Odisha Among 8 States Highly Vulnerable To Climate Change

New Delhi: Odisha has been identified as one of 8 states in the country which are highly vulnerable to climate change and need prioritisation of adaptation interventions.

Besides Odisha, the national climate vulnerability assessment report released on Saturday has identified Jharkhand, Mizoram, Chhattisgarh, Assam, Bihar, Arunachal Pradesh, and West Bengal as vulnerable to climate change.

The report titled ‘Climate Vulnerability Assessment for Adaptation Planning in India Using a Common Framework’, which identifies the most vulnerable states and districts in India with respect to current climate risk and key drivers of vulnerability, was released by secretary, Department of Science and Technology (DST) Prof Ashutosh Sharma.

“We have seen how extreme events are on rise both in terms of their number and severity. Mapping the parts of India that are vulnerable to such changes will help initiating climate actions at the ground level,” said Prof Sharma.

“Assessing vulnerability was the first step towards assessing climate risk. There are two other components like Hazard and Exposure that need to be also assessed to arrive at overall climate risk. DST would take up these assessments in the next phase along with sectoral vulnerability assessments and assessments at sub-district levels,” said Dr Akhilesh Gupta, Head, Climate Change Programme (CCP), DST.

A total of 94 representatives from 24 states and 2 Union Territories participated in the nation-wide exercise jointly supported by the DST and the Swiss Agency for Development & Cooperation (SDC).

The assessment will help Policymakers in initiating appropriate climate actions. It will also benefit climate-vulnerable communities across India through development of better-designed climate change adaptation projects, according to a release of Ministry of Science and Technology.