State action plan on climate change for eight sectors such as agriculture, forest and biodiversity, fisheries and coastal resources, water resources, health, energy, tourism and urban sectors were presented for public consultation here on Thursday.
The first of the three public consultation workshops for State Action Plan, organised by the Department of Environment and Climate Change, discussed proposed strategies and tentative financial proposals worth Rs 2,160 crore.
Of the eight sectors, fisheries and coastal resources together account for tentative financial proposals of Rs 1,250 crore. Proposals for other sectors are; agriculture - Rs 150 crore, forest - Rs 90 crore, water resources - Rs 135 crore, health - Rs 55 crore, energy - Rs 130 crore, tourism - Rs 50 crore and urban sector - Rs 100 crore.
Strategies in the action plan include shift in climate-tailored agriculture management, protection of special eco systems, rejuvenation of rivers, certification for tourism sustainability and so on.
The public consultation for coastal region was held on Thursday. Similar programmes for midland and hilly regions will be held in Thrissur on September 22 and Wayanad on September 24 respectively. The public consultations will be followed by department-level meetings and workshops for MLAs and MPs. The final plan will be sent to the Union Ministry of Environment and Forests for final approval.
After the formation of a national-level action plan on climate change in 2008, the Prime Minister, who is the chairman of the monitoring committee, had asked every state to prepare state-level action plans. United Nations Development Project gives technical and financial assistance to around 11 states for the preparation of the action plan. The state has recently submitted its action plan to the Centre. The revised plan incorporating the suggestions of the Centre is being put for public consultation. A high-level steering committee led by Chief Secretary will later monitor the plan.
Chief Minister Oommen Chandy inaugurated the workshop. Principal Secretary of Environment Department James Varghese presided over the function. Vice-president of Kerala State Council for Science, Technology and Environment V N Rajasekharan Pillai delivered the keynote address.
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