As many as 14 recommendations emerged from the two-day 66th National Town and Country Planner’s Congress which concluded on Saturday. The Institute Town and Country Planners, India (ITPI) recommended that climate change policies should be prepared at city level and should become integral part of master plan, more specifically provisions of ECBE and NBC should be incorporated in master plans as cities consume more than 70 percent of all energy used and cities produce 80 percent of greenhouse gas emissions.
Green mobility plans in line with the proposed Green Mobility Scheme of the Central government should be prepared and implemented. GMPs would significantly reduce cities’ contribution to greenhouse gases. All public vehicles should use only green fuels. ITPI recommends that the yardstick of per capita emissions and per unit area emissions should be replaced with global cumulative contribution of greenhouse gases.
It is recommended that master plans should contain specific disaster mitigation polices for the urban poor. An inventory of vacant lands should be made and these lands should be converted into protected green spaces. Besides, policies should be included in master plans about complete elimination of open defection.
In order to bring about sustainable economic growth, climate change abatement policies must be implemented urgently.