VICE ADMIRAL KK NAYYAR FELLOWSHIP CONFERENCE 2023
The “Vice Admiral KK Nayyar Fellowship” was established at the NMF, in May of 2020, by the
family of the late Vice Admiral KK Nayyar, PVSM, AVSM, IN (26 December 1929-18
September 2018), who was the founding chairman of the NMF and was a veritable Colossus
within the maritime domain This Fellowship promotes and supports intellectual and policy-
relevant research on subjects of maritime consequence to India and, in so doing, commemorates
the life and achievements of this evangelist of Indian maritime thinking. The inaugural project
of the Fellowship has addressed the issue of India’s coastal resilience vis-à-vis its urban
agglomerations. The research was carried out by Dr (Ms) Chime Youdon, Associate Fellow,
NMF, and Dr Saurabh Thakur (now a consultant at the MEA).
“INDIA’S COASTAL RESILIENCE VIS-À-VIS URBAN AGGLOMERATIONS”
It is an established and well-recognised fact that the world is passing through a climate-
crisis of monumental proportions. South Asia in general, and India in particular, is
highly vulnerable to an entire range of hydrometeorological hazards that are rapidly
rising, both in terms of their intensity and frequency. Irrespective of the precise causal-factors,
the effects of this rise in temperature are uniformly deleterious.
Indian metropolises on the country’s western coast, for example, which had hitherto been
accustomed to relatively calm maritime conditions, have been witnessing a sharp surge in
extreme cyclonic activity these past few years. High-intensity cyclones such as Ockhi (2017),
Vayu (2019), Nisarga (2020), and Tauktae (2021), have wreaked year-on-year havoc in India’s
coastal areas. Given the magnitude of socio-economic and environmental impact, it is painfully
obvious that climate-proofing of coastal cities is a task to which policymakers and planners must
bend their efforts with alacrity and sharp focus.
As part of its own ongoing contribution to India’s quest for economically and politically
viable policy-relevant solutions, the National Maritime Foundation has made the
“India’s Coastal Resilience Vis-à-vis Urban Agglomerations” the central theme of
its inaugural Vice Admiral KK Nayyar Fellowship Conference (KKNFC-2023).
It aims to engage government officials, academia, DRR experts, civil society, and industry,
private sector to better understand the different approaches and to identify best practices in the
field of coastal urban planning and policy making across the Indian coastal regions.
The Conference will focus on the following main themes:
1. Resilience of India’s Coastal Cities: Its Challenges
2. Resilience of India’s Coastal Cities: Its Current Policies
3. Building Coastal Resilience: The Way Ahead
The detailed programme of the event can be accessed here.
The Concept Note of the event can be accessed here.
The Flyer of the event can be accessed here.
To participate in this event, please register through QR code.
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