Climate Change Adaptation and Built Environment Resilience: East Kolkata Wetland Strategies

Abstract

In developing countries, poverty alleviation and development are key policy drivers, and ideally these strategies should align with climate change adaptation and resilience as well. This study explores those challenges through an inductive investigation into the East Kolkata Wetland (EKW), the 'wise-use' of wastewater, alignment with climate change adaptation, resilience and poverty alleviation. EKW is a 12,500 ha Ramsar site, close to Kolkata Metropolitan Area in eastern India and connected to Sunderban and the Bay of Bengal. While there are illegal demand-driven developments within EKW, the study explores how planning might provide for development while preserving the critical functions of a wetland. The study addresses three topics: (1) the socio-ecological model; (2) planning approaches to the wetland; and (3) how those might contribute to poverty alleviation. This study of EKW centres on the past and present ecological history of the city and includes analysis of future physical and institutional relations between the city and the wetland. The study benefits from participatory mapping exercises involving indigenous fishing and farming communities.