Mumbai or MumBYE – The city built from the sea is being consumed by it

Bom Baim – a collection of islands

This city, before it was a city, was a sprinkling of seven islands in the briny waters off India’s western coast. In 1661, the islands changed ownership when King John IV of Portugal gifted them to King Charles II of England on his marriage to Princess Catherine of Braganza. Realising these islands were not even eighteen square miles of land and that communication from one island to another was a problem, King Charles II palmed them off to the English East India Company for a paltry sum of £10 a year. This suited the East Indian Company just fine as it was looking for a new base on the west coast of India.

These islands, named Bombay, Mazagaon, Parel, Worli, Mahim, Little Colaba (or Old Woman’s Island) and Colaba, had varied topography – from low hills to tidal flats, and mangrove forests to salt pans. There were three great breaches or inlets through which the seawater gushed in during the high tide in the space between the islands. When the water receded, it left behind swamps of salty water. While it was possible to cross over from Bombay to Mazagaon during low tides as the sea was very shallow in that area, the gap between other islands was navigated by boats.

Over the next two hundred years, the East India Company built embankments, flattened hills, and dumped the rubble into the marsh to join these seven islands. Building these embankments was no mean feat as it meant fighting a battle against the mighty Arabian Sea to give up her land. The resultant island city is what constitutes the present South Mumbai.

This development was not restricted to just these seven islands. Around 1760, the Portuguese gifted the Salsette taluka to the Queen of England. To accommodate the burgeoning population of the city, the eighty-four villages of this taluka were also joined together by draining inlets and reclaiming the land. Today, this area is bound by the Vashi creek on the north side and Mahim causeway on the south side. The Arabian Sea is to the west and to the east is the boundary of Thane district. It forms the present-day Mumbai Surburban District.

Mumbai – a sinking city

As per a study conducted by the World Resource Institute (WRI) India on Mumbai’s vulnerability assessment, the city faces two major climate challenges — the rise in temperature, and extreme rain events which lead to flooding.

In February 2020, a report released by McKinsey India predicts that, by 2050, Mumbai will see a twenty-five percent increase in the intensity of flash floods accompanied by a half-metre rise in the sea level. (This projected rise can be seen on a tool hosted by NASA's Sea Level Portal.) This could hit around two – three million people living within a one-kilometre radius of the coastline.

Climate scientists have warned that most of south Mumbai, including Cuffe Parade, Mantralaya, Churchgate, Nariman Point, Umerkhadi, Mohammad Ali Road, Marine Lines, Girgaum, and Breach Candy, will face the worst of the flooding by 2050 as they are all situated on reclaimed land.

All these predictions have been corroborated by data collected by the India Meteorological Department (IMD). Since 2007, the city has seen a constant rise in temperature mainly due to concretization, lack of green cover and housing density. The average rise in temperature is up by one degree Celsius in these fourteen years.

Meanwhile, rainfall trends for the past ten years show an increase in extreme-rainfall events, resulting in frequent water logging and flooding.

The data collected from BMC departments, state and regional authorities and other agencies shows that, in 2019, seventy-one percent of Mumbai’s greenhouse gas emission came from the energy sector which is mainly based on coal. At least twenty-four percent is from transport, and the remaining five percent from solid waste management.

The need for Mumbai Climate Action Plan

Amid warnings of climate change leading to extreme weather events in the city, on 27 August 2021, Iqbal Singh Chahal, Commissioner of Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC), launched the Mumbai Climate Action Plan and its website in the presence of Aditya Thackeray, Minister for Environment and Tourism, as well as other dignitaries. He warned that close to seventy percent of south Mumbai would be submerged by 2050 due to rising sea levels on account of climate change. He said that nature had been giving warnings but if people do not “wake up” then the situation would turn “dangerous”. Chahal pointed out that in the past fifteen months or so, Mumbai and the surrounding areas were lashed by three cyclones, leading to waterlogging in many areas like Marine Drive, Girgaum, etc. He warned that not only would the next generation suffer from climate change but also the current one.

He said that Mumbai is the first city in South Asia to be preparing its climate action plan and acting on it. “Earlier, we used to hear about climate change events like melting glaciers, but not directly affecting us. But now it has come to our doorstep,” he added.

In December 2020, Mumbai became the sixth Indian city to join the C40 network – a network of nearly one hundred world-leading cities collaborating to deliver the urgent action needed right now to confront climate change. Following which the city’s civic body began developing the Mumbai Climate Action Plan (MCAP) using the C40-developed City Inventory Reporting and Information System (CIRIS).

The MCAP looks at climate resilience with mitigation and adaptation strategies by focusing on six areas — sustainable waste management, urban greening and biodiversity, urban flooding and water resource management, building energy efficiency, air quality, and sustainable mobility.

The plan for Mumbai will be carried out in four stages. Stages one and two will focus on establishing a metric for existing vulnerabilities within the city, along with collecting demographic and tree cover data used for post analysis. Steps three and four will focus on building a climate profile for verticals like air pollution, water resources, urban flooding, urban greenery, energy efficiency in municipal buildings, transport and mobility, and waste management.

For the next couple of months, BMC and WRI India will conduct a series of stakeholder consultations to seek feedback and recommendations from organisations and sector experts for the six key areas.

Accommodations in the Budget

In his Budget speech on 3 February 2022, Mumbai Municipal Commissioner Iqbal Singh Chahal said that the BMC would give a major push to the Climate Action Plan. “Two new schemes have been launched for the health and well-being of every Mumbaikar. As a member of C40, climate change mitigation is what Mumbai is looking at. How to achieve carbon neutral scenario is another aspect of it. In 2022-23, we will give a major push to the climate action plan. Total BEST fleet should be increased to 4000 buses and all will be EV (electric vehicles),” he said.

“The BMC is acutely aware of its environment responsibilities and hence it will continue work on mitigation, adaptation, carbon sequestration, and carbon neutrality to avoid getting closer to tipping point through unprecedented transition and abrupt changes. We will focus on carbon neutrality in various sectors. As a start, BMC has signed a power purchase agreement for Middle Vaitarna mixed power of hydro and solar for 100 megawatts,” Chahal said in his Budget speech.

Conclusion

While the entire concept of trying to save a sinking city may sound overwhelming, one needs to bear in mind that this is a long-term goal. It is not a sprint but a well-paced marathon that will get us gains in the long run. The BMC and various state authorities are doing their bit to reduce carbon emissions. Let us, as proud Mumbaikars, do our bit to save this maximum city.

Source: Various internet sites