State Govt gears up for State Action Plan on Climate Change

GANGTOK, May 14 (IPR): A brainstorming workshop was organized by the State Government for preparation of State Action Plan on Climate Change on Sikkim in collaboration with German Technical Cooperation (GTZ) here at Chintan Bhawan on May 14.

The Chief Secretary TT Dorji, who chaired the workshop in his opening remarks expressed gratitude to GTZ for supporting this important workshop and said that the State Government is keen to take up appropriate action oriented programmes so that the damages due to adverse effect of climate change to the lives and property are minimized.

Sikkim, he said, has a long history and tradition of following the path of sustainable development and has always remained proactive for taking various measures for environmental protection.

“There is a need for enhancing the effort for taking programmes for augmenting drinking water availability both in urban and rural areas during lean season,” he said adding “special emphasis need to be given for rain shadow areas of drier belt in South and West Sikkim.”

Mr Dorji further stressed on the need to strengthen the programme of Spring Water Recharge or Dhara Vikas and stream water storage and developing of irrigation channel in drier belt areas. “The State Pollution Control Board should ensure quality of river water while the industries coming up in the state should fully treat effluents before discharging in rivers and streams,” he added.

The Chief Secretary laid emphasis on drought hardy traditional crops and plantation of fruit trees which are more resilient to climate change. He further informed that the Government of India has already formed a National Action Plan on Climate Change and Eight National Missions has been envisaged in various fields. Sikkim, he added, should take maximum advantage of financial resources which will be available in future though these Eight Missions.

He hoped that during the two days of Brainstorming Session various priority areas would be concretized for taking programmes for climate change Adaptation.

Thereafter, the workshop was addressed by Vera Scholz, NRM Programme Director, GTZ. She was impressed with the work initiated by the Government of Sikkim in the field of Climate Change and said that Sikkim may be the first state among the Himalayan states to have a State Level Action Plan on Climate Change.

During the course of the programme, a thematic presentation was made by Nitasha Sharma, IISc, Bangalore while Ravindra Singh of GTZ made a power point presentation on Climate Change adaptation in the north east.

Sandeep Tambe of RMDD and Sanjay Tomar of GTZ proposed a framework for preparing SAPCC and Mr Dhrupad Chowdhary of ICIMOD made spoke on Climate change impacts in the eastern Himalayas and was followed by interactive session..

Earlier, the welcome address was delivered by ML Arrawatia, Secretary, State Science and Technology Department.

On May 15, the wrap up session of thematic group work will be held under the chairmanship of Additional Chief Secretary, Government of Sikkim, Karma Gyatso.