Public consultation stresses on need for climate impact portal in Assam

Guwahati, Dec 13: A public consultation, jointly organized by the State Co- ordination Committee of the All India People's Science Network (AIPSN) and the Youth for Unity and Voluntary Action (YUVA) in Guwahati recently, urged the State-run Assam Climate Change Management Society (ACCMS) for launching a portal especially to disseminate climate impacts against each of the climate risks. The portal should also make available the periodic records of climate impacts against the sector-wise identified climate risks, participants of the consultation said.

The ACCMS is a State Government-run special purpose vehicle to coordinate the implementation of the Assam State Action Plan on Climate Change (SAPCC) and other climate change-related activities.

Participants of this consultation pleaded that the said portal should include the in- formation on the updated status of the target and achievements of the revised nationally determined contributions (NDC) too, besides highlighting the exemplary initiatives undertaken to contain the impacts of changes in climate on the other parts of the globe and the country as well.

The portal should inform also about the measures implemented for quantification of the State's carbon dioxide emission loads and the steps to reduce it through plantation, carbon sequestration, changes in land use pattern and lowering of fossil fuel- related emissions, etc.

The portal should also set in motion the "Save Climate" drive through dissemination of the required inputs and generating awareness of the State's people for maintaining a "Lifestyle for Environment" (LIFE). Besides, it should have a component for citizen's interaction as well, making it interactive in letter and spirit, the participants said.

They called for steps too to ensure people's participation in the dynamic formulation and implementation of the SAPCC. For the purpose, they said, public consultation on the SAPCC should initially be organised at the district headquarters level.

The Action Plan should also bring into its fold State's public sector industrial units, nearly 800 existing tea estates, agricultural university, Krishi Vigyan Kendras, etc., and the other organisations or institutions of the like. Moreover, necessary steps should be taken also to accommodate the climate change-impact-containing efforts of the other organisations working in the field of science popularisation, like the AIPSN, in the Action Plan, the participants said.

By-

Ajit Patowary