy Action Plan could not succeed because of faulty, secondary data. I hope this project will not meet with the same fate,” said an environmentalist.

A similar project is on in some other South Asian cities, including Bangkok, Jakarta, Karachi and Ho Chi Minh City.

Copyright © 2008 The Telegraph

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