ICLEI South Asia signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with the Bhavnagar Municipal Corporation (BMC) on January 12, 2024, concerning technical support for the preparation of the city’s Climate Resilient City Action Plan (CRCAP) under the European Commission-supported Global Covenant of Mayors for Climate and Energy (GCoM).

ICLEI South Asia is the South Asia Technical Coordinator of GCoM, a global alliance of cities and local governments voluntarily committed to combating climate change and implementing the Paris Agreement. The coalition comprises over 13,000 cities in 144 countries across six continents. In the South Asia region, GCoM includes 48 signatory cities from six countries, representing over 82 million people.

The MoU was signed in the presence of Mr. N V Upadhyay, Hon’ble Municipal Commissioner of Bhavnagar; Mr. Falgun Shah, Assistant Municipal Commissioner; and Ms. Soumya Chaturvedula, Deputy Director, ICLEI South Asia, among others, on the sidelines of the 10^th Vibrant Gujarat Global Summit organised by the Government of Gujarat.

A CRCAP is a comprehensive strategy designed to help urban areas adapt to and mitigate the impacts of climate change. The Bhavnagar CRCAP will be prepared using the ClimateResilientCities Methodology in line with the global guidelines of the GCoM’s Common Reporting Framework (CRF). The CRCAP will include a detailed city profile and urban system gap analysis, and a Global Protocol for Community-Scale Greenhouse Gas Emission Inventories (GPC) compliant greenhouse gas emissions inventory. It will also have a climate risk and vulnerability assessment, which will include a list of vulnerable systems, actors and their adaptation capacity and vulnerable hotspots that require urgent attention. ICLEI South Asia and the Bhavnagar Municipal Corporation will be engaging with various stakeholders, including government agencies, businesses, community groups, and residents to incorporate their perspectives to ensure the plan addresses the needs and concerns of all stakeholders.

The CRCAP will help Bhavnagar city to identify risks and opportunities to enhance the resilience of critical infrastructure such as buildings, transportation systems, solid waste management and water supply systems. It will provide a list of potential strategies and measures to incorporate green infrastructure and nature-based solutions to enhance the city’s resilience. Such strategies and recommendations will be included for all key urban sectors such as water, wastewater, solid waste management, energy, transport and municipal services.

The development of the CRCAP will help Bhavnagar to gain national and international visibility and recognition for its climate efforts and enable it to report its climate performance, commitment and actions on the Government of India’s Urban Outcome Framework and global reporting platform of CDP-ICLEI Track, which is the official reporting platform of GCoM for cities.