Advocating the setting up of a Trans-Himalayan Development Authority for the ecological maintenance and sustenance of the Himalayan eco system, Chief Minister PK Dhumal today said Himachal would become the first carbon-neutral state in the country by 2020 by undertaking “carbon smart growth”.
He was speaking at the 12th Delhi Sustainable Development Summit organised by the Energy and Resource Institute on “Protecting the global commons: 20 years post-Rio” in New Delhi today.
He said the state government had prepared an inventory of greenhouse gas emission for assessing the carbon footprints. “The carbon footprint per capita in Himachal Pradesh has been assessed at 1.4 tonnes per capita in comparison to the national average of 1.57 tonnes per capita,” he said.
He said the state government had signed an MoU with World Bank for harnessing carbon credits to generate carbon revenue amounting to Rs 20 crore for 20 years under “bio-carbon projects” in 177 gram panchayats. The area covered under this would be 4,000 hectares, spread across 10 districts of the state.
Dhumal advocated the market-based instrument “Payment for eco-system service” for the maintenance, conservation and expansion of the pristine Himalayan flora and fauna, and pleaded for dedicated funds and support by developed nations to phase out obsolete technologies, both in climate change and environment infrastructure.
He said an environment master plan had been prepared for sectoral guidelines in environmental protection and added that the state government would launch the State Centre on Climate Change shortly in Shimla which would serve as a centre of excellence for co-ordinating research on climate change.
The Chief Minister announced that the government had set up a “virtual centre” of the State Centre for Science, Learning and Creativity, which would be dedicated to the state on February 10 in the presence of RK Pachauri, Director-General, TERI.
He said all government departments had been asked to carry out their energy and environment audits, and introspect on action and policies for mitigation and adaptation measures.
He said the government had started a mission called the Community-led Assessment, Awareness, Advocacy and Action Programme for environment protection and carbon neutrality at the panchayat level under which initially 1,000 panchayats would be covered. He said so far around 250 panchayats had been covered, including in the remote Lahaul-Spiti areas of Himachal Pradesh.
The Chief Minister said the government had promoted the use of non-conventional energy sources for space heating and discourages the use of charcoal, coal, fossil fuels to reduce greenhouse gas emission.
