European Union team banks on research and innovation for tackling climate change

climate change

OUR CORRESPONDENT

ITANAGAR: A European Union (EU) delegation, on a tour of Arunachal Pradesh, has asserted the importance of research and innovation to tackle the impacts of climate change.

The EU delegation made this assertion during its visit to the office of the State’s ‘Climate Change Cell’ under the State Environment and Forest department on Saturday to learn more about the programme on National Mission on Sustaining Himalayan Ecosystem (NMSHE), its initiatives and scientific activities.

The visiting EU delegation led by Tania Friederichs included Dr Vivek Dham (member), Inger Midtkandal (Royal Norwegian Embassy), Dr Srinivas Kaveri (Director CNRS, Paris), Alain Ghislain Baetens (Embassy of Belgium), Dr Massimo Spandoni (Embassy of Italy) and Dr Jakob Williams Oerberg (Royal Danish Embassy), an official release informed here on Sunday.

The European delegation dwelt on broad issues such as possible cooperation with Europe, both at the EU level and with countries of the participating delegates. The team also emphasized on cooperation and collaborative research/innovation programme Horizon 2020 as well as the ‘Start-up Europe India Network’ scheme. Friederichs emphasized the need for better cooperation with the State Government as well as the Central Government for future policy dialogue on climate change issues.

She said that this visit to the ‘Climate Change Cell’ is the beginning of a long-term engagement and holds promise for future collaborative work with the State government. Dr Dham too emphasized the importance of research and innovation to tackle the impacts of climate change.

Dr Kaveri highlighted various implementing arrangement with India by the French Government that includes scholar mobility programmes, individual fellowships, and bilateral and multilateral collaborations.

Midtkandal shared about the use of hydropower in Norway which contributes to 98% of power and its collaboration with various countries on hydropower, the release added.

Also read: Arunachal news