Need for increased use of ICTs stressed

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: The consultation on ‘Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs) and Climate Change’ held at Technopark, emphasised that Kerala is particularly vulnerable to long-term effects of climate change, and called for increased use of ICTs in the formulation of a strategy for monitoring, mitigation and adaptation vis-a-vis climate change in the State. The Consultation also proposed steps for an action plan for the State towards using ICTs as a policy instrument in macro planning and technology policy formulation vis-a-vis climate change.  The consultation was jointly organised by the International Centre for Free and Open Source Software (ICFOSS), Centre for Earth Science Studies (CESS) and the International Non-Governmental Co-operation Organisation for Renewable Energy (INGCORE).  V N Rajasekharan Nair, executive vice-president, Kerala State Council for Science, Technology and Environment, urged to consider climate change as a cross-cutting input to macro-planning and policy formulation in the state. “One of the important consideration in achieving the aggressive targets at the national and international-levels for containing the effects of climate change was ICTs. While ICTs contributed in a small way to increased greenhouse emissions, its real potential lay in providing solutions which preserved both energy and material.”N P Kurian, director, Centre for Earth Science Studies (CESS), who presided over the meeting, said that the climate change was one of the most complex processes known to humankind, and that it was inherently interdisciplinary, requiring joint efforts from various technical and technological communities to create solutions.  The present consultation was indeed appropriate for initiating a dialogue in the state in the use of technology to address Climate Change.The consultation brought together policymakers, scientists, NGOs, academics and IT specialists. There was a general consensus that Kerala is vulnerable to climate change from various angles such as sea-level rise, saline water intrusion, rainfall decline, deforestation & land degradation, depletion of fish resources, stress in soil moisture, loss of biodiversity, drinking water depletion, loss of estuarine ecosystems and susceptibility to natural hazards. Mervin Alexander CEO, Technopark, and Prof V K Damodaran, INGCORE, offered felicitations on the occasion. Satish Babu, Director, ICFOSS, welcomed the gathering. He said that ICFOSS would be able to contribute towards formulation of technology-based approaches towards addressing climate change issues.  Elizabeth Sherly, Director, IITM-K and Governing Body member of ICFOSS, delivered a vote of Thanks.