The question regarding Indian cities is whether they will metamorphose into a butterflies or ugly moths !

India is urbanizing, not at a trot or a canter, but at a gallop. Urban populations are beginning to overtake rural populations in some states. In 1991 the number of urban settlements were 3768 whereas in 2001 the numbers had gone up to 4378 and which have almost doubled to 7935 in the 2011 census. The dizzying urban explosion has overwhelmed natural resources and financial resources as well as the receding countryside.

Weak urban departments are at their wits end to come up with planning solutions. Feeble enforcement agencies are unable to prevent the distortion of elaborate masterplans at the ground level and administrations are forever having to regularize the irregular.

Cities are increasing vulnerable to climate change, dogged by pollution issues, subject to urban flooding, facing water insecurity, overwhelmed by housing and transport challenges, challenged by harsh environments and psychological aberrations.

The Sustainable Development Goals were adopted by the UN in September, 2017 and Goal no. 11 is about making cities inclusive, safe, resilient and sustainable. While disjointed attempts are being made to address some of the aforementioned challenges, resilience and sustainability are falling through the cracks between single issue focused agencies and between several layers of authority with divided sectoral jurisdictions. The reliance on capital intensive engineering solutions is compounded by a reluctance to adopt nature based simpler economical solutions, building nature into the urban fabric, forest bathing

What nature based solutions can a city adopt to become more resilient and sustainable ? Can we build nature into the urban fabric? Let us look at a few possibilities.

1. Urban Forests : Presently our cities are bereft of forests. If lucky the city may have large parks but these do not provide the benefits of forests.

• Forests moderate climate, provide a cooling effect, counter heat islands, can attract precipitation, help ground water recharge
• It is well known that immersing oneself in forests has a healing effect on both psyche and physique. The Japanese have promoted the concept of ‘shinrinyoku’ or forest bathing to describe the practice of ‘getting into the woods for body and mind renewal to counter lifestyle related issues’.

Forests must be seen as a part of water, health and pollution control infrastructure. Therefore, greenfield developments must provide space for urban forests in the landuse plan. On the other hand already built settlements can consider building green buffers along large storm water nullahs, developing riverine forests, partially converting large parks into woodlands, creating woodlands in large campuses, terrace and vertical gardens.

1. Water : Presently, cities are surviving by depleting rivers and aquifers. As the water crisis intensifies it can no longer be business as usual. Efficiency in the use of water [i.e. performing a task with less water than before], recycling [treating used water and utilizing it for an appropriate purpose again and again] to reduce the freshwater footprint, creating local water sources, is the way forward.

Several tasks can be performed with increasing efficiency. Thus, integrating dry toilets [at least in new developments] can eliminate flushing water, a particularly bad use of freshwater. Similarly, the use of herbal soaps [such as reetha powder] can curtail washing machine water use by half whereas the use of spray guns/bottles can greatly reduce water utilized for car washing.

Preserving waterbodies in and around urban areas can be done with recycled water from STPs. Usually, there is a stigma attached with the use of recycled water which prevents its popularity. Also, the ideas regarding dual piping systems in households [owing to costs and breakages/repairs] as also reuse in public gardens [required for only some days over 6 months] are impractical. But once the treated water is recharged to the aquifer through the bed of a waterbody the water recovered through tubewells is no longer stigmatized and is useful for all purposes in a decentralized way.

Just like the landuse plan must reserve space for forests so too the plan must provide space for waterbodies siting them in low lying areas as indicated by the topography. Likewise, large campuses may develop waterbodies in consonance with the drainage plan to gather their rainfall runoff as well as use the same to store wastewater treated in on campus decentralized treatment plants.

• The elaboration of such practices on a large scale would make a significant contribution to the resilience and sustainability of our cities while reducing their water footprint.

It is beyond the shadow of a doubt that a healthy environment is the crucible in which human life and activity blossoms. Yet we all know that human activity is mauling and mutilating this crucible just like the woodcutter who is cutting the branch on which he is perched.

most vulnerable country to climate change.

