Community Resilience to Climate Change: Theory, Research and Practice

227 EMPIRICAL APPLICATION: DELHI The city of Delhi is used as a case study for applying the justice criteria and identifying the mechanisms of injustice at play in climate change adaptation planning. Delhi is a useful case for applying the proposed criteria for justice in adaptation planning because it is part of a broader trend: cities in developing and newly industrializing countries taking action on climate change (Betsill and Bulkeley 2007). Although these efforts are still relatively new in Delhi, the city was one of the first major cities in the world to initiate a climate change action plan and is continuing to update its approach to addressing and adapting to climate change. It is a growing city with major deficits in services and a vibrant middle class. Between April and May 2012, 21 interviews were conducted with people working on climate change issues in the central government, Delhi government, academia, and NGOs. Interviewees were first chosen using a strategic sampling method targeting individuals from government, NGOs, and academia involved in, interested in, or contributing to city-scale planning for climate change, environment, energy, water, or land use. This resulted in an initial set of 15 interviews. A snowball sampling method (Noy 2008) was then used to identify and interview an additional six people that participants thought would be valuable sources of information for the research. The final set of 21 interviews included 8 people from city government, 1 person from subcity government, i.e., the Municipal Corporation of Delhi, 4 people from central government, 6 people from NGOs, and 2 academics. The interviews were semistructured and included questions on how climate change planning takes place and what it consists of, how vulnerable groups are included, what information was used in the process, and plans for the future (Appendix 1). Because the climate change agenda does not distinguish between mitigation and adaptation aims, participants were asked about climate change actions broadly, and the answers were interpreted and analyzed as they pertained to adaptation. The interviews were transcribed and coded using a deductive coding scheme reflective of the three justice criteria and the four potential mechanisms of injustice. The results from these interviews, together with other literature and government reports, were used to identify the city’s climate change challenges, apply the three criteria for justice in adaptation, and determine what mechanisms are at play in producing injustices in adaptation. The analysis, therefore, was largely based on the perceptions and responses of the interviewees as measured against the criteria for justice and potential mechanisms of injustice described in the literature and presented above (Smith and Wiek 2012). Climate change adaptation and Delhi Nearly 17 million people live in the National Capital Territory of Delhi, referred to here as Delhi, and the population has been expanding rapidly, growing by 47% between 1991 and 2001 and by 20% from 2001 to 2011 (Census of India 2011). Delhi is predicted to experience increased temperatures and extremes in precipitation in response to climate change (IITM 2005). The city lies on the banks of the Yamuna River, and increases in extreme precipitation events combined with accelerated glacial melt are likely to increase the chance of major floods (Revi 2008). Increased temperatures may also lead to increased urban heat islands, particularly in high density housing neighborhoods. More intense droughts are also predicted for the city and the regions it depends upon for resources. Delhi already struggles to meet the water supply, sanitation, and water quality needs of its residents (Centre for Science and Environment 2012), and climatic changes will exacerbate these challenges. The city supports a growing middle class that has benefitted greatly, both politically and economically, from globalization and India’s subsequent economic growth. The city has also been undergoing significant changes because of its drive to become a world-class, or global, city (Dupont 2011). However, this growth in prominence and wealth has also served to further marginalize the urban poor and working classes (Fernandes 2004, Ghertner 2012). In addition, large portions of the city’s residents live in informal settlements that receive little or no city services and are exposed to flooding hazards and air pollution. These groups, the poor and the informal, are the most vulnerable in the city and are the target population for evaluating justice in adaptation in Delhi. In 2008 the city released its climate change plan, called the Climate Change Agenda for Delhi 2009-2012. The plan contains 65 action points, 1 for every year of India’s independence, that include both mitigation and adaptation activities. The plan did not come with explicit budgets but did allocate responsibility for implementation to existing groups and government agencies within the city (former Delhi Department of Environment employee, 30 April 2012, personal communication). These assignments were therefore essentially unfunded and in many cases built on or incorporated existing programs within the agencies. Then in August of 2010, the national government initiated a collaborative effort with states to develop a common framework for implementing national climate change objectives. As a union territory, Delhi is currently developing a state level action plan under this framework, which will replace the Climate Change Agenda for Delhi 2009-2012 when it is completed. Funding for the state level action plans is predicted to come from federal ministries as well as from internal, bilateral, multilateral, and private funding sources (United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) representative, 3 May 2012, personal communication). The state action plans are expected to focus more on adaptation and, according to a representative from the national Ministry of Environment and Forests, on 23 May 2012, they hope to get mitigation benefits through adaptation measures and avoid setting explicit emissions targets. Delhi’s efforts at climate change adaptation planning are still relatively young: the climate change agenda has only been in place since 2009 and the state level action plan is still being developed. However, Delhi remains one of the early actors in developing a climate change plan, particularly among low and middle income countries, and learning from these experiences can have value not only for the city itself as it moves forward, but also for other cities with similar ambitions.