State Action Plan of Climate Change launched in Uttarakhand

DEHRADUN : State Action Plan of Climate Change(SAPCC) which has been approved by the Government of India was formally launched in Uttarakhand on Monday with a workshop held among the stakeholders. The plans which would require Rs 8,800 crore will be implemented in two phases , three years each. Out of total 15 sectors laid down under National action plan of Climate Change (CC) for implementation , four sectors-disaster, water, energy and forest- will first be dealt with in these two phases where forest department has been made nodal agency. International agencies, Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation (SDC) will facilitate expert guidance and fund at international level while United Nation Development Program (SDC) will monitor the implementation.

Shatrughan Singh, chief secretary present on the occasion said, "The impact of climate change is felt all over the Himalayan region with rising temperatures, scant rainfall, drying springs, landslides, flood etc affecting communities and triggering their migration. So we need to have sectoral CC plan with special cell for it in all those departments which have vital role to play. We must also have evidence based planning with regard to risk and vulnerabilities, then lay out policies accordingly, for which finances will be arranged."

He said, the state needs knowledge based forecast to prepare for emergency situations and, that the agriculture and horticulture field should be paid more attention in the implementation of SAPCC.


Director SDC, Janine Kuriger drew parallel between Uttarakhand and Switzerland saying that both have almost same size and topography and also climatic complications as of Switzerland. She said, since Switzerland was now well prepared to deal with these complications so the state can benefit from their experiences. Besides facilitating consultation of international experts and finances, she said, they will also help in facilitating the implementation and strengthening the capacity building for SAPCC in Uttarakhand.

According to G Padmnabhan, project officer of UNDP, all the states in India have prepared SAPCC and got it approved from GOI but none of them actually are implementing it. He emphasized on the need of large scale mass senstisiation about impact of CC and, addressal of the issue by all the departments of the Uttarakhand.

Both SDC and UNDP are also supporting Sikkim and Madhya Pardesh for this project.

Principal chief conservator of forest , Jai Raj said that the state departments become sensitive toward CC by adaping measures such as green road or green buildings in their projects. He also suggested the state government to adapt aim to declare the state carbon neutral by 2020.

Dinesh Aggarwal, state forest minister sought Centre’s assistance to implement the massive project of SAPCC.