Friday, January 26, 2018

TN plans climate change portal by mapping vulnerable areas

C Shivakumar @ Chennai:

Tamil Nadu government is mapping the areas across the state which is vulnerable to climate change by collating the data and feeding it in a Tamil Nadu State Climate Change Knowledge Management Portal.

The initiative which has been launched is part of National Mission on Strategic Knowledge for Climate Change (NMSKCC) which seeks to build a vibrant and dynamic knowledge system that would inform and support national action for responding effectively to the objective of ecologically sustainable development.

The NMSKCC has been launched with the objectives of mapping of the knowledge and data resources relevant to climate change and positioning of a data sharing policy framework for building strategic knowledge among the various arms of the Government.

Under the initiative, a NMSKCC cell has to be created at the State level, wherein all knowledge generated will be made available to the relevant State machinery.

 “Without a credible data sharing mechanism, building strategic knowledge on climate change is virtually impossible. A necessary pre-condition for NMSKCC is a bench marked data collection and sharing system aided by appropriate high bandwidth hard ware infrastructure to network knowledge bodies in the strategic knowledge framework,” the source said.

Official sources told Express that the initiative is being implemented by Department of Environment in collaboration with Centre for Climate Change and Adaptation Research, Anna University, Chennai and the project is being funded by Department of Science and Technology.

The official said that currently data are being sought from all the state government agencies. This include district wise waste generation, urban sanitation, drinking water in urban area, status of water borne disease (Diarhoea, Cholera and Typhoid), vector borne disease (dengue and malaria) and air borne disease (Asthma, Bronchitis).

The information on death rate due to water and airborne diseases will also be collated and added in the portal along with data on availability of drinking water in urban areas.

“We have started collating the information and it will take another five years to complete it,’ said an official source.

Factfile:

1.  The NMSKCC)seeks to build a dynamic and vibrant knowledge system that informs and supports national policy and action for responding effectively to climate change challenges.

2.  The Mission, approved in July 2010, was envisaged as a support Mission, for generating and providing strategic knowledge to the other seven Missions under the National Action Plan for Climate Change (NAPCC).

3.  Under this Mission, several states including Tamil Nadu has to create a portal mapping vulnerable areas due to climate change.

4.  The project is funded by Department of Science and Technology. Each state is funded with Rs 5 crore to build the infrastructure for the project.

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