Locating U20 Agenda in Urban Governance in India

By : Sachin Chowdhry

Page No: 133-148

Abstract
Climate change has emerged as a very serious threat and is affecting people all over the globe in one way or the other. Concerted efforts need to be made at all levels—global, national and local, for mitigation and adaptation. City level efforts need support from the other stakeholders, in most of the cases. They are constrained by lack of different types of resources. To articulate such concerns, different types of groups have emerged with linkages to several networks. U20 is one such group, which recommends action-areas concerning cities to the G20, group of twenty countries with major contribution to the global economy.
India is a member of G20 and has been participating in its meetings over the years and is also affected adversely by climate change effects. This paper is an attempt to understand that how the cities in India are placed to engage in the climate action efforts, especially concerns raised by U20 over the years. The analysis covers the opportunities as well as constraints of city level institutions. The paper also looks at as to what priority has been given to the cities by the national government in facing climate challenges.

Author :
Sachin Chowdhry : Associate Professor, (Public Administration), Centre for Urban Studies, Indian Institute of Public Administration, New Delhi.