It is election season and the manifestoes of political parties reflect their perceptions of the concerns of society at large. The manifestoes are drawn up carefully after large scale feedback. Yet inspite of the looming environmental crisis this critical concern is all but absent from manifestoes. That being the case it would be too much to expect drastic proactive action in favour of environmental conservation from the next government.

Just last week Iceland elected Ms.Katrin Jakobsdottir, a 41 year old environmentalist who is committed to clean energy, as Prime Minister. “As Chairwoman of the Left-Green Movement, a grass-roots organization that focuses on democratic socialist values, feminism, and environmentalism, Katrin has already taken big steps to move towards clean energy in Iceland.”

To expect a green manifesto is a cry in the wilderness. But if a political party were to devote a section of its manifesto to a green action plan then they could draw upon the following draft.

“On coming to power our party promises to the people of India that

The budgetary allocation of the Ministry of Environment would be raised from current 7% to 15% of the annual budget of the Central Govt. The enhanced budgets would not only increase the scope and depth of work undertaken but also vastly increase the monitoring and knowledge gathering and knowledge creation activity of the Ministry and its agencies

The legal and institutional framework for environmental protection and regulation would be strengthened. Specifically :

appointment and terms of service of members/Chairman of the National Green Tribunal leaving the original rules of appointment undisturbed

benches of the National Green Tribunal would be doubled progressively over 5 years

dilution of EIA notifications would be withdrawn. The quality of EIAs would be raised by rigourous scrutiny, rejection of shoddy EIAs, blacklisting of conniving EIA consultants

Forest Rights Act would be enforced without dilution and the pace implementation of forest dweller rights would be quickened while ensuring sympathetic hearing to their claims – strengthening the law – new laws – forest rights act, wetland rules, coastal zone management, rigorous implementation of existing rules

Dilutions to the Coastal Regulation Zone would be examined afresh as also the development oriented approach of the Island Development Agency which appears to have overridden environmental concerns of the several island territories.

strengthen the independence of institutions such as NBWL, FAC, WII and all regulatory and advisory agencies under the MoEF

implementation of existing rules would be done with greater rigour than ever before. For eg. the capacities and performance of CPCB and State Pollution Control Boards would be greatly strengthened

Carbon neutrality : The Govt. would aim to achieve carbon neutrality by progressively reducing carbon intensity of the economy. The Govt. would aim to outdo its Intended Nationally Determined Contributions (INDCs) and attain carbon neutrality by 2050

Coal fired plants will be gradually phased out so that our virgin forests can be protected as no go areas

dispersed green cover. The spatial dimensions of this cover would follow earlier distribution of forests so as to maintain a continuity in climatic and weather patterns

tree cover on private lands. Presently, other than commercial tree plantations there are several disincentives to grow a diverse tree cover on private lands. This would also include emphasis on promoting agro-forestry.

Rain is the only source of water on the subcontinent. The winter monsoon has almost disappeared whereas the reliability of the summer monsoon does not have the same certainity as before with more frequent El Nino events. The Govt. will promote urgent research on the monsoon phenomena, not merely about forecasting, but about increasing its reliability

Rivers are the life-giving arteries of the country. Yet they are becoming anaemic before our very eyes. The present focus on pollution is a comparatively smaller problem which has a technological fix and can be resolved can be resolved by appropriate capital expenditures. The revival of flows in rivers and streams is a far more complex issue amenable to appropriate stern remedies and only in the long term. Here the Govt. would :

Promote basin management at all orders of streams. The basin approach would optimize the use of intra basin resources such as rainfall, surface and subsurface resources, recycled waters on the supply side while the demand side management would enhance efficiencies in water use in agriculture, industry and domestic sectors

floodplain protection the Ganga Authorities Notification, 2016 would be extended to all rivers upto 2^nd order streams

v All relevant social statistics, economic statistics, scientific data, natural resource data would be collected at least at the level of 3^rd and perhaps 2^nd order streams

