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Context

• National Mission for Clean Ganga (NMCG) in association with the National Institute of Urban Affairs (NIUA) organized the ‘River-Cities Alliance (RCA) Global Seminar: Partnership for Building International River-Sensitive Cities’.

Details

• The purpose of the RCA Global Seminar was to provide a platform for officials of member cities and international stakeholders to discuss and learn good practices for managing urban rivers.
• The RCA Global Seminar witnessed participation from Embassies/High Commissions of select countries and their respective river cities in order to highlight objectives, achievements, and potential collaborative outcomes of RCA.
• State Missions for Clean Ganga (SMCGs) and funding agencies like World Bank, ADB, JICA & KfW also were part of the discussions.

NMCG-NIUA Collaboration

• The NMCG-NIUA collaboration has witnessed the historic establishment of the ‘River Cities Alliance (RCA)’ of 110 river cities across India with one international member city – the city of Aarhus from Denmark.
• RCA was a significant initiative at NMCG's Side Event during the ‘UN 2023 Water Conference - Water Action Agenda’ on March 23, 2023, which highlighted the importance of Germany as a key partner for the commitment related to ‘River Cities Alliance: Partnership for Building International River Sensitive Cities’.
• NMCG has been tirelessly working on a joint initiative to propagate river-sensitive development in our cities with NIUA.
• This is in response to the Prime Minister’s call for new thinking in river cities at the 1st Meeting of the National Ganga Council (NGC) in December 2019.
• Hence, NMCG seeks to deepen the commitment through the inclusion of international cities as members of the RCA during the RCA Global Seminar.
• The intent is to facilitate knowledge exchange (online) for Indian cities to learn new practices and approaches for urban river management. Likewise, it will also be an opportunity for international cities to learn about experiences in Indian cities, which may be relevant to their contexts.

River Cities Alliance

• The River Cities Alliance (RCA) is a joint initiative of the Department of Water Resources, River Development & Ganga Rejuvenation under the Ministry of Jal Shakti (MoJS) & the Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs (MoHUA), with a vision to connect river cities and focus on sustainable river centric development.
• Beginning with 30 member cities in November 2021, the Alliance has expanded to 109 river cities across India and one international member city from Denmark.

DHARA 2023

• The first annual meeting of the RCA - DHARA 2023 (Driving Holistic Action for Urban Rivers) was held on February 13–14, 2023, in Pune.
• DHARA 2023 featured key sessions on international best practices and examples for urban river management.
• DHARA 2023 was aimed to inspire members of the RCA to engage in progressive actions for urban river management in their cities.
• The event shone a light on the unaddressed issues and challenges for river management in cities, which helped NIUA and its partners formulate an effective work plan.
• The event also helped in developing a compendium of technological solutions that cities may adopt for enhancing the management of their local rivers.

NATIONAL MISSION FOR CLEAN GANGA: https://www.iasgyan.in/daily-current-affairs/national-mission-for-clean-ganga

https://pib.gov.in/PressReleaseIframePage.aspx?PRID=1921983

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