The emission of Green House Gases (GHGs) in the state from different sectors including industries and agriculture has been estimated at six per cent of the country's total emissions, as per a report of the Orissa State Pollution Control Board (OSPCB).
Wary of the threat posed by the upcoming industries to the environment, the state government is set to include a detailed factual position of GHG emissions from different sectors in the final Climate Change Action Plan (CCAP).
The OSPCB has prepared a detailed report on the GHG emissions by industrial and agriculture activities and the report is currently under the scrutiny of the state forest and environment department which is giving final touches to the CCAP.
It has been estimated by the pollution board that the energy sector is the biggest offender, accounting for over 50 per cent of the GHG emissions.
"The OSPCB has prepared a report on the factual position of the GHG emissions in the state. The final CCAP will contain the details of the GHG emissions in the state from different sectors”, said an official source familiar with the development.
It may be noted that earlier this month, Aurobindo Behera, secretary (forest & environment), Orissa government held a review meeting with the different conveners, nodal officers and and other stakeholders including environmental activists and non-governmental organizations (NGOs) for the finalization of the CCAP.
Bhagirathi Behera, director (environment), Orissa government gave a detailed presentation on the draft CCAP of the state during a three-day international conference on 'Climate Change' held in New Delhi on November 12-14.
More From This Section
The draft CCAP prepared by the Orissa government has been hailed by the Government of India which has asked the state to expedite finalization of the Plan after incorporation of comments from the various stakeholders.
The draft CCAP was released by the state Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik on June 5, the World Environment Day.
The state government had decided to put in place a Climate Change agency to ensure effective implementation of the plan. The CCAP envisages an outlay of around Rs 17,000 crore in 11 key sectors over the next five years
The Chief Minister had constituted a high-level coordination committee headed by the Chief Secretary to steer the preparation of the draft Action Plan. Eleven working groups were constituted on agriculture, coastal zones and disasters, energy, fisheries and animal resources, forestry, health, industry, mining, transport, urban planning and water resources.
For agriculture, the Action Plan has suggested a climate friendly agriculture policy for the state, capacity building to cope with climate change, people centric watershed development programmes, developing water efficient micro irrigation methods as well as improving monitoring and surveillance techniques.
Similarly for industries, the key priorities are setting medium-term emission targets for the thermal power plants, promoting the use of bulk waste material like fly ash and slag, implement a system of compensatory water harvesting at the industrial clusters, integrating climate change concerns in policies and plans for industrial development, carrying out heat island study for Talcher and Jharsuguda area, training various stakeholders on climate change issues and carrying out energy efficiency study for iron and steel, thermal power, aluminium and cement sectors.