Melvyn Thomas Surat: Surat and five other Indian cities are among the 17 from Asian Cities Climate Change Resilience Network (ACCCRN) selected by US-based Rockefeller Foundation under 'International Climate Change Initiative' on a pilot basis. For this, initial grant of $50 million will be given to six Indian cities to prepare them to cope with the effects of climate change. Rockefeller Foundation along with its key research and consultancy partner in India TARU Leading Edge will support an intensive process of technical and social studies pilot project to test emerging resilience-building solutions and stakeholder discussions over the next 12 months in the cities. This would result in development of a range of innovative project proposals to build the cities' resilience to climate change. The Indian cities selected are Hubli Dharwad (Karnataka), Surat (Gujarat), Jodhur (Rajasthan), Gorakhpur (Uttar Pradesh), Indore (Madhya Pradesh) and Kakinada (Andhra Pradesh). Other cities are from Indonesia, Thailand and Vietnam. Rockefeller Foundation officials said an initial list of 14 Indian cities was included in the total Asia-wide list of 50 cities, from which a preliminary ranking on relative vulnerability to eight climate change impacts was conducted. The foundation has allocated $50 million from the $70 million fund to start the pilot project in these six cities, which will be extended to Indonesia, Thailand and Vietnam. Surat's selection was for variety of reasons, including its strong civic body, future risks like floods due to river overflow, local high tide inundation, emergence of flood level rises, high number of vulnerable communities residing in the slums, presence of strong business and civil society stakeholder etc. "Surat is the most vulnerable city as far as the effects of climate change are concerned. The foundation through ACCCRN initiative will provide clear plans and strategies for building resilience to the impact of climate change," said MD (Asia), Rockefeller Foundation, Ashvin Dayal.