State gears up to tackle threat to ecology

The Tribune , Tuesday, April 24, 2012
Correspondent : Prepares action plan to protect green wealth /Tribune News Service

Jammu : With concerns rising over the increased environmental destruction due to development projects, the state has formulated its first draft of State Action Plan on Climate Change (SAPCC) to integrate climate change into the future policy framework of planners.

The draft has been prepared in consultation with IRG Systems South Asia Pvt Ltd to give due consideration to safeguarding the ecology while approving major environmentally fragile projects.

Officials said the document had been prepared by the Department of Environment and Remote Sensing, which had established a separate body, Jammu and Kashmir State Council on Climate Change (JKSCCC), to carry out studies on impact on ecology during the last few years.

Climate change has become a major threat to the state. Earlier, the insurgency contributed to the destruction of forest wealth and, now in the past two decades, big development projects have led to massive environmental degradation in various parts of the state.

Member of the JKSCCC Abida Deva said the document would provide guidelines to various government agencies while planning any infrastructural development project in future.

“It was necessary. Earlier we had no proper document but this will act like a rule book for the officials. It is important to create awareness among the people about the need to think about saving our ecology for the next generation,” Deva said.

She said it would also allow further research on the impact of development on agriculture, glaciers, rivers, wetlands and wildlife. “During the formulation of the SAPCC, it was observed that there were many environmental issues which required further research and the creation of a data bank at various levels,” she said.

Experts say the Himalayan region is a source of many rivers flowing perennially round the year. Keeping in view the destruction of forests and air pollution, if there is 2 per cent increase in the temperature by 2050, as much as 35 per cent of these glaciers will disappear, which could pose a problem for the state.

Officials said the Department of Remote Sensing is already conducting a survey on natural resources management as well as specific research studies on various environmental aspects in collaboration with the Department of Space (DOS), National Remote Sensing Agency (NRSA) and the Space Application Centre (SAC) in the state.

What action plan covers

n The complex nature of climate change impact in three diverse regions of the state.

n The necessity for strengthening institutional and financial capacity to adapt to climate change

n The need to develop area and region specific climate change strategies and actions.

n The need for research to understand the likely impact of climate change in the state.

Threat to ecology

n In view of the destruction of forests and air pollution, if there is 2 per cent increase in the temperature by 2050, 35 per cent of the glaciers will disappear from the Himalayan region, posing a problem for the state.

n Climate change has become a major threat to the state. Earlier, the insurgency contributed to the destruction of forest wealth and, now in the past two decades, big development projects have led to massive environmental degradation in the state.

 
SOURCE : http://www.tribuneindia.com/2012/20120424/j&k.htm#1T
 


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