Team Herald
PANJIM: The National Executive Committee of Compensatory Afforestation Fund Management and Planning Authority (CAMPA) has sought comments from the Climate Change Division on the proposal mooted by the Goa Forest department to set up automatic weather stations across five wildlife sanctuaries – Bhagwan Mahaveer Wildlife Sanctuary and National Park, Bondla, Cotigao, Mhadei and Netravali.
As reported by Herald in December, last year, the Forest Department has taken up a project “Short and Long Term Impact of Weather and Climate Change on Biodiversity of Protected Area”.
The project aims at ensuring real time mapping and monitoring of various weather phenomena including temperature, humidity, wind speed, rainfall, etc, through the automatic weather station, rain gauges for scientific management of forest and wildlife areas.
During its recent meeting, the CAMPA Authority informed that the proposal was recommended for approval to its governing body, subject to the condition that the proposal is vetted by the Climate Change Division.
The Authority informed that an Office Memorandum has been issued to Climate Change Division for their review and comments. “Waiting for their suggestions and Comments,” the meeting minutes read.
The automatic weather stations will be set up to ascertain impact of climate change on biodiversity of forests. The stations will help in providing real time data which will be used for scientific management of forests and wildlife areas.
The study will also enable the department to have a clear idea of the water deficient areas in the forests and will provide invaluable data for resolving problems like availability of water throughout the year for wildlife/soil and moisture conservation.
The weather/climate data collected over a long period may be used to assess probability and risk of extreme events like fire danger, pest management, and to compute statistics of the relevant weather events.
Each station will cost approximately Rs 20 lakh, the funds that will be utilised through the CAMPA. Forest Department is working with Indian Meteorological Department Goa on the project.
