‘Offshore wind farm will pose threat to biodiverse Gulf of Mannar ecosystem’
“At a time when climate change is causing wind speed to decrease, the biodiverse Gulf of Mannar ecosystem, which is already under pressure due to ocean acidification, overfishing, and plastic waste, now faces the threat of an offshore wind energy project for ‘green’ power,” said G. Sundarrajan, member of Tamil Nadu Governing Council on Climate Change, and Coordinator of Poovulagin Nanbargal.
Delivering the K. Rajaratnam Endowment Lecture at the inauguration of the ‘National Forum on Building Transnational, Civil Society Partnership to Increase the Resilience of Coastal Communities’, by the Centre for Research on New International Economic Order (CReNIEO), Mr. Sundarrajan said according to some studies, offshore wind only has about 10% to 15% more output capacity than onshore farms.
Ramesh Ramachandran, adviser, Tamil Nadu Green Climate Company, said blue economy practices are a way to strengthen the resilience of local communities. He said the State government would begin the process of restoring Kariyachalli island, one of the submerged islands in the Gulf of Mannar chain by focusing on preserving coral reefs and mitigating erosion. This is a huge opportunity for us to harness the blue economy in a much more sustainable way, he added.
Highlighting the vital contribution of women’s knowledge and work in coastal communities, Susan Verghese, Vice President of Hindustan Group of Institutions, said they also faced increased vulnerabilities in times of disaster. “So, it becomes all the more important to train them, and provide skill development, capacity building, and alternate livelihood opportunities in ecotourism and aquaculture,” she added.
“Like how we have Tirunelveli halwa, or anything popular in a particular region, we should have Kovalam karuvaadu or Pulicat prawn podi to get people to immediately try them and do a bit of marketing,” she said.
Read Comments
- Copy link
- Telegram
READ LATER
Remove
SEE ALL
PRINT