BENGALURU: The Fifth State Finance Commission report tabled in the Assembly on Tuesday has recommended increasing the annual budget allocation for climate change actions. This may help mitigate the impact of disasters and promote an integrated development of economy and environment.
Eighteen of Karnataka’s 31 districts are drought prone, while other 12 districts face recurring floods. Several districts face severe heat stress. The state is also witnessing increasing hydro-meteorological and geological disasters, it pointed out.
“Besides funds from NDRF and SDRF, the state is making an additional budget allocation from other departments for relief and response. Between 2018-19 and 2023-24, the state spent a significant amount on disaster management. The State NDRF share was Rs 1,275 crore, while Rs 6,614 crore was provided by the revenue department and Rs 8,709 crore through eight other departments. The total expenditure during 2018-2024 was Rs 16,598 crore, creating an additional burden of Rs 15,323 crore on state resources,’’ it said.
Forestry, agriculture, horticulture, fisheries, revenue, finance and rural development and panchayat raj departments have a greater scope to implement climate change adaptation and mitigation schemes.
“Since the forest sector has the highest potential to mitigate climate change, there is a need to increase the budget by 25% by 2025 and a further 25% by 2030. In the agriculture and horticulture sectors, the annual budget for climate change action may be increased by 20% by 2025 and a further 25% by 2030. The fisheries sector’s annual budget for climate change action may be increased by 15%. The annual budget for the departments of cooperation, energy, minor irrigation, finance and rural development and panchayat raj may be increased by 8%,” it said.