By 2013, the state government will be ready to partially implement the Climate Change Action Plan, said Debi Prasad Mishra, minister of forest and environment.
“It (Climate Change Action Plan) is a long term plan spanning over the period of 2010 to 2015. But I think by 2013,m we will be ready for preparedness programme in some departments,” Mishra said, while attending a government organised Environment Day function here.
Preparedness for climate change includes monitoring of environment pollution level and identifying areas to minimize it.
The minister said, a special cell has been created within the state forest & environment department to look into the financial requirements of the plan and also to oversee its implementation. The cell is expected to give its report on financial requirement by the end of this month.
The action plan implementation involves an expenditure of around Rs 17,000 crore and Orissa is the first state in the country to prepare this plan. The plan document focuses on key areas such as agriculture, coastal zones and disasters, energy, fisheries and animal resources, forestry, health, industry, mining, transport, urban planning and water resources.
Experts say, the government cannot go ahead with other long-term plans as there are economical and political interests that oppose some of the projects.“The government can go ahead with preparedness programmes in agriculture. These are short-term plans and does not require permission from the Central government or the stake holders,” said an environmentalist.
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.
Other key priorities in the sector are developing sustainable soil, water and crop management practices, increasing the areas under perennial fruit plantation to help cope with uncertain weather patterns and undertaking more research on agricultural implications of climate change.
The state has been urging the Central government to discourage the use of washed coal in thermal power plants, one of the long term action objectives of the plan. The chief minister recently discussed the issue with Union Minister of Environment and Forest Jayaram Ramesh.
“The Union minister did not provide any assurance, but we want more debate on this matter,” said Aurobindo Behera, principle secretary, forest and environment, government of Orissa.
The Central government has instructed the thermal power plants to use washed coal in their plants as the ash content in Orissa coal are much higher than normal standard. But the Orissa government has been opposing the Central government proposal saying coal-washing will pollute its rivers.
