Assam stands most vulnerable to climate change: Expert

GUWAHATI: Assam stands most vulnerable among N-E states towards climate change as the socio-eco-health indicators are very poor in the state.

This was commented by Dr Anamika Baruah, Associate Professor, Indian Institute of Technology (IIT), Guwahati while speaking on the climate change vulnerability study done in the Indian Himalayan Region.

She mentioned, “Assam also has the second lowest per capita income; low percentage area covered under crop insurance and low MGNREGA participation.”

“The issue of climate change cannot be solved in a short duration. A multi stakeholder involvement is required to tackle climate change”, said Arvind Madhav Singh, Principal Chief Conservator of Forests (PCCF) Assam while speaking during the inaugural session of the three – day long media workshop on climate change organised by Indian Himalayas Climate Adaptation Programme (IHCAP) of the Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation (SDC) and Centre for Media Studies (CMS).

He also said that there was a need to prepare a module for creating a uniform sensitization program.

Abhay Kumar Johari, Member Secretary Assam State Biodiversity Board (ASBB) said, “Assam has a unique feature in State Action Plan for Climate Change (SAPCC) which is nowhere in the country – we proposed a mechanism to implement the actions which is called Assam Climate Change Management Society (ACCMA).

Shimpy Khurrana Communications Officer, IHCAP presented the overview of IHCAP programme. She said, “IHCAP’s media engagement plan is a great opportunity for media persons to highlight the issues related to climate change in  Himalayas and what people are doing to cope with them.”

Annu Anand, Head CMS Advocacy, Centre for Media Studies said, “The real challenge of climate change reporting is to connect changes occurring at the local level with climate science and policies. We are trying to build this capacity among journalists.”

Other experts who spoke during the workshop include Dr. Sanjay Oneill Shaw of the Regional Meteorological Centre about Changing Trends of Climate in Assam, Ms. Mandira Buragohain, Project Officer (Knowledge Management & Climate Change), Assam State Disaster Management Authority (ASDMA) who spoke on the disaster risk reduction implemented in Assam.

Paban Dutta , retired Joint Director Sericulture spoke on the Impact of climate change on Sericulture and Dr Queen Sharma, programme coordinator of nature learning awareness program of the Assam State Biodiversity Board briefed about its programme.

The three-day workshop is aimed to brainstorm and share experiences on environment reporting with a special focus on climate change.