KOCHI: The national symposium on impact of climate change on aquatic ecosystems held here recently has recommended setting up a government-level task force comprising experts to handle the policy making and research for mitigating climate change. The report prepared by the experts who attended the programme also suggested formulating stringent rules to control the green house gas emissions. “Implement inter-institutional collaborative work on climate change and involve the NGOs. There is also a need for creating awareness on climate change and its ecological effects at different levels of the society,” the report said.
Pointing out that research and development funding should be increased for climate change studies in core and allied areas, the report said that the use of algae for bio fuel research and production should be implemented in a greater way. “It is also suggested that all scientific programmes in the aquatic ecosystems including the ocean sector may be conceived, planned and implemented by a core group of professionals in the respective areas so that a synoptic and comprehensive and long term data base relevant to climate change is evolved,” the report said. S. Bijoy Nandan, organizing secretary of the event and Reader in Marine Biology at Cochin University of Science and Technology, said that there was a need to evolve concurrent data on long term impacts of climate change on fisheries and its environment and also the application of ecosystem modeling / system ecology, remote sensing techniques for suggesting definite conclusions. “Although coral bleaching emerged as the most viable impact of climate change, database (related to this aspect) is scanty and there was a need for separate long term comprehensive studies,” Dr. Nandan said.
The report said that there has been closely spaced general observation that long term database on temperature and other relevant parameters is lacking all along the Indian coast. The monsoon rainfall pattern and its decadal, biannual and long term cycles are to be taken note while designing observation programmes. There was paucity of data on methane and other green house gases from the water bodies and other sources along the Indian coast and there was a need for standardisation and inter calibration of measurements, it said. Explaining that healthy ecosystems are better able to adapt to climate change, the report suggested stepping up efforts to reduce the fragmentation and degradation of ecosystems not currently protected or represented in reserves. This includes ensuring an end to broad scale land clearing.
Source: The Hindu, Dated: 10.03.2010
Pointing out that research and development funding should be increased for climate change studies in core and allied areas, the report said that the use of algae for bio fuel research and production should be implemented in a greater way. “It is also suggested that all scientific programmes in the aquatic ecosystems including the ocean sector may be conceived, planned and implemented by a core group of professionals in the respective areas so that a synoptic and comprehensive and long term data base relevant to climate change is evolved,” the report said. S. Bijoy Nandan, organizing secretary of the event and Reader in Marine Biology at Cochin University of Science and Technology, said that there was a need to evolve concurrent data on long term impacts of climate change on fisheries and its environment and also the application of ecosystem modeling / system ecology, remote sensing techniques for suggesting definite conclusions. “Although coral bleaching emerged as the most viable impact of climate change, database (related to this aspect) is scanty and there was a need for separate long term comprehensive studies,” Dr. Nandan said.
The report said that there has been closely spaced general observation that long term database on temperature and other relevant parameters is lacking all along the Indian coast. The monsoon rainfall pattern and its decadal, biannual and long term cycles are to be taken note while designing observation programmes. There was paucity of data on methane and other green house gases from the water bodies and other sources along the Indian coast and there was a need for standardisation and inter calibration of measurements, it said. Explaining that healthy ecosystems are better able to adapt to climate change, the report suggested stepping up efforts to reduce the fragmentation and degradation of ecosystems not currently protected or represented in reserves. This includes ensuring an end to broad scale land clearing.
Source: The Hindu, Dated: 10.03.2010
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