Union Minister for Environment and Forest Jairam Ramesh has announced that the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) will launch a dedicated forestry satellite in all likelihood in the year 2013.
Against the biennial exercise in vogue, the facility will help to continuously monitor the forest cover, health and diversity. Similarly, efforts are on to launch an indigenous satellite for monitoring greenhouse gases and aerosol emissions next year, which will place India on a rung occupied by a select few in the world.
Speaking to journalists after inaugurating the Indian Climate Observatory Network (ICON) at the National Atmospheric Research Laboratory (NARL) campus near here on Sunday, Mr. Ramesh called the satellite a major afforestation initiative — a key player in tackling climate change issues.
India, one of the largest carbon sinks on the globe, added three million hectares to its forest cover between 1997 and 2007, when Brazil lost 25 million hectres, according to satellite imageries.
“Forests mean more than trees to us as they aid in social, economic and ecological sustenance,” he noted, adding that 250 million people depended on them for their livelihood.
The National Institute of Climate and Environmental Studies (NICES), a institution, is coming up at Gadanki with the collaboration of the Ministries of Environment and Earth Sciences, Departments of Space and Science and Technology.
The Indian Network of Comprehensive Climate Change Assessment (INCCCA), a project involving 125 research institutions, would present emissions inventory every year starting this May. The facility would measure the impact of emissions on agriculture, water, health and forest by studying the four crucial regions viz., western ghats, northeast, Himalayan ecosystem and the coastal system, before presenting a report in November.
Planning Commission member K. Kasturi Rangan inaugurated the Lower Atmospheric Wind Profiling (LAWP) radar. ISRO Chairman K. Radhakrishnan and NARL Director A. Jayaraman explained the various ongoing projects to the Minister.
