Reimagining Mountain Cities: Towards Sustainable, Culturally Sensitive and Inclusive Cities of Eastern South Asia
Date: Mon Oct 23, 2023 - Mon Oct 23, 2023
Location: Suwon Convention Centre, Room 402, South Korea
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Location: Suwon Convention Centre, Room 402, South Korea
REIMAGINING MOUNTAIN CITIES: TOWARDS SUSTAINABLE, CULTURALLY SENSITIVE AND INCLUSIVE CITIES OF EASTERN SOUTH ASIA
Mountain cities of Eastern South Asia- which comprises Bangladesh, Bhutan, Nepal as well as East and North-East parts of India – are marked by a mountainous topography, delicate ecosystems and a complex, multilayered social fabric. Today, they face a rapid economic growth, acute climate change and ecological challenges, and conflicting aspirations co-existing communities and stakeholders. The region wants to pave the way to its own unique path to urbanization, which enhances its unique assets, unlocks new socio-economic opportunities, and localise the SDGs and the New Urban Agenda. Its mountain cities expressed the need for a deep dive into guiding urbanisation principles of the region, which need to strike the balance between supporting the region’s economic growth and preserving, enhancing and building upon its unique cultural and natural assets. In this context, the session will delve into challenges specific to cities of the region, examine local context responsive solutions these cities are testing out, and discuss a scalable bottom-up urban development model most suitable to mountain cities to foster a local context anchored, sustainable and liveable urban development.
SPEAKERS/PANELISTS
Kanika Grover holds a Master’s degree in Economics (specialization in environmental and resource economics) from The Energy and Resource Institute of India. She has extensively worked in the areas of climate change policy and sustainable development with the Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change and Ministry of Finance in a career spanning almost a decade. She has been a part of the Indian delegation negotiating climate finance and loss and Damage at the UNFCCC’s Conference of Parties (COPs) Climate Change since 2019 in Madrid (COP25), Glasgow (cop26) and Egypt (COP27). She has played a key role in accessing international climate finance from the UN Green Climate Fund and Global Environment Facility projects for climate change change mitigation and adaptation projects in India. She has also co-authored the paper: The Delhi Vision Statement: The Green Climate Fund. She started her career with Energy Consulting Firm, Boston Strategies International and went to gain some industry experience and learn about the symbiosis between government policy and related private sector engagement in the climate change space with her stint at the Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FICCI). Apart from her academic work, she has a keen interest in playing the violin and is currently pursuing learning it from the Delhi School of Music. At UNESCAP, she plans to take forward the vision of ESCAP to enable inclusive, resilient and sustainable development by supporting action-oriented knowledge, capacity-building services to promote development and regional connectivity in the Asian and Pacific region.
Rubina Adhikari is an ardent environmental advocate from Nepal, holding an undergraduate degree in Forestry. She has a two-year track record of actively engaging in climate justice initiatives, environmental policy formulation, and governance processes. She is a youth ambassador of Asian Development Bank and a country representative of Gross International Nature. In these roles, she diligently strives to create a substantial platform for youth participation within decision-making bodies. Currently, she is also working as an intern in ICCCAD providing her capacity to strengthen local-led initiatives in climate change. Her ultimate professional aspiration is to evolve into an accomplished environmental analyst serving towards a just future.
Olga Chepelianskaia stands as a global authority in Sustainable and Climate Resilient Urban Development. She is the Founding Director of UNICITI, an international consultancy and think tank dedicated to guiding cities toward organic, sustainable, and creative growth, rooted in their unique DNA. She heads the program A Third Way of Building Asian Cities, which unites over 15 international experts and 100 professionals from 40+ countries. Her expertise is pivotal in refining urban planning and design for enhanced socio-economic returns, leveraging cities' unique cultural, natural, and intellectual resources, and formulating strategies for climate change and disaster risk reduction. She is also instrumental in promoting placemaking, sustainable tourism, climate policy crafting, and easing access to climate funds. With a rich 19-year career, she has directed 10+ major international programs, spanned 30+ cities and 40+ nations across Asia, Europe, and the Middle East, collaborating with top international entities such as ADB, CDIA, ISOCARP, the Rockefeller Foundation, UNDP, UNECE, UNEP, UNESCAP, and UNIDO.
Sabyasachi Dutta is the co-founder and Executive Director of Asian Confluence. Sabyasachi pioneered the “Third Space” philosophy of the Asian Confluence whereby through a host of programs, the Asian Confluence provides an opportunity for civil society to enhance people to people contact between India and her neighbours and also encourage a better understanding of the cultural and socio-political issues of the region that actually are the driving force behind policies such as India’s “Act East Policy”. Sabyasachi leads the Asian Confluence in several track 1.5 and track 2 initiatives, speaks at several prestigious fora. The NADI (Natural Allies in Development and Interdependence) - River dialogues conceived and executed by the Asian Confluence is now a premier track 1.5 dialogue on regional cooperation in the Bay of Bengal region in partnership with the Governments of India and other countries. He is a core author of the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN)’s Civil Society Organizations (CSO) vision document for regional cooperation on rivers in the Ganga Brahmaputra Meghna (GBM) region.
