Jagaran post: Buoyed by the green initiatives taken by Himachal Pradesh, noted environmentalist and Nobel laureate R K Pachauri on Tuesday said the state could be “projected internationally” as India’s emerging model of sustainable development. Releasing the book titled ‘The Real Action-Green Growth Development Story of Himachal Pradesh,’ Pachauri, director general of TERI, offered multi-sectoral scientific cooperation for carbon-smart growth in the hills.
Addressing policy makers, top government officials and scientists on ‘Green Economy,’ he cautioned against the fallout of climate change and said it was a matter of concern that this was taking place faster than expected. Pachauri, who also heads the Inter-governmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) said, “As per reports the global temperature is going to rise between 1.1 to 6.4 deg C by the turn of the century and there is incontrovertible evidence about impact of global warming on climate.”
However, the reasons causing climate change were not the result of global warming but induced by human actions and unsustainable development policies. There was an urgent need to pursue sustainable growth and use of scientifically proven environment friendly technologies in development, he said.
“Sadly, we are deviating from the moral responsibility to protect environment and follow such policies which are ecologically sustainable,” Pachauri said. He also signed an agreement with the state government on setting up a TERI regional centre at Chamyana near Shimla for providing technical and scientific collaboration on areas of climate change and environment protection.
State chief secretary Sudripta Roy signed the agreement on behalf of the government. Speaking on the occasion, Chief Minister Prem Kumar Dhumal announced that the state government would be proposing a ‘Green Budget’ for 2013-14 by incorporating provisions for developing the tools and methodologies for ‘green accounting’ in planning and budget processes.
