“Demands for climate-resilient infrastructure are not separate from demands for improved public space and safe mobility in cities. By creating safe vending zones along city streets and in under-utilised spaces, we also have the opportunity to create shaded resting spaces and safe, accessible mobility corridors for youth, women, and individuals with disabilities. Planners must consider climate-readiness as a part of inclusive urban design”. Mukta Naik moderated a session on ‘Co-Creating Solutions: Climate-Resilient Vending Zones’ at the National Consultation on Street Vendors and Climate Justice: Co-creating Climate-resilient Solutions for Informal Workers, organised by WIEGO and Janpahal on 26 February 2026. 

Mukta Naik conducted a discussion among 15 start-ups and policy experts to collate their experiences of working with municipal governments on issues of waste and water management at SAAF Cities, organised by Villgro and Socrates Foundation for Collective Wisdom, as part of Delhi Climate Innovation Week in February 2026. Recommendations focused on the need for more inclusive onboarding systems so that cities can truly benefit from innovations around waste and water management.

As part of the Delhi Climate Innovation Week, Mukta Naik spoke in a panel discussion on 21 February 2026. She discussed the need to look at urban villages and other low-income settlements as important sites for climate action as their high-density urban form and low quality of infrastructure render these communities very vulnerable to climate stress, at the Climate Action Walk and AI Roundtable organised by Raahgiri Foundation.

Sony R K spoke on what food systems are, why they matter, and why changing the current system is crucial for us, our climate, and nature, for the BBA students, batch of 2025, at OP Jindal Global University. He introduced approaches like agroecology, which works with nature instead of against it, and regenerative agriculture, which helps restore soil, capture carbon, and build healthier farms and ecosystems. The session was moderated by Suchisree Chatterjee, Assistant Professor, Sociology at JGU.

Bhargav Krishna spoke on health impacts of heat and existing policy regimes that manage heat action in the panel, ‘Is India getting too hot for roti, kapda aur makaan?’ at Mumbai Climate Week on 16 February 2026. He was joined by Rashee Mehra, IIHS and Main Bhi Dilli, Zubair Shaikh, Aga Khan Agency for Habitat India, Shravya-Yerram Garuda, Women in District Cooling and Amberside Advisors, Patricia Fabian, School of Public Health; Sustainable Built Environment Lab; and Boston University Institute of Global Sustainability, and Shalinee Kumari, Dialogue Earth/The Third Pole.

“The question of a missing health frame continues to remain an issue where our understanding of health science is really lacking in our environmental policy and the power for evidence is set quite unreasonably high. The institutional capacity and accountability issues mean that in a federal structure with a plurality of sources and the complexity of intersectoral action no one person is really accountable, and our regulators are dealing with a 21st century problem with a 20th century institutional design” – Bhargav Krishna moderated the webinar, “From Smog to Sickness: Understanding Air Pollution in a Changing Climate”, organised by Harvard T.H Chan School of Public Health – India Research Centre on 28 January 2026. Watch the full conversation here: https://youtu.be/v5MqAxvrW4U