More attention is required on how climate stressors interact with housing, livelihoods, health, and well-being of the city’s vulnerable communities, says a new report by Bengaluru Sustainability Forum (BSF) and Socratus.
Titled Climate Charche, the study acknowledges that several steps have been taken to encourage and mainstream climate action at the city level, including the Bengaluru Climate Action Plan. However considerable work still needs to be done to understand the burden of climate change on the communities at the neighbourhood/settlement level. It further stresses on the criticality of it in shaping appropriate policy pathways for helping communities adapt to climate stressors and build resilience.
Impact at multiple levels
The report highlights how poor housing conditions heightened climate risk. “Many informal settlements in the city tend to be located in low-lying and flood-prone areas. Their physical vulnerability is often made worse by failures in urban planning and governance,” it notes.
It also points to how damage to housing caused significant mental and financial distress among communities.
Water insecurity was another factor which was found to increase vulnerability and lower adaptive capacities of communities. According to the study, a majority of the respondents found piped water supply was inadequate, inconsistent, and of poor quality throughout the year.
“In this scenario, climate stressors served to compound the problem of water insecurity. During summers, piped water supply dwindled and many participants reported depending on private water supply through tankers which proved expensive. While some households were able to pool in money to buy water, others were forced to go without water altogether. In one distressing case, we found out that families depended on refuse water from a nearby RO plant during summers,” noted the report.
Impact opportunities
The study also throws light on the negative impact of climate change on health and livelihood practices of people such as street vendors, domestic workers, gig workers, and so on.
Some of the action points suggested by the study include prioritising housing improvement and improving delivery of social protection schemes, adequate and timely access to drinking water, safe sanitation and drainage facilities, working towards climate-resilient community health systems, and creating climate-resilient livelihoods.
