Environment ministry approves climate change projects in Rajasthan, Gujarat and Sikkim

New Delhi: The environment ministry on Wednesday approved projects aimed at addressing the vulnerabilities arising out of climate change in Rajasthan, Gujarat and Sikkim. [caption id=“attachment_2818710” align=“alignleft” width=“380”] Representational image. Reuters[/caption] The National Steering Committee on Climate Change (NSCCC), at a meeting, approved three Detailed Project Reports (DPRs) submitted by the states for funding under the National Adaptation Fund for Climate Change (NAFCC). The NSCCC meeting was chaired by environment secretary Ajay Narayan Jha. The projects seek to address a range of climate change vulnerabilities in the three states which are not being dealt with by the ongoing schemes of the central and state governments. In Rajasthan, the project seeks to build on the work carried out under the first phase of the ‘Mukhya Mantri Jal Swavlamban Abhiyan’ to enhance the adaptive capacity of the villages by making them self-reliant in terms of water requirement, said an official statement. Similarly, the project in Gujarat aims to enhance the adaptive capacity of natural resource-dependent communities to climate change in targeted villages of the Kutch district. The project in Sikkim aims to address the issue of water security which is directly identified as a climate resilience building intervention under the State Action Plan on Climate Change (SAPCC). “The government is encouraging the states to come up with innovative and scalable projects to develop resilience against climate change and mainstream them in the planning processes,” the statement said. NAFCC is a flagship scheme of the Centre, which provides a 100-per cent grant to the states for implementing climate change adaptation projects. The scheme is designed to fulfil the objectives of the National Action Plan on Climate Change (NAPCC) and operationalise the SAPCCs. In the last two years, 21 projects had been approved at a total cost of Rs 435.72 crore, the statement said. The projects seek to address the vulnerabilities in climate sensitive sectors such as agriculture, animal husbandry, water, forests and coasts among others. “The project outcomes are expected to increase the resilience and adaptive capacity of vulnerable communities and ecosystems against climate change impacts,” the statement added.