A study on carbon emission and sequestration in the Meenangadi grama panchayat limits has found that the carbon sequestration level is 11,452 tonnes lower than the carbon emission in the grama panchayat.
The first such study in a grama panchayat in the country was organised by Thanal, a Thiruvananthapuram-based non-profit environmental research and advocacy organisation, with public participation.
The purpose of the one-year project was to propose sector-wise adaptation and mitigation strategies to develop the Meenangadi grama panchayat of Wayanad district as a ‘carbon neutral panchayat’ by carrying out a carbon emission and sequestration analysis in transportation, energy, waste, livestock and AFOLU (Agriculture, Forests, and Other Land Use), programme coordinator S. Raju told The Hindu .
The concept of ‘carbon-neutral community’ puts forth the notions of zero-carbon development and food-energy self-sufficiency at a local government level, Mr. Raju said.
Climate change hotspots
The Kerala State Action Plan on Climate Change-2015 identified Wayanad as one of the climate change hotspots in the State. The district is primarily agrarian with 50% of its geographical area under plantations and other agricultural land use.
A Green House Gas (GHG) emission profile was prepared for the local body for the purpose in 2016-17. Forests, plantations, homestead trees, and organic carbon in soil were considered for calculating the amount of sequestered carbon in the district panchayat for the same period. Emission factors for various sectors were considered according to Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) 2006 guidelines. Activity data pertaining to various sectors was collected with the help of student volunteers (primary data) and from government departments (secondary data).
The green house gas was mainly contributed by the transport sector, around 45%, followed by energy, 39%, and agriculture and dairying, 13%, the study revealed. Carbon sequestration processes was mainly taking place in the adjacent forests, around 38%, homestead trees (34%), and shade coffee plantation (23%) in the panchayat.
In order to achieve carbon neutrality, the panchayat has to offset about 15,000 tonnes of carbon by 2020. For this, tree planting has been designed as an important intervention, targeting three lakh trees. Finance Minister T.M. Thomas Isaac released the study report by presenting a copy to Meenangadi grama panchayat president Beena Vijayan at Meenangadi on Tuesday.
