India came up with a National Action Plan on Climate Change (NAPCC) in 2008 which lays out mitigation, adaptation measures and strategic knowledge management to mitigate as well as adapt to challenges posed by changing climate. Now, the responsibility is shifted to the states and the local governments to translate/adapt these national missions at the micro level, said a Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) report, compiled in association with ICF International.
NAPCC requires each state to prepare a state-level action plan on climate change (SAPCC). The states in the northern region have been comparatively active in developing SAPCC. Every state cannot follow all eight missions of the NAPCC. Some missions are more important than others and should be adapted first to gain maximum mileage on the low carbon growth path.
States are at different stages of carbon growth trajectory. Some have already formulated plans and have an agenda to follow whereas others are still at nascent stages. In order to become carbon neutral at the earliest, states should focus on some basic and important issues such as establishment of a state governing council, formulation of state climate change agenda, preparation of implementation guidelines, developing monitoring plans, coupling these with their environment policy, setting up evolving emission reduction targets and participating in international climate negotiations, the report highlighted.
According to the report, state needs to establish a dedicated governing council under the aegis of department of environment and forests. This council should constitute of the inter-disciplinary members from different departments, academia, businesses and public forums. This council should be tasked with the formulation of state climate change agenda.
The state climate change agenda should address all the pounding climate change risks and the areas that are affected the most by the climate change. NAPCC has addressed Himalayan ecosystem, agriculture, industry, transportation, municipal waste, residential buildings, power, forests and water as the vulnerable areas and suggested mitigation and adaptation measures. While 27 formulating the state climate change agenda the authorised agency/council should balance mitigation as well as adaptation measures. States need to carry out the inventory of all the environmental problems such as air, water, soil, noise pollution along with the ecosystem inventory.
Mapping of environmental conditions will help identify areas that need urgent mitigation and/or adaptation measures. The proportion of mitigation and adaptation measures to be implemented will depend on the existing sectors, climatic conditions and the resilience against the climate change, the report said.
