Bhubaneswar: A round table – “Towards a Climate Resilient Odisha”, organised by the Finance Department, was held here on Saturday. The Foreign Commonwealth and Development Office (FDCO)’s Infrastructure for Climate Resilient Growth (ICRG) programme collaborated with the State Government to organize the event.
Niranjan Pujhari, Minister for Finance, Parliamentary Affairs, Health and Family Welfare, Odisha attended the programme as the Chief Guest and deliberated on the topic based on combating the impact of climate change in Odisha.
Addressing the delegates, the Finance Minister said that Odisha, is bringing about transformation in every field; working with commitment for building a new Odisha, and has become a Model State in the field of disaster management.
Odisha is one of the leading States in India that at first prepared a State-level Action Plan on Climate Change. It is realized that there is now an urgent need to operationalize all the initiatives by effective implementation of the State Action Plan for Climate Change(SAPCC), introducing locally led adaptation and mitigation practices and through adaptive social protection measures. Minister stresses on effective implementation of the action plan in collaboration with all the partner institutions.
Chief Secretary, Odisha, Pradeep Kumar Jena, British Deputy High Commissioner, East and North East India, Nick Low, Special Secretary, Odisha P&C Department Chitra Arumugam and Principal Secretary Finance Vishal Kumar Dev were the guests of honour present on the occasion.
Jena cited examples of cyclones Phailin in 2013, Hudhud and Titli, which occurred in the subsequent years and said that, those may be one of the reasons for effects of climate change. He said that due to Cyclone and Flood, the agriculture and economy of Odisha are being affected. Jena also focused up on the challenges posed by climate change such as food security, depletion of groundwater, water pollution etc. and stressed on the need to collect more and more scientific research and data to address climate change.
Reiterating Chief Minister’s call about “every life is precious”, and we have to care for everyone towards disaster management, he said that the State Government is focusing on renewable energy sources and all possible measures for sustainable climate resilient growth.
British Deputy High Commissioner Lo stated about how rising temperatures in Odisha during the summer months affecting the lives and groundwater levels etc. He also said that the UK Government, through its Department of International Development Department and its partnership with the Government of Odisha for over 25 years, has supported interventions towards inclusive urban development, investment in infrastructure, structural reform in energy sector, sustainable climate resilient growth and many other areas through a combination of TechnologicalAssistance (TA) and Development Capital (DevCAP).
The round-table discussions aimed to help the State government, Odisha to agree to the basic principles to combat climate change impacts, as well as identify major programmes and initiatives at the international, national and State levels, which can be used to provide sustainability to climate at the local level that is most affected by disasters, the British Deputy High Commissioner said.
FCDO through its ICRGprogrammehas been providing technical assistance to Ministry of Rural Development and seven State governments, including Odisha to improve abilities of poor and vulnerable people to cope with climate change impacts.
Dev presented keynote address about the programme. Special Secretary, P&C Department, Arumugam presented in detail about the geographical location of Odisha, climate, forest, environment, temperature, agricultural production, soil condition etc. and spoke about the growth of the State in collaboration with various partner organizations and entrepreneurial institutions working for the development of the State in view of the impact of climate change.
The Special Secretary Arumugam also said that a “Climate Change Cell” has been set up in the Forest, Environment and Climate Change Department, Odisha to closely coordinate all the recommended actions and also work towards resource mobilization for the implementation of various components of the action plan in a systematic and timebound manner.
In the second session, Dr SP Rath, Director, Budget, Finance Department and Climate Change Cell, Forest & Environment & Climate Change Department, Odisha delivered about Climate Budgeting in Odisha. Among others Ashish Chaturvedi from UNDP, Parul Agrawal from UN-HABITAT, India spoke about learning from UNDP-supported projects and climate change-related works in Odisha.
Daljeet Kaur, FCDO and Nabaghan Ojha, Odisha State Project Manager, ICRG, UNDP coordinated the programme. Soumyajit Rout, Joint Secretary, Finance Department, Odisha proposed vote of thanks on the occasion.
Besides, other senior officers from the Finance Department, Odisha, representatives from the Forest & Environment Department, the Department of Agriculture and Farmers Empowerment, OdishaUniversity of Agriculture and Technology, UNICEF, UNDP, World Bank, NABARD, Asian Development Bank etc. participated in the discussion.
