Guwahati, April 22: The Arunachal Pradesh government has recommended setting up of a climate change cell under the department of environment and forest for coordination among various departments for climate change intervention.

This was stated in the Arunachal Pradesh state action plan on climate change presented to the ministry of environment and forests recently.

“Constitution of climate change cell/authority under the department of environment and forest may be considered for coordination among various departments. The department will act as a facilitator to provide a framework for integration, planning, monitoring and assessment,” the plan recommended. Line departments have identified the activities to be carried out by them with assistance from their strategic partner departments like state remote sensing department, science and technology, and Krishi Vigyan Kendra.

The plan has proposed to select research institutions and universities and train on methods and approaches on monitoring mitigation and adaptation projections. “Line departments have their in-built monitoring mechanism which may take care of monitoring and evaluation once trained,” it said.

The forests in Arunachal Pradesh are subjected to human interventions in many districts leading to loss of biodiversity though it is lower compared to the other states of the region.

The report said promotion of community forestry by involving local communities in protection and management of the forests and also promoting preparation of Peoples Biodiversity Registers (PBR)s to conserve and promote biodiversity.

It called for reducing fragmentation of forests, promote agro-forestry with multiple native species in farms and homestead gardens, promoting the conservation of indigenous species and habitat protection like rhododendrons species.

The report said the water resources sector is the core sector to which all the other sectors are connected in a very complex way. “If the climate change adaptation has to be adequately and comprehensively addressed then the interconnectivity of other sectors has to be understood with the water resources. For such an intent use of an integrated approach becomes essential,” it said.

The report said a lot of research and development work needs to be done in horticulture sector. “Horticulture crops are very sensitive to temperature, humidity and other climatic factors. For example, apple cannot be grown if the temperature rises even a few degrees. In that case, kiwis may be recommended,” the report said.

It said there is a requirement of constant monitoring of variation in temperature, rainfall, humidity, and other climatic factors which will influence the production and suitability of crops.