DEHRADUN: Union Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change has selected three districts in Uttarakhand, Sikkim and Madhya Pradesh to implement plans to tackle climate change issues such as changing of crop cycle, effect on flora and fauna due to rising temperatures, cloud burst and landslides.
The implementation of the plan will include mitigation of any such disasters and adaptation with changing pattern of weather.
Dhiraj Pandey, additional secretary, Uttarakhand state forest department said, “Pauri district has been chosen to find out adverse effects of changing climate in the state and its flora and fauna.” The names of the other two districts have not been finalised yet.
In 2013, the floods after multiple-cloudbursts in Kedarnath killed over 10,000 people while 4,021 others went missing. The state has also been witnessing change in animal behaviour due to increasing human interference and encroachment in habitat of the wild.
Big cats such as tigers and leopards are trying to find new corridors to avoid human contact, suggests a study in its initial phase.
Various other indicators such as early blooming of Rhododendron flower, late fruiting and ripening of Kaphal or Box Myrtle has left environmentalists worried.
Ashish Tiwari, a member of Research Advisory Committee of state forest department, said, “The flora has a set clock to respond to seasonal factors and is highly sensitive to even the minutest alteration in the climatic factors and responds to changes in the ecosystem due to climate change.”