Awareness of climate change must for tackling challenges, building resilience: TN CM

Chennai, Feb 4 (PTI) Tamil Nadu Chief Minister M K Stalin on Tuesday stressed the need for awareness about climate change, especially its impacts and natural disasters, and said awareness will make the society educated to tackle challenges and help build resilience to recover.

The state government for its part, has planned to educate the people on climate change through various measures, he said. Ecology clubs will be established in schools across the state and a climate change policy will soon be unveiled.

The government would train its staff to address climate change with a special focus on agriculture and water resources departments, which are significantly affected by climate change, he said while addressing the Tamil Nadu Climate Change Summit 3.0 organised by the Tamil Nadu Climate Change Mission here.

"We need to face the challenges of climate change and become resilient through understanding the problems, impacts of climate change, awareness, and adapting the changes. This will make our society climate literate," the Chief Minister said.

He pointed out that in the massive inundation in Dubai, China, Brazil, Germany, and Spain, and also the forest fires in Los Angeles, the landslides in Kerala's Wayanad, and a minor landslip in Tamil Nadu's Thiruvannamalai, the primary reason for the disasters was climate change.

Climate change was the biggest challenge confronting the world and humans today and this was the reason why the Tamil Nadu government was continuously creating awareness about it and launched other appropriate initiatives.

"To mitigate the impacts of climate change and natural disasters, it is essential for people from all walks of life to understand what climate change is, its consequences, how to tackle them and adapt to it effectively. When awareness on these aspects is created our society will become one that is educated about climate change and resilient in the face the disasters," the CM said.

A society educated in climate change will adopt environmentally sustainable practices, he added.

Finance, Environment and Climate Change Minister Thangam Thennarasu said climate change is a disaster that affected all sections of people and industries without discrimination.

"As a continuation of this effort, four missions have been created to implement climate adaptation and mitigation measures which are being implemented through the TN Climate Change Mission," Thennarasu said.

The Tamil Nadu Climate Change Mission document said the state faced a high probability of climate-related natural hazards, which are increasing in frequency and intensity, with a potential to lead to more natural disasters.

The state is highly dependent on natural disasters and is under constant threat from the negative impacts of climate change, it said. The state government was working out solutions to create a greener, cleaner, and more resilient state emphasising on affordability, sustainability, and scalability for the transformation, it said. PTI JSP ROH