The Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation (GHMC) is developing the Climate Resilient City Action Plan (CRCAP) – Towards a Net-Zero Future and the Local Biodiversity Strategy and Action Plan (LBSAP) for Hyderabad, with technical assistance from ICLEI South Asia. In this connection, a stakeholder consultation meeting was organised on 29 August 2023 in Hyderabad.

At the meeting, ICLEI South Asia staff spoke about the activities to be conducted in Hyderabad for the development of the CRCAP and LBSAP. The data collected so far, for both the plans was also showcased in the meeting, by ICLEI South Asia. Representatives from GHMC departments and other stakeholders deliberated on various aspects of the two plans, and provided valuable inputs.

Hyderabad has been experiencing climate change impacts such as varying rainfall patterns and rising temperatures. The city is potentially vulnerable to water shortages from changing rainfall and drainage patterns, urban flooding, development in proximity to water bodies, and land degradation.

The CRCAP will identify targets and strategies to help Hyderabad move towards net-zero greenhouse gas emissions and  support India’s ‘net-zero by 2070’ goal.  It will provide an evidence-base to help identify appropriate policies, interventions, and infrastructure projects that are required to address local climate risks and are aligned to existing urban development plans. The CRCAP will support the GHMC in identifying and prioritising urban sectors and services, and in developing cross-sectoral climate-resilient projects. Hyderabad’s CRCAP will be developed by using ICLEI South Asia’s  ‘Net Zero ClimateResilientCITIES methodology’, which has been successfully applied to develop climate action plans of 15 cities across India and in Bangladesh, Malaysia and Sri Lanka.

The LBSAP will lay out actions that need to be taken in order to improve the health of blue- green infrastructure of the city and the ecosystem services they provide. The LBSAP will also support in achieving National Biodiversity Targets as well as the targets of the Post 2020 Global Biodiversity Framework.

ICLEI South Asia has developed the LBSAPs of Kochi, Gangtok, Jammu, Nagpur and Srinagar and is developing the same for Noida, Rajkot, Siliguri and Udaipur, besides Hyderabad.