Chief Secretary, Atal Dulloo, today chaired a crucial meeting to review the updated Action Plan on Climate Change for Jammu & Kashmir, calling for a coordinated and time-bound approach to strengthen the climate resilience efforts here.
The meeting besides Additional Chief Secretary, Jal Shakti Department, and Commissioner Secretary, Forests was attended by Chairperson, J&K Pollution Control Committee; Secretary, Science & Technology; Secretary, Health & Medical Education; Secretary, Rural Development Department; Secretary, Transport; Commissioner, JMC/SMC, and senior officers from other concerned departments.
While reviewing the updated Action Plan, the Chief Secretary stressed the need for each department to treat climate change as a priority subject and assign dedicated officers to integrate climate-responsive measures into their policies, programmes, and annual work plans.
He directed the Forest Department, the nodal agency for the Action Plan, to hold inter-departmental consultations to clearly outline the roles, responsibilities, and resource commitments of each department.
He emphasised that effective implementation will require every department to realign activities with emission reduction targets and climate adaptation goals.
To ensure transparency and real-time progress tracking, the Chief Secretary instructed the departments to develop an online portal where each stakeholder department will regularly update details of climate-related interventions. This system, he said, should support continuous monitoring of vulnerability indicators, risk assessments, and department-wise progress, enabling data-driven decision-making.
Speaking during the meeting, ACS Jal Shakti, Shaleen Kabra, underscored the importance of holding detailed stakeholder consultations to chart out the way forward. He called for reviewing ongoing projects across sectors to assess their alignment with the updated climate targets and exploring opportunities to scale up successful initiatives.
The Commissioner Secretary, Forests, Sheetal Nanda, highlighted the significance of the updated Action Plan in the context of J&K’s fragile ecological landscape. She informed that the revised plan has been prepared by incorporating the UT’s environmental sensitivities, financial capacity, and the scope of ongoing programmes under UT Capex and Centrally Sponsored Schemes.
The Chairperson, J&K Pollution Control Committee, informed that the earlier Action Plan had been submitted to the MoEF&CC, GoI, for its approval by the Steering Committee for funding. The original plan consisted of 11 missions, with 235 adaptation and mitigation actions proposed by 10 line departments, including 125 high-priority actions.
The revision was necessitated to align the UT’s climate roadmap with India’s Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs) 2015, which call for updated vulnerability assessments, enhanced climate modelling capacity, greenhouse gas (GHG) inventory systems, and convergence of ongoing schemes with climate objectives pertaining to 17 departments now.
The updated Action Plan presented a comprehensive climate profile of Jammu & Kashmir, detailing both historical and projected trends in temperature and precipitation across its different regions.
It outlined the varying degrees of exposure and risks faced by populations, agriculture, forests, and livestock, noting heightened vulnerability to floods, landslides, extreme heat, drought, and other climate-induced hazards. The plan also evaluates the adaptive capacities of different regions by analysing district-wise facilities, sensitivities, and risk factors.
A detailed vulnerability and risk assessment based on 42 scientific indicators categorises each district into high, medium, or low vulnerability zones and compares their relative risk levels with precision.
The revised plan identifies a total of 55 mitigation strategies across multiple sectors with a projected potential of reducing approximately 2.6 million tonnes of CO2 emissions by 2030.
These strategies include expanding the use of renewable energy sources such as solar, hydropower, and wind; reducing transmission and distribution losses in power sector; promoting energy-efficient appliances and lighting systems; encouraging the adoption of electric vehicles supported by Intelligent Traffic Management Systems (ITMS) and Mass Rapid Transit Systems (MRTS); and strengthening scientific, sustainable waste management practices throughout the region.
The meeting also discussed the governance architecture for the plan’s implementation, including establishment of oversight mechanisms and a dedicated real-time dashboard to evaluate progress across the concerned departments.