Impact of climate change deliberated

By Our Staff Reporter
IMPHAL, Sep 19 : Directorate of Environment and Climate Change Director Dr Y Nabachandra has warned that Manipur is starting to experience the impacts of climate change.
He made the announcement during a two day research policy workshop on 'Climate change prospective in Manipur' which began at Manipur University VC Court Room today under the aegis of Directorate of Environment and Climate Change, Manipur University, Central Agricultural University and National Institute of Technology.
The workshop was organised with the aim of creating Climate Change State Action Plan version 2.
Speaking at the event, the Director said that the earlier version of the action plan had many loopholes and expressed desire for the new version to be free of any defects and shortcomings.
On the other hand, CAU Extension Education Director in charge Professor Ratan Kumar Shah said that climate change has brought many unseen events to the State.
In the past, Manipur had around 260 fish species. Now, only 190 fish species have been recorded. This shows that many species are now dying out or disappearing from the State, he opined.
Directorate of Environment and Climate Change Deputy Director as well as State Climate Change Cell Nodal Officer Dr T Brajakumar said that the rapid climate change experienced by Manipur, which is a part of the Eastern Himalayan range, necessitates the need to adopt climate change resilient crops and produces higher yields.
During the technical session of the workshop conducted in the afternoon, IIS, Bangalore, Dr Indu K Murthy, IIT Delhi Professor Manju Mohan, CAU Professor EVD Shastri and NIT Tirruchirrapalli Dr Saravanan Subbarayan spoke on various topics and conducted a panel discussion.
The inaugural event of the workshop was attended by NIT Imphal Director Professor Goutam Sutradhar, CAU Extension Education Director Professor Ratan Kumar Shah,  CAU Professor L Nabachandra and NIT Imphal Dr Ng Romeji as the presidium members.
The two day workshop will conclude with a panel discussion at Hotel Imphal tomorrow.