India to set up centre to study climate, environment

Bangalore, Oct 18 : The Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) and the union forest and environment ministry will jointly set up a national institute here to study climate and environment soon, central Minister of State for Forests and Environment Jairam Ramesh announced Sunday.

"The institute will have an initial investment of Rs.40 crore (Rs.400 million) and 100 experts to study the impact of climate change and the fallout of greenhouse emissions on the environment," Ramesh told reporters here.

The National Institute for Climate and Environmental Sciences (NICES), a first-of-its kind centre will take up long-term research projects related to the impact of climate change on various economic aspects, especially agriculture and water.

"We are waiting for government approval to set up the institute in the next couple of months. It will be a huge step in creating the infrastructure for long-term research on climate change," Ramesh said.

The institute, to be commissioned by this year-end, will monitor and measure the impact of global warming on the Himalayan glaciers, which have been retreating with their snow cover dwindling.

"The data compiled so far by western countries on the melting of the Himalayan glaciers is biased, as its analysis was based on changes in the Arctic glaciers. As we do not have a programme to monitor the health of Himalayan glaciers, the institute will undertake the exercise for three years," Ramesh pointed out.

Noting that the major initiative would help India contribute to the study of climate change, Ramesh said the institute would also measure the impact of greenhouse emissions on forests in Kerala, Western Ghats in Karnataka, north-east, Uttarkhand and in the Indo-Gangetic plains of central India.

In this context, ISRO chairman G. Madhavan Nair said the space agency would expand its network of ground stations and towers in the forest areas to monitor the absorption of carbon sink.

"Greenhouse emission is different in each geographic region of the country. There is a regional variation in the absorption of greenhouse gases in Kerala forests, Western Ghats in Karnataka and in the Indo-Gangetic plains. An average of 10 percent of greenhouse gases is absorbed by our forests," Ramesh noted.

The ministry has already set up an Indian Network of Climate Change Assessment (INCCA) programme to study the impact of climate change on socio-economic aspects.

"ISRO will also be involved in the INCCA programme to build up our own monitoring, measuring and modelling (3Ms) mechanism to study the impact of climate change due to global warming," Ramesh stated.

The minister regretted that the knowledge of climate change and its impact on India was derived from western sources, which are biased in the absence of primary monitoring in the country.

"We need to rectify this anomaly by integrating ISRO with the mainstream climate change resources. We will have an ISRO representative at the ensuing Copenhagen summit in December for global negotiations on climate change," Ramesh added.

--IANS