CPIN Survey on citizen and community-led climate initiatives in Indian Cities

Climate change is a collective action problem, and it will take the collaboration of many different stakeholders to bring about an effective response. It is likely that citizens will play a significant role in influencing climate action in terms of the collective agency they may hold. Citizens as individuals, and more importantly as a collective, can play an important role in engaging with their local political leaders, participating in civil society organizations, and promoting their priorities through these channels. Furthermore, this requires efforts to create awareness of these priorities from both a short- and long-term perspective for fellow citizens, city officials, businesses and local political leaders to promote climate action. 

The Climate Practitioners India Network (CPIN) at the Climate Centre for Cities (C-Cube), National Institute of Urban Affairs (NIUA) is conducting a survey to map citizen and community-led initiatives on climate change across the country. The online survey or crowdsourcing exercise aims to capture information about actions taken, impacts created, the scale of implementation, public involvement, and sources of funding on the range of activities undertaken through individual and/or collective initiatives. We intend to establish a repository of this collected information that can aid the development of various climate actions by any individual or collective in any city across India and further raise awareness and action on the ground. Additionally, this exercise will facilitate the following: 

First, by enhancing the visibility of ongoing initiatives. Thus, these initiatives can be scaled up or extended to a wider population and reach by gaining additional support - technological, knowledge, financial and other resources. 

Secondly, it can provide the foundation for the development of a network of organizations, collectives, and individuals working towards a common objective. Such a network can find common bases in their locations, sectors or activities among other things. The initiatives can benefit from access to a common pool of resources as well as from an exchange of resources, which can be facilitated by groups like CPIN. 

Finally, the lessons learned from these initiatives can serve as a springboard for further collective creation, not only in the network but in other communities as well.

Frequently Asked Questions 

1. What is the survey about?
   
   Purpose of the Survey: This survey is part of research aimed at mapping citizen- and community-led climate change initiatives. They refer to efforts initiated and developed by individuals or groups of citizens to help contribute to climate action in cities.

Expected Outcome:  A compilation of citizen- and community-led efforts and initiatives across the country which will be available to the public as an open-access resource.

Goal: Develop a go-to document that can be used by any citizen or community to facilitate climate action in their neighbourhood or city. Further, develop cross-linkages between communities and citizens across similar agendas to facilitate sharing of best practices and failure stories. 

Citizen or Community-led Climate Actions: Any action or initiative taken by you or your peers as an individual or a collective to mitigate or adapt to climate change. We broadly define it under five thematic areas but feel free to add any other initiatives or actions as well. Five thematic areas are: Energy and Green Building; Urban Planning, Green Cover, Biodiversity and Disaster Resilience; Mobility and Air Quality; Water Management; and Waste Management

2. Who is conducting the survey? 

The survey is being conducted by the Climate Practitioners India Network (CPIN) under the Climate Center for Cities (C-Cube), National Insitute of Urban Affairs (NIUA). CPIN was launched in 2021, as a solutions-oriented citizen engagement platform for climate practitioners across the country.

To find out more about Climate Center for Cities (C-Cube)  visit https://niua.in/c-cube/

3. Who can fill out the survey?
   
   Individuals/ Collectives/ Organizations (formally or informally organized) who have led or are a part of initiatives to deal with climate change at the local level. You can also nominate Individuals/ Collectives /Organizations to fill out this form. Your participation in the survey is voluntary but very important for the completeness and accuracy of the final outcomes.

4. What kinds of initiatives are we referring to/ trying to capture?

• They essentially refer to efforts initiated and developed by individuals, groups of citizens or organizations to help contribute to climate action. These initiatives could be anything ranging from a community-level waste segregation drive to an awareness campaign to promote public transport or carpooling, reducing energy use in buildings, reclaiming green spaces, rejuvenating the lost traditional wisdom of bavdis (wells) or implementing rooftop solar. 

• We are predominantly looking for climate actions for the following thematic areas:

   

  • Energy and Green Building

  • Urban Planning, Green Cover, Biodiversity, and Disaster Resilience

  • Mobility and Air Quality

  • Water Management

  • Waste Management

  • Any other climate action that you feel is outside of the above-mentioned thematic areas. 

5. What information pertaining to the initiatives will be collected and why?

• Scale: This information will capture the magnitude of current efforts in different areas.  

• Reach: The aim is to map current approaches and their efficacies in reaching out to people to find what works and what does not.  

• Sources of funding: This will help understand current sources and patterns of funding, gaps or challenges in funding, and will also help identify potential entry points for funding and financing interventions.

• Collaborations/ Partnerships: This information will aid in identifying the current scale of cooperation and collaboration in and among initiatives. This will help sketch a network of collaborating organizations, and potentially connect them to explore synergies.

• Lessons: Key learnings from the experiences of ongoing initiatives will inform a database of best practices for both current and future initiatives.

• Challenges: The challenges will help identify the needs and priorities to promote effective collective action at the local level.

6. How will the information be protected? 

• The information that is collected will only be used for research and statistical purposes. Your contact details will be kept separate from your answers and will not be passed on to any organization outside of NIUA. \

7. How will the information collected be verified?

• The CPIN team will verify the sources shared in the form. 

• Where necessary, the team shall reach out to the concerned respondents for an in-depth interview to confirm and contextualize the information gathered through the form.  

• The CPIN team will ask for photos and videos of the activity undertaken as well as if the event/initiative is covered by any local print media at the later date. 

8. How can you reach out to us in case of any queries w.r.t survey?

If you would like any further details about the survey or have any issues completing the survey please write to us at c-cube@niua.org.

The survey will launch on date 5th November 2022 to 5th December 2022.

You can fill up the survey here.