After The Arunachal Pradesh Cabinet on 13 November adopted the ‘Pakke Declaration’ aimed at “climate resilient development” in the state, the Department of Environment, Forest and Climate Change has started preparing an action plan on this. The declaration is the first of its kind by any state government in the country. Chief Minister Pema Khandu called the declaration a “historic and significant milestone” during the ‘Azadi ka Amrit Mahatsav’— an initiative of the Government of India to celebrate and commemorate 75 years of independence.
As per department officials as the name of department has added with climate change as well, the concerned officials are expecting to come out with effective plan on the subject and are sure of bringing an impactful change.
As per the officials, the cabinet meeting, chaired by Khandu, was held at Pakke Tiger Reserve in Pakke Kessang district — for the first time outside the state capital. The declaration, called the “Pakke Tiger Reserve 2047 Declaration on Climate Change Resilient and Responsive Arunachal Pradesh”, envisages a multi-sectoral approach towards low emission and climate-resilient development through five broad themes, or the Panch Dharas — environment, forest and climate change; health and well being of all; sustainable and adaptive living; livelihoods and opportunities and evidence generation and collaborative action.
These rest on 75 strategies including protecting forest cover, restoring degraded forests, reducing health vulnerability due to climate change and extreme weather events, developing master plans for all urban areas reflective of local climate change-induced risks, adopting efficient irrigation measures, promoting entrepreneurship, among others.
As per officials, the action plan would be implemented with sector-wise resource allocation within respective budgetary envelopes for coordinated and systematic engagements to urgently tackle and mitigate the impact of climate change.