A shared learning dialogue, as part of the Rockefeller Foundation supported Asian Cities Climate Change Resilience Network (ACCCRN), was recently held in Panaji city which aimed at discussing the sectors identified to be impacted by climate change. This workshop was inaugurated by the Hon’ble Member of Legislative Assembly, Panaji, Mr. Siddharth Kunkolienkar who emphasised on the need for such a study in order to ensure sustainable development for the city of Panaji. All the participants showed very high level of involvement and interaction in the group work and participatory exercises carried out during the workshop. Speaking to the participants during the workshop, Mr Sanjit Rodrigues, Commissioner, Corporation of the City of Panaji (CCP) elaborated on the essentiality of the entire exercise and highlighted the fact that the final outcomes of the project will help Panaji develop as a climate resilient city.

The CCP is applying the ICLEI ACCCRN Process (IAP), a toolkit developed by ICLEI’s South Asia and Oceania offices specifically for city governments to help them assess their vulnerabilities to climate change and to develop corresponding climate resilience strategies. As part of this process a Climate Core Team was formed during project initiation in the city. Based on the data collected through a previous exercise on Urban Vulnerability Assessment, which ICLEI South Asia had carried out in Panaji, the climate threats and the impacts of the same on the various urban sectors have been documented. The results of the same were discussed in detail with the Climate Core Team on 19th August 2015 and a total of 7 urban sectors (water supply, health, transportation, sanitation, land, storm water and ecosystems) have been identified to be impacted by climate change. Field visits were carried out in three areas that were identified as vulnerability hotspots, namely, Mala, St Inez Creek and Patto area, by the team from ICLEI South Asia to understand the actual ground level scenario on 21st August 2015.

During the field visits, discussions were held with the ward councilors, residents of the ward and representatives of other organisations working on similar issues in these wards. A sector-wise analysis is now being carried out by ICLEI South Asia, the results of which will be circulated very shortly among all the participating stakeholders and other related departments (e.g. Water Resources Department) for their final comments. The same will then be discussed with the Climate Core Team during the second half of the month of September and the vulnerable wards will also be identified. All this information will then be collated and analysed by the ICLEI South Asia team to develop the City Resilience Strategy for the city of Panaji.

The City Corporation of Panaji (CCP) has been collaborating with ICLEI South Asia on the ACCCRN project which aims to build resilience to climate change across all urban systems and groups, in particular the poorest and most marginalized.