Round Table “Towards a Climate Resilient Odisha” held in City

Bhubaneswar: A Round Table “Towards a Climate Resilient Odisha” has been held on Saturday, organized by the Finance Department, Government of Odisha in collaboration with Foreign Commonwealth and Development Office (FDCO)’s Infrastructure for Climate Resilient Growth (ICRG) programme.

Niranjan Pujari, Minister for Finance, Parliamentary Affairs, Health and Family Welfare, Odisha gracedthe programme as the Chief Guest and deliberated on the topic based on combating the impact of climate change in Odisha.

Addressing the delegates and participants in the event held at a Star Hotel, Bhubaneswar, Finance Minister said, Odisha, is bringing about transformation in every field; working with commitment for building 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.

Odisha Chief Secretary, Pradeep Kumar Jena, British Deputy High Commissioner, East and North East India, Mr. Nick Low, Special Secretary, Odisha P&C Department Smt. Chitra Arumugam and Principal Secretary Finance Vishal Kumar Dev were the guests of honour present on the occasion.

The Chief Secretary, addressing the participants at the outset 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 effect of  climate change.  He said that due to Cyclone and Flood, the agriculture and economy of Odisha are being affected.

Jena also focused upon 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 the 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.

Deputy High Commissioner Mr. Lo, stated about how rising temperatures in Odisha during the summer months affecting the lives and ground water 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 Technological Assistance (TA) and Development Capital (DevCAP). This 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 ICRG programmehas been providing technical assistance to Ministry of Rural Development, GoI and seven State governments, including Odishato improve abilities of poor and vulnerable people to cope with climate change impacts.

Mr. Dev, Principal Secretary, Finance Department presented keynote address about the programme. Special Secretary, P&C Department, Mrs. 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 Smt. 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  implementation  of various components of the action plan in a systematic  and time bound manner.

In the second session, Dr. S.P.Rath, Director, Budget, Finance Department and Climate Change Cell, Forest & Env & CC Department, Odisha delivered about Climate Budgeting in Odisha. Among others Mr. Ashish Chaturvedi from UNDP, Parul Agrawal from UN HABITAT, India spoke learning from UNDP supported projects and climate change related works in Odisha.

Ms. Daljeet Kaur, FCDO and Nabaghan Ojha, Odisha State Project Manager, ICRG, UNDP coordinated the programme. Mr. Soumyajit Rout, Joint Secretary, Finance Department, Odisha proposed vote of thanks on the occasion.

Besides other senior officers from Finance Department, Odisha, representatives from Forest &Environment Department, Department of Agriculture and Farmers Empowerment, Odisha University of Agriculture and Technology, UNICEF, UNDP, World Bank, NABARD, Asian Development Bank etc. participated in the discussion.