The National Mission for Clean Ganga and Mississippi River Cities and Towns Initiative (MRCTI) signed a Memorandum of Common Purpose at the ongoing COP28 in Dubai. It aims to collaborate on issues related to urban river management, which includes a comprehensive water monitoring program, sharing best practices for re-naturing urban areas, and restoring aquatic ecosystems for sustainable urban development. Initiatives extend to restoring urban forests and lakes connected to rivers, emphasising the importance of green spaces.
The MoU is expected to go a long way in capacity building and knowledge exchange between different continents for integrated river management.
The collaboration comes five days after the Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs released India Infrastructure Report 2023 which called for “urban redevelopment” to mitigate the impact of climate change.
The memorandum is part of Namami Gange’s River Cities Alliance initiative. With the signing of this document, River Cities Alliance has now expanded its strength to the membership of 267 global river-cities spanning India, USA and Denmark. MRCTI represents 124 cities or towns situated along the banks of the Mississippi River. The agreement has brought NMCG a step closer to the scheduled launch of the Global River Cities Alliance (GRCA) on December 10 at COP28.
The document was signed by G. Asok Kumar, Director General, NMCG and Mayors representing the Mississippi River Cities and Towns Initiative.
NMCG conveyed the River Cities Alliance's keen interest in acquiring further insights into the satellite-based monitoring of water quality implemented by MRCTI and gain a more comprehensive understanding of its citizen science initiative, particularly in discerning the origins of plastic pollution within river ecosystems. The Mayors representing MRCTI, on the other hand, showed interest in acquiring insights into NMCG's Hybrid Annuity Model and the One-City-One-Operator model for sewage treatment plants.