R.K. Pachauri and Assam chief minister Tarun Gogoi at the seminar in Guwahati on Monday.
Guwahati, July 6 : Environment scientist R.K. Pachauri today urged the Assam government to carry out climate modelling studies to know the impacts of climate change.
The head of the Inter-governmental Panel on Climate Change — that won the Nobel Peace Prize for 2007 — was speaking at a two-day regional consultation on Combating Climate Change in the North Eastern and Lower Himalayan Regions of India, here today.
Climate modelling makes projections of what is likely to happen to the climate of the region in the future which involves mathematical models using computers. It could be for 10, 20 or 30 years.
Pachauri said Assam and the rest of the region would not be immune from the impacts of climate change as there had been an increase in incidence like floods, droughts and precipitation.
“It is time that we adapt and get prepared for it,” Pachauri said, adding that the rich fertile soil would also get affected.
He said the amount of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere had increased, vastly altering temperatures across the world. “An increase in sea temperature would also be dangerous,” Pachauri said.
Emphasising the need to study the impacts of climate change on health and agriculture, the scientist said when the scheme on Reduced Emissions from Deforestation and Degradation would start operating, Assam would get funds.
It is a mechanism by which developing countries get incentives for reducing emissions from deforestation and forest degradation. “We should have used or own model and expertise rather than imitate the western model of development.”
Chief minister Tarun Gogoi said there has been a growing realisation in the state on the impacts of climate change. “There is a problem of floods already but there is also a problem of droughts.”
Gogoi said rapid deforestation had been checked because of growing awareness on plantations. He said the government would work in partnership with The Energy and Resources Institute (TERI) and there would be a state-level council on climate change.
The convention has been organised by the Centre for Legislative Research and Advocacy in partnership with the Oxford Committee for Famine Relief (Oxfam) founded in the UK in 1942.
There has been a lot of interest on climate change in the Northeast with a number of initiatives being taken by the Centre. A centre for studying climate change will be set up exclusively for the northeastern states at Nehu with satellite centres in the region.
Gogoi also inaugurated a solar multi-utility centre at Bahtala, Dakshin Dimoria village, in Kamrup district today. Pachauri, the director-general of TERI, was present on the occasion.
Under the institute’s “Lighting a Billion Lives” project, the centre has 5KW solar capacity to operate motors for slivering bamboo, making bamboo sticks and grinding turmeric. The centre caters to as many as 3,000 beneficiaries every month for Bahtala and nine other adjoining villages.
