CHENNAI: The Sustainable Chennai Programme was unveiled on Wednesday at the University of Madras by representatives of the industry and the bureaucratic and academic groups in an effort to make Chennai more sustainable and resilient to climate change. Shanta Sheela Nair, Vice Chairman of the State Planning Commission, G Thiruvasagam, Vice Chancellor of Madras University, Paul G Prokop, Vice-Consul of US Consulate and Mike Nithavrianakis, British Deputy High Commissioner, were present for the seminar following the inauguration. “The nexus between urbanisation and climate change is real and it is estimated that by 2015, there will be about 200 million environmental refugees worldwide primarily due to climate-related catastrophes, calamities and sea level rise,” said G Dattatri, Trustee of Sustain Cities Forum – Chennai. “Climate Change has also been declared as the largest and biggest public health threat for the world in the 21st century. With more than 60 per cent of the world’s population living off the world’s coast and thereby becoming vulnerable to cyclonic storms and sea level rise, there is an increasing need to build climate resilient and low carbon cities.” Quoting studies conducted by private agency Maplecroft and UNEP, Thiruvasagam, VC of Madras University, said that climate change not only posed a risk to human life, health and environment, but also had serious economic consequences. With India’s urban population being the second largest in the world, there is a more severe threat, he said. “The Sustainable Chennai Forum will strive to produce new business models that are less harmful on the environment,” said T Shivaraman, Vice President of Madras Chamber of Commerce and Industry. Delivering the key note address, Shanta Sheela Nair said that the more challenging aspect will be in influencing human behaviour over building sustainable infrastructure. “Bottom-up approach is needed in environmental management like having a zero-waste discharge at the household level,” she said.
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