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ENVIRONMENT

Government of India will finance an ad- use by government officers, academic globally. The Bay of Bengal and the Ara-
ditional US$86.8 million toward the new institutions, community members and bian Sea are both predicted to be subject
project to mainstream and accelerate the scientists. The project will also build to extreme climate variability, with the
impacts of the Green Climate Fund grant. local knowledge of climate change and frequency and intensity of cyclones and
“This initiative will not just build the associated risks via training and extreme weather events projected to
climate resilience among people living public education programmes. increase, particularly on the eastern
on India’s coasts, it will also have consid- A range of partners from the pub- coastline. Climate change projections
erable long-term environmental bene- lic sector, private sector and civil soci- predict a 2ºC rise in average annual
fits. By promoting healthier ecosystems, ety were consulted in the creation of the temperatures across South Asia by the
better biodiversity conservation and project proposal and will be involved mid-21st century.
resilient livelihoods, it is also an example throughout its implementation. The pro- According to a report from the World
of the kind of integrated approach we ject is set to run to the end of 2024. India’s Bank, an increase in global mean surface
need to achieve the Sustainable Devel- coastline is expected to be among the temperatures of 2ºC will make India’s
opment Goals,” said Shoko Noda, UNDP regions most affected by climate change monsoon highly unpredictable, while a

• More aid The Indian
government will finance
additional $86.8 million
towards the project

India Resident Representative. The initiative will 4ºC increase would result in an extreme-
To protect life on land and below particularly address ly wet monsoon (which currently has
water as outlined in the 2030 Agenda, a chance of occurring only once in 100
project activities will focus on the resto- India’s strategic years) occurring every 10 years by the
ration and conservation of over 15,000 plan to achieve its end of the century. India has about 6,740
hectares of mangroves, coral reefs, kms of mangroves, including some of the
seagrasses and saltmarshes. Communi- nationally determined largest mangrove forests in the world.
ties, including local youth, will be trained Mangrove cover along India’s coastline
to work with scientists in monitoring contributions under the has decreased by 50 per cent in some ar-
ecosystem health and coastal ecology. Paris Agreement, which eas, largely because of human pressures,
To strengthen climate risk-informed
coastal management and infrastruc- focuses on adaptation including alteration of flow of freshwater
from upstream and sea level rise is pre-
ture planning, the innovative project efforts in vulnerable dicted to result in further reductions.
will create an online decision-support
tool available via mobile phone for communities LETTERS@TEHELKA.COM

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