Irrigation is the sector where 80% of India’s water is used. If this can be significantly curtailed water diversion from rivers can be substantially reduced as also ground water extraction. Several technological and agronomic practices can increase crop productivity while reducing water input. The Govt. will take up this thrust on a war footing

free flowing rivers and, as efficiencies increase, would examine decommissioning of various dams and barrages

Urban water efficiencies would be enhanced and the individual water supply norm per capita would be brought down progressively to below 100 lpcd over next 5 years. Recycling and demand management practices would be given preference over fresh water supply side solutions. Ultimately smart cities would sustain themselves on an almost closed loop of local water resources

v Research would be promoted to incorporate dry toilet systems to almost eliminate the requirement of flushing water and eliminate sewage and centralized sewage treatment plants. Decentralized sewage treatment plants having nature based solutions would be promoted

Wetlands provide several critical eco-system services. Yet the loss of wetlands to encroachments and reclamation continues unabated. The countries network of wetlands will be protected by :

o Strengthening the Wetland [Conservation and Management] Rules 2010 enhancing their applicability to all wetlands noted in National Wetland Atlas as required by Supreme Court ruling of February, 2017

o Wetlands not included in the National Wetland Atlas would also be given a legal protection

o A sub-continent sized country can have thousands of Ramsar sites. India has only 27. Work in identifying and notifying more sites would be expedited. Pragmatic management plans would be drawn up for these sites which would have Lake Management Authorities with overriding powers on the lines of Chilika Lake Development Authority.

v wetlands – aquifers sanctuaries– traditional water management openness of data wetlands

Groundwater meets a majority of irrigation and domestic consumption needs. India has the dubious distinction of being the largest user of groundwater in the world racing to exhaust its aquifers. Management and sustainability of aquifers and springs would now on be considered in conjunction with surface water as advised in the Mihir Shah report. Groundwater sanctuaries and good recharge zones would be protected from contrarian landuse especially in the course of urbanization and infrastructure development. The budget for groundwater monitoring and management would be stepped up

Agriculture Sector – here it is proposed to shift MSP support towards the lesser grains and millets which consume less water. Water saving technology and agronomic practices would be supported vigourously. The use of traditional seeds, crop diversity, organic inputs, improvement of exhausted soils, enhancement of pollinator diversity and populations, increased acreage under agro-forestry, elimination of chemical inputs would be thrust areas. Sikkim’s success in becoming 100% organic would be a bench mark for other states.

Wildlife – improvement of habitat and prey base in existing Protected Areas would be stressed. The growing man-animal conflict would have to be addressed even as humans and wildlife adapt to being at closer quarters. More protected areas and corridor connectivity would be given priority in the landscape as well as the urbanscape

urban areas would stress on more humane character with greater play of natural elements such as habitats, urban forests, urban agriculture, groundwater recharge, conservation of waterbodies, macro-water harvesting, larger percentage of area under green cover.

Tree Cover – current norms allow tree cutting by replacement with larger numbers of trees. In actual practice this encourages small canopy trees in order to meet the number requirement. This would be revised to replace the canopy cover lost by a greater extent of canopy cover. In Himalayas the tree cover would be densified to promote cooler temperatures especially close to the tree line

XVI. Achievement of Indian National Biodiversity Targets, SDGs, Aichi Targets would be biodiversity targets would be pushed vigourously. Towards this end ecologists would be attached to various decision making bodies on a regular basis such as in Ministries, Departments, Boards, PSUs, Planning Departments, District Planning Committees, urban development authorities, local bodies and panchayats

air emissions is already being addressed by a variety of techniques and technologies including promoting mass transport, NMVs, electrical vehicles. The Govt. would energize these efforts

If political parties could include the above statement of intentions in their manifestoes they would emerge as being truly sensitive to the well being of India.