Tamil Nadu preparing action plan on Climate Change for next five years

CHENNAI: Vaan Island, 12 km off Tuticorin coast, was a perfect safe place for deep sea fishermen to take refuge from the rising waves due to rough seas or from cyclone. But, this safe refuge for fishermen is submerging due to erosion and bottom trawling by big mechanised boats using banned gears which completely sweep sea floor, depleting fish resources and causing damages to coral reefs.

However, there is hope as the State government intervention as part of climate change resilience by deploying 6,000 artificial reef modules of ferro cement and reinforcement steel has increased the land mass. IIT-Madras has been tapped and it has been studying the wave dynamics as a result the land mass has increased and the island is on the verge of being restored, says a State environment department official who is helping in the preparation of the second edition of State Action Plan on Climate Change.

This is what the State will be looking at as it prepares the revised State Action Plan with the technical support from German agency GIZ in the light of India’s Nationally Determined Contributions (NDC) to United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), the official said. The NDCs include 33 to 35 per cent emission reduction intensity per GDP, 40 per cent energy from non-fossil fuel source and achieving additional sequestration of 2.5-3 billion tonnes of CO2 from forests and trees by 2030.

The official said all State government departments are expected to have a climate change cell and already many departments are working in this regard. It is learnt that prior to setting up a climate cell, the State government is planning to train senior government officials on the aspects of climate change and how to mainstream these into urban planning. “We will be looking at strategies for the next five years,” the official said. It is learnt that the State government has sought data from the line department by February 22 and sought comments and suggestions by March 8, 2019 before preparing the final draft.