Tamil Nadu gets ready for action

Tamil Nadu has made a significant budgetary allocation for climate change adaptation and disaster prevention programmes, which will be headed by Chief Minister M.K. Stalin. Realising the need for reinforcing environmental protection in the light of climate change and its predicted effects, the government has announced three big-ticket initiatives – Tamil Nadu Climate Change Mission, Tamil Nadu Wetlands Mission and Green Tamil Nadu Mission – with an outlay of Rs500 crore.

An Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) report has warned of the possibility of extreme weather in the state creating a significant threat to the coastline. In its study based on the IPCC report, NASA has warned that Chennai is one of the 12 coastal cities in India that might get submerged by the end of the century.

Having a coastline of about 1,000 km, Tamil Nadu has taken note of the reports and a revised Tamil Nadu State Action Plan on Climate Change will be ready soon, according to Supriya Sahu, secretary, department of environment, Tamil Nadu. “International, national and local experts will be roped in to identify the areas of concern and initiate appropriate measures at district-level,” says Sahu. “We will look at climate budgeting, exploring whether each department can allocate some funds and look at new, innovative green initiatives. Now, the government has included our department in the master plan preparation”. 

The state-specific action plan, a revised form of the existing TNSAPCC 2.0, will emphasise health, gender, disaster management, mitigation, sustainable development goals and composite vulnerable index for the state and the districts. It will be based on the 63 indicators mentioned by the Union ministry for environment. Purushottam Rupala, Union minister for fisheries & animal husbandry, has said in Parliament that the country’s coastline is under the threat of erosion, and that Tamil Nadu ranks fourth in the list, as 41 per cent of its coastal line may be eroded. 

The state has launched Tamil Nadu Wetlands Mission at a cost of Rs150 crore, with the objective of ecological restoration of wetlands. It will identify and map 100 wetlands in five years and restore the ecological balance with the focus being on livelihood options. 

Tamil Nadu covers 4 per cent of India’s land area and is inhabited by 6 per cent of the country’s population, but has only  2.5 per cent of the country’s water resources. Studies show that, by 2100, the average annual rainfall in the state could be down by 9 per cent. An Anna University study reveals that the average day temperature in Tamil Nadu will go up by 3.1℃.