Kerala’s war against climate change makes its way to the global forum

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM:  Kerala’s engagement in battling the climate change crisis appears to catch the limelight of the global delegates at the climate change conference in Glasgow and major thanks have been extended to Thanal, an environmental organisation based in Thiruvananthapuram.

This organization showcased a document of 18 innovative and sustainable climate practices being adopted across Kerala to reduce the effects of climate change. The project was titled ‘Climate Action in Kerala- examples of good practices’. It included details of the projects that they launched for climate mitigation and ensuring resilience in nine sectors, which entails energy, transportation, agriculture, oceans and coastal ecosystems, water sources, waste, afforestation, health, and cross-cutting, in the state.

Two projects which were exhibited at the conference were namely, the Bottom-up approach and the Meenangadi model. In the former, the floating solar power plant in Banasura Sagra dam in Wayanad, a solar plant in Kuzhalmannam in Palakkad, and the project to revive traditional agriculture in Attappady in Palakkad, were some of the projects in the document. Furthermore, three projects from the transportation sector (electric vehicle policy, west coast canal, and Aditya solar boat), two from agriculture (Namuth Vellame and Thanal Agro-Ecology Centre) were entailed in the climate-resilient health system. The Meenangadi model was a carbon-neutral initiative in Wayanad district. This project aims to achieve the target of carbon neutrality by planting more trees, installing biogas plants for converting waste to cooking gas, and switching to renewable sources of energy. This would be a model project in India that will be inclusive of interventions in every aspect of human life.

Furthermore, the Government of India apparently has shown keen interest in exercising carbon-neutral projects in other Indian villages. The current aim is to fuel the existing initiatives and to formulate a framework at the national level, said Dr P P Balan, recently appointed senior consultant to prepare the framework of the projects.