Bhubaneswar: With the rising population in Odisha, environmentalists and ecologists urged the government to find alternative sources of energy, reduce CO2 emissions and conserve the water resources to prevent the excess climate change which the state may endure.
‘Climate Change Initiative’, organised by the Indian Chamber of Commerce (ICC), saw eminent researchers, politicians, top bureaucrats and experts mooting on the importance for the state to be more aware in regards to energy conservation at Swosti Premium, here.
They suggested that while alternative energy can be vital in reducing carbon footprints, it can also help in preserving rights of individual communities and culture that face insidious destruction due to careless mining.
Echoing their thoughts Dibya Shankar Mishra, Minister for Energy said, Industry without protecting environment cannot sustain. Odisha is aspiring for high economic growth but that should not come at a cost. Industry without protecting environment cannot sustain. They have to focus on three basic aspect of self-sustain, eco-friendly and zero waste. Industry has to play a major role in protecting the forest, eco-system and quality of water and air.”
Discussing the rising CO2 emission in the state owing to heavy industrialization, experts pointed out how Odisha needs to do more in terms of cutting down its carbon footprint. As per the recently introduced, ‘star rating’, which rates industries based on the amount of pollutants generated by them, 107 industries belonging to 17 categories of high-polluting sectors, only 25 are rated 5-star. Meanwhile, six others have received 4-star and one industry has been rated as 2-star (1 being least environment compliant and 5 being most).
Moreover, individual studies have shown that the carbon footprint study for Odisha indicates that the total emissions in the baseline year of 2011-12 were 98.5 million tons CO2 where energy generation contributed the most with 83%. The impact of this can be understood from another study that suggested the state is set to witness a 30 times increase in extremely hot days owing to heavy greenhouse gas emissions till the end of the century. A projected 42,334 excess climate-related deaths will also be observed due to this change.
Meanwhile, discussing on water conservation, Chandrashekhar Mishra, Managing Director of Cruz Power said that groundwater depletion is at a faster rate as the extraction is much more than the actual demand. He was of the opinion that if constant check on river flows is made to cater water demands to industries; it will lead to ‘severe crisis and enmities among the state in future.’
Adding to this, Deputy Director General of Forest, Subrat Mohapatra said, “In our country water channels have been encroached. Rivers never flow throughout the year now days as we had seen earlier. Water flow is very erratic during the rainy season. Air quality in different parts of the country is also not encouraging. Combined efforts of industry for air quality are not sufficient. Different stakeholders act individually to contain Co2. But to get success in this front the nation has to act together.”