Green efforts: Citizens must chip in if we’re to save our urban ecosystems

The annual post-monsoon festive season also brings with it a choke-hold associated with deadly air pollution—at levels so high that it makes our air-quality metrics worthless. 

December and January complete the cycle as we prepare for a new year, with its year-round challenges of solid-waste pollution and traffic congestion. All of these translate into huge economic and well-being losses, even if we lack the data and analysis to estimate these.

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With the relentless flow of people from rural to urban areas in search of economic opportunities, Indian cities are expected to be home to nearly 40% of our population by 2030. 

Heat is a particular challenge for urban areas due to the so-called Urban Heat Island (UHI) effect, which is estimated to add anywhere between 2° and 10° Celsius to the mercury level over already-high temperatures in surrounding rural zones. The combined threat from an urban-profile shift towards sub-urbanization and high-rise structures, worsening UHI effects and climate change has left large populations vulnerable. 

A number of cities have drawn up urban heat plans to both adapt and build resilience to intolerable heat. However, as highlighted by researchers of the Sustainable Futures Collaborative (SFC) in Delhi, there is inadequate ownership of the problem—as seen in weakly identified actions across relevant departments and poorly attributed health data—to facilitate commensurate all-of-government responses.

The World Cities Report 2024 estimates that exposure to flooding in riverine cities has gone up by a factor of 3.5, as compared to rural areas, since 1975. This is due to a range of factors, the most important being our population increase. However, the vulnerability of our cities is significantly higher because of the poor quality of urban infrastructure and its maintenance. 

The largely reactive responses of city administrations to recurring floods—natural or man-enhanced—do not provide a systemic solution that holds good over time. Frustration with the lack of pro-active responses is likely misplaced if directed at operational teams alone; our cities are very complex and large, and we must strengthen our capacity for more sophisticated diagnostic tools and analyses.

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As with urban heat and flooding, our air pollution crisis has been oft discussed and lived through for decades, especially in cities of the north. More recently, Mumbai has also come under the scanner, as have Bengaluru and Hyderabad, among others. 

Mass transit systems have improved in several cities in the last few decades, a period that saw consciousness of air pollution emerge. However, public transport systems and last-mile connectivity remain problematic, as also the user-friendliness of mass-transit systems. The rapid rise in app-based electric-vehicle taxi services in larger cities holds promise, but this trend needs the support of governments to bring about real relief. 

At the same time, demand management too needs to be addressed urgently, for which we must engage the economy’s industrial, services and educational sectors by means of strong regulatory measures. Extraneous factors, like crop-residue burning in north India, do have a role in air pollution, but many studies have highlighted the pre-eminence of transport and other in-city activities in causing it.

As highlighted by the SFC, the current belief in city administrations seems to be that the health manifestations of air pollution and heat-related illnesses should be addressed by health or disaster management institutions, whereas the urban flooding should be tackled by municipal bodies. 

However, a more informed view would be for governments to recognize that merely dealing with the fallout of ecosystem collapses will not keep cities liveable or stem their decline. We have already had statements from a number of corporate leaders in Bengaluru threatening to move out of the city, pushed by the high cost of traffic congestion. There exists adequate anecdotal evidence to illustrate an exodus of highly qualified professionals from the NCR region on account of its extremely poor air quality. 

Reclaiming ecosystems, building resilience and putting in place adaptive measures are all needed to sustain urban growth and well-being. The solutions lie in re-imagining urban forms, structures and infrastructure, the creation of green spaces, and in altering our work, lifestyle and consumption patterns in ways that mitigate the threats we face. 

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An integrated view would also ensure a more effective allocation of financial resources and minimize the demand for additional funds. Appropriately integrated regulatory measures would also help leverage private capital towards this end.

But, to achieve all of the above, the most important requirements are the collection and accessibility of good-quality data, the capacity to undertake (or access) comprehensive analyses based on a deep understanding of cause-effect relationships, and a willingness to ground analytical assessments in the real world through effective citizen participation and regular monitoring and feedback. 

Governments should also consider appointing chief sustainability officers empowered to scrutinize and approve a set of identified economic activities for their environmental and carbon footprints.

The author is an independent expert on climate change and clean energy.