Chennai: Tamil Nadu is all set to launch a long-term programme to develop resilience and combat the ill-effects of climate change. It has come up with a massive action plan and this would be one of the biggest and important exercises undertaken in Tamil Nadu till date. The Union ministry of environment, forest and climate change (MoEFCC) has endorsed the Tamil Nadu state plan on climate change (TNSPCC) at the national steering committee on climate change held in New Delhi on March 31. enabling the state to initiate a slew of climate change mitigation and adaptation projects.
According to the final draft report, prepared by the state environment department, a copy of which is available with Deccan Chronicle, the five-year package envisages provisional budget requirement of Rs4.04 lakh crore for projects classified under seven key sectors, sustainable agriculture; water resources; forests and biodiversity; coastal area management; energy efficiency, renewable energy and solar mission; and sustainable habitat and knowledge management.
The document says the financing of plan can be directly taken from the existing programmes in the state, national missions and the budgetary provisions for climate change of bilateral and multilateral agencies such as the department of international development, Asian Development Bank (ADB) and World Bank. Further, the state can also access finance from the adaptation fund, Nabard being the designated agency for managing this fund in the country.
A senior official in DoE, who preferred anonymity, said the state recognises people’s developmental aspirations as also the several existing vulnerabilities which may be exacerbated due to climate change, if not addressed holistically. “So, the state has prepared a climate response strategy to each of the seven sectors and proposes to be integrated into the regular developmental planning process,” said the official.
According to specific modelling studies carried out for rice, the staple crop in TN, it is estimated that by 2050 production during the kharif season (southwest monsoon) is likely to reduce by 30-35 per cent from current yield levels and by 2080, there might be yield reduction up to 80 per cent. This is due to the projected increase in minimum and maximum temperatures and decrease in number of rainfall days. However, production during the rabi season doesn’t see much dip.
“Because of our geographical position, agriculture in TN is affected by frequent cyclones. Also, the state does not have any perennial rivers for recharging its water resources resulting in high dependency on rainfall for irrigation. Unfortunately, the rain shadow area of the southwest monsoon and frequent northeast monsoon failures are leading to droughts,” said an official of the department of agricultural engineering, who provided inputs to TNSPCC.
To combat this, the state proposes to develop varietal rice and pulses that will tolerate weather change and adapt to different soils. Promoting integrated disease and pest management, establishing food banks, supporting crop insurance, green cover for coastal calamities, etc., have been planned. On the water front, the strategy is to interlink rivers, provide extra thrust to rainwater harvesting, increasing reservoir storage levels and limit groundwater extraction.
The plan says the state forests are highly vulnerable and a rise in sea-level would submerge the mangroves and raise wetland salinity. Tamil Nadu tops the list of urbanised states with 48.45 per cent of its population living in urban areas. This puts enormous pressure on housing, water, access to health, waste management, transport and pollution levels, the document says.
