Hyderabad has grown from a city built for a population of three lakhs to an emerging megacity with 70 lakh residents and a deteriorating quality of life.
The Project is expected to result in the implementation of an action plan for solving problems of nutrition and environment as well as leading to institutional innovations and governance reforms.
Hyderabad as a Megacity of Tomorrow: Sustainable Urban Food and Health Security and Environmental Resource Management, is a project set to address the quality of life in this Mega city.Initiated and funded by German ministry of Education and Research (BMBF), Project consists of 8 Consortium Partners (from Germany and IFPRI), 10 stakeholders from Germany and India and 2 associated Research Partners from India. The present Project has Prof. Dr. Dr. h. c. Konrad Hagedornas Project Leader and Dr. Ramesh Chennamaneni as the Project Coordinator.
Specific reasons why Hyderbad has been selected are: clear observability of the processes leading to the formation of a megacity; extreme dualism between the groups benefiting from economic growth and other groups struggling to fulfil their basic needs; the status of Hyderabad as a city of knowledge generation, to be used for problem solutions (a strategic objective of the Project), and its location in a semi-arid agricultural region with grave effects of huge migration from the neighbouring rural areas.
The Project is expected to result in the implementation of an action plan for solving problems of nutrition and environment as well as leading to institutional innovations and governance reforms. Further expected outcomes are the integration of organisations of civil society in communication, participation, co-operation and network linking strategies throughout the research, the establishment of pilot projects which have the potential for continued implementation, once handed over to relevant actors. The outcomes of Project are expected to be appropriate for enhancing development co-operation.
A five day workshop is currenlty under way in Hyderabad, The Co-ordinator of the project Ramesh Chennamaneni said that seven pilot project studies were taken up in the core areas by Indian, German and US scientists and academicians along with stakeholders such as MCH, HUDA, NGOs, and residents welfare associations.
The pilot project reports would be presented in the five-day workshop. He said this was the preparatory phase for implementation beginning this August. The objective of the nine-year, Rs.40-crore project would be to develop sustainable development framework and work out an action plan for Hyderabad focusing on core issues.
Source: http://www.sustainable-hyderabad.de , The Hindu
