Expressing deep concerns regarding the impacts of climate change, the Honourable Chief Minister of Uttarakhand Shri Trivendra Singh Rawat, called for greater participation from the communities to deal with the challenge of climate change. India, according to him, is a land where the worship of nature has been intrinsically linked to its rituals and beliefs. Hence, any action to address the issue of climate change can succeed only with a people driven movement. These remarks were made during the inaugural ceremony of the consultation on “Strengthening Resilience to Climate Change related Disaster Risks” organized by the SDC funded initiative “Strengthening State Strategies for Climate Actions (3SCA)” on 21st July at Dehradun.
The workshop brought multiple stakeholders (scientific, government, civil societies, and communities) together to initiate a dialogue towards strengthening climate related disaster risk resilience. The workshop which had all the key senior government officials in attendance was addressed by the Chief Secretary Mr. S Ramaswamy, Programme Officer of SDC, Mr. Manish Mohandas and Country Director of UNDP Mr. Jaco Cilliers. Mr. Mohandas, in his remarks, highlighted the similarities between Uttarakhand and Switzerland – its geography, area and population – and stressed on the importance of sharing some of the Swiss experiences and expertise in dealing with natural disasters with the state of Uttarakhand.
The technical sessions had presentations by UNESCAP, UNDP, World Bank funded Uttarakhand Disaster Recovery Project, Indian Institute of Remote Sensing, Wadia Institute of Himalayan Geology, Tehri Hydro Development Corporation India Ltd etc.
The 3SCA programme is being implemented by the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) in partnership with Ministry of Environment Forest and Climate Change (MoEFCC. The project is supporting the states of Uttarakhand, Sikkim and Madhya Pradesh in implementing the State Action Plans on Climate Change (SAPCC). Swiss technical expertise in line with the expectations of the concerned state governments will be identified by the project and made available to the concerned departments for knowledge sharing and capacity building.
For more information, contact: Manish Mohandas, Programme Officer, Swiss Cooperation Office, Embassy of Switzerland, New Delhi, Phone: +91 11 4995 9500
Manish.mohandas@eda.admin.ch
