Former Chief Secretary Sudhanshu Bhusan Mishra on Wednesday said the Odisha Climate Change Action Plan should be reviewed thoroughly in order to establish how far the State has succeeded in containing climate change effects.
Mishra made this suggestion while speaking at the “Workshop on Odisha Climate Change Action Plan” on the concluding day of the 5th Odisha Environment Congress (OEC).
Informing that the action plan was drafted in 2010, Mishra said a review of its implementation bears importance to know the results of action taken and requirements and financial needs for its mitigation and adaptation.
He opined that proceedings of the OEC should be placed in the libraries and research centres for debate. Besides, he suggested that the OEC take part in drafting the Climate Change Action Plan in 2015.Development Commissioner UN Behera informed that Odisha was the first State in preparing a draft on Climate Change Action Plan. As many as 11 departments had prepared the draft, which stressed on the involvement of local community in the action plan implementation.
In the technical session a workshop on “Perspective on Climate Change Adaptation and Mitigation” was organised. SPCB Member Secretary Rajiv Kumar, Senior Scientist Dilip Kumar Behera, Utkal University Geography Professor Kabir Sethi, UNDP State Programme Officer Ambika Prasad Nanda, RCDC’s Dr Kailash Das, GN Indresh and OEC Organising Secretary Sudarsan Das presented research papers.
In the valedictory session, former Board of Revenue Member Aurobindo Behera, Rajya Sabha Joint Secretary Satya Narayan Sahoo, former RTI Commissioner Jagadanand, eminent environmentalist Prof Radha Mohan, former Election Commission of India Advisor Bhagban Prakash, former Utkal University VC Binayak Rath and MlA Priyadarshi Mishra attended and felicitated scientists.
World Agroforestry scientist Devashree Nayak was awarded the Young Scientist Award. Similarly, Dr Piyush Rout working on urban water bodies and Bhagirathi Sahu and Satrughna Manna working on integrated rice-fish culture, rain harvesting structure, mangrove nursery and improved cook stove in Jagatsinghpur district have been selected as the Environment Ambassadors. Theme for the Odisha Environment Congress-2015 was declared as “Environment, Health and Nutrition” on the occasion.