Bijal Brahmbhatt

Bijal Brahmbhatt is the Director of Mahila Housing Trust in India.  Her work of over 20 years in cities has been in the areas of formal, informal, and invisible governance for housing and habitat. Her programs have helped women participate in city-level initiatives, a small step to make cities inclusive.  Bijal was a Fellow (2015) of the Womanity Foundation, Switzerland and a finalist of Schwab Foundation’s Social Entrepreneur of the year, India.

Transformation Recording

Solutions to making the urban poor more resilient need to go beyond ‘business as usual and need to consider the underlying drivers which create risk for this group. Piece-meal solutions that offer temporary respite from oncoming climate change-induced stresses and disaster risks will not create the necessary level of structural change and require constant input. Therefore, it is necessary to discuss and understand how resilience initiatives can be made transformational so that urban poor households and communities within cities become truly resilient and independent.

Compound Hazards Recording

Compound hazards — when multiple hazards occur simultaneously, or one after another — have come to prominence as countries manage climate and disaster risks while continuing to respond to the COVID-19 crisis. The impacts of climate change, including climate variability and more frequent and intense natural hazards, are increasing the complexity of the disaster ‘riskscape’ across Asia and the Pacific, and particularly for the urban poor.

Heat Stress Recording

Heatwaves are projected to become more likely, severe, and persistent with global warming. Urban populations, especially the poor and vulnerable population, will be disproportionately affected by heat stress, given their high exposure due to poor quality and overcrowded housing, informal outdoor work, and limited access to health and other essential services, and will have an impact on lives, health, and productivity.

Climate and Disaster Resilience at the Household Level Recording

Resilient households form the basis for ensuring resilient communities and cities. Without resilience at the household level, the urban poor cannot be protected from climate change and disaster-related risks. Building climate and disaster resilience involve multidimensional issues requiring various policy and financial investments on social protection, adequate and resilient housing, access to essential health services, and sustainable livelihoods.

Sheela Patel

Sheela Patel is the founder Director of the Society for Promotion of Area Resource Centres (SPARC), an NGO that supports community organizations of the urban poor to access secure housing and basic amenities and seek their right to the city. She is also a founder member and former Chair of the Board of Slum Dwellers International (SDI), an international network of urban poor federations in Asia, Africa and Latin America.