Building on the success of previous TheCityFix Labs (TCFL) India challenges on water, waste and energy management, and sanitation , WRI India, under the Cities4Forests initiative, is launching ‘Accelerating Nature-based Solutions’- an initiative aiming to identify, test and pilot innovative and promising solutions towards mainstreaming urban NbS in India. This initiative is supported by Caterpillar Foundation and the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs of the British Government and Norway’s International Climate and Forest Initiative.

The launch will also see the first convening of the India Forum for Nature-based Solutions which will bring together government officials, technical experts, and solution providers to discuss the need for NbS in India, the benefits, and challenges of its implementation. The panel will discuss:

• Viable solutions and best practices,
• Regulatory, policy and financial hurdles that must be addressed to help scale NbS
• The role of network platforms and communities in promoting collaborative solutions to some of these challenges

SPEAKERS

• Mr. Aaditya Thackeray, Minister of Tourism, Environment, and Protocol, Government of Maharashtra
• Ms. Tulsi Gowda, Environmentalist and Padma Shri awardee
• Ms. Asha Varghese, President, Caterpillar Foundation
• Ms. Charu Chadha, Principal, Omidyar Network India
• Ms. Emma Donnelly, Deputy Director, International, Nature, Climate and Development Division, DEFRA
• Mr. Saswata Mohapatra, Executive Director, Spandan
• Dr. RJ Pandya, Advisor, Surat Municipal Corporation
• Dr. Shalini Dhyani, Senior Scientist, NEERI
• Dr. Umamaheshwaran Rajasekar, Chair Urban Resilience – Global Resilience Cities Network, NIUA
• Mr. Madhav Pai, Executive Director, WRI India Ross Center
• Ms. Jaya Dhindaw, Program Director, WRI India
• Dr. Priya Narayanan, Program Manager, WRI India
• Ms. Aarathi Kumar, Senior Project Associate, WRI India