Initiated under the partnership of Ministry of Environment Forests and Climate Change (MoEFCC), UNDP and the Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation (SDC), the project seeks to support the state governments of Sikkim, Uttarakhand and Madhya Pradesh for the implementation of their State Action Plan on Climate Change. The project is for three years with an overall goal of increasing resilience of communities in the three states to climate change impacts. The partnership aims to strengthen capacities of state level departments and relevant institutions to plan and undertake specific interventions in climate sensitive sectors impacting large sections of vulnerable communities. Key interventions include mobilizing technical expertise, capacity building of resource persons/institutions, and implementation of knowledge sharing strategies.
The objective of the event in addition to the formal launch was to bring the relevant stakeholders of the project on to a common platform and share a better understanding of the project including project goals and outcomes, objectives, focus sectors, key activities, state priorities & work plan which would be implemented in the selected states. The launch workshop was a multi-stakeholder event including participation from MoEFCC, partner state governments, bilateral and multilateral agencies and civil society organizations.
Mr. Jaco Cilliers, Country Director, UNDP, welcomed all the participants and gave an overview of the climate change scenario in India and UNDP’s commitment to combating the impacts of climate change. He appreciated Government of India’s commitment to climate change actions, as evidenced by India’s proactive stance at CoP-21, during the development of the Paris Agreement, national commitments to the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). He also appreciated the fact that India is one of the few countries that developed sub-national plans to deal with climate change by showcasing their State Action Plans on Climate Change (SAPCCs.
Mr. Andreas Baum, the Ambassador of Switzerland to India and Bhutan, started his address by appreciating the efforts of Government of India on combating climate change considering it is an issue of high priority for the nation. He stressed upon the fact that Government of Switzerland is honored to partner with the Government of India in helping to implement climate actions in Madhya Pradesh, Sikkim and Uttarakhand. Acknowledging that SAPCCs are an important pillar of policy planning and implementation of climate actions in India, he underlined SDC’s commitment to this project.
Mr. Ravi Shankar Prasad, Joint Secretary, MoEFCC started his address by providing insights on the process of ratification followed by the Government of India for the Paris Agreement. He graciously acknowledged and thanked the previous speakers for their praise of Government of India’s commitment to climate change. He spoke at length about the SAPCCs urging the state governments and this project to go beyond the document and to now focus on mainstreaming and implementing actions, in a more inter-sectoral manner. He stated that the current UNDP-SDC-MoEFCC project on “Strengthening State Strategies for Climate Actions” will provide an opportunity to effectively implement the climate actions as per the SAPCC.
The subsequent sessions involved a detailed presentation on the project’s approach by Mr. Anand Kumar, National Project Manager. This was followed up with the three state government representatives sharing the initiatives taken by the State in dealing with climate change impacts. They highlighted the state priorities and work plans developed under the project. The workshop concluded with a moderated discussion chaired by Ms. Janine Kuriger, Director of Cooperation SDC and Ms. Preeti Soni, Assistant Country Director, UNDP.
