PANAJI: As a result of climate change emerged as a major concern of cross-sector, state forest officials also prepared to overcome this challenge.
The Goa Forestry Department has received approval from the management of national compensation afforestation funds and the Planning Authority (Campa) to build automated weather monitoring systems in the country of wildlife.
It is expected to help assess the short-term and long-term impact of climate change in the country protected area.
“Automatic weather stations will be arranged in every Goa wildlife reserve to study short-term and long-term impacts of climate change in the biodiversity of the protected area of the state.
The station will be established in connection with the Indian Meteorology Department (IMD),” said the Head of the Forest School Santosh Kumar to TOI .
The weather station that is being established in each wildlife reserve will cost around Rs 20 to 25 lakh.
“IMD currently only has weather stations in urban areas and not in remote areas or forests.
These stations will help us record the weather in the forest, the sanctuary area and study the effects of climate change there,” Kumar said.
The Campa Executive Board, under the Ministry of Environment, has decided to recommend a proposal for the approval of government agencies, provided that the Central Climate Change Division will deactivate the proposal ‘to ensure synergy’.
Funds are set aside for caves under the Confensing Afforestation Fund Law, 2016, will be used for the project.
Recently, Goa prepared a state action plan for climate change (SAPCC), where the report warned of possible adverse effects on state forests if mitigation measures were not placed to combat climate change.
The report has called the alarm bell that the country’s temperature will rise more than 2 degrees Celsius in less than 15 years.
As a result, SAPCC warned of an increase in forest fires in Goa in the coming years.
“Forest Fire is a phenomenon that can intensify due to climate change,” said SAPCC.
“Although enough documented evidence is not available on whether the incidence of forest fires has increased in cave due to climate change or human activity, the trend describes the vulnerability of Goa Forest for fire, and this can be annoyed due to climate change in 2040.” When SAPCC was being prepared, 92 forest fires were reported in 2016-17, recorded reports, compared with only two or four fires over the previous years.
Weather monitoring stations in the holy place of Goa immediately combat climate change
