The Meghalaya government will create a climate change centre that will focus on ways and means for the North East to tackle the problem together.
Chief Minister Conrad K Sangma said that the centre will also act as a ‘climate museum’ and will be set up at Upper Shillong on Forest Department land near Elephant Falls.
Sangma informed this during the G20 conclave that began here today.
The government plans to make this a location where students can come and get hands-on experience and look at the different aspects of climate change in the region, state and country as a whole.
“It’s a place where we can educate children and have discussions,” the CM said, adding that conference rooms and lodging will also make up the project plan. “We are proposing that annually there should be a conference at the regional level of the North East where we discuss important aspects of climate and how the different states and region can work together.”
Construction work will begin this year.
According to Sangma, the North East needs to look at issues like climate change together as global warming respects no boundaries.
“We are in a very sensitive environment, hence all the states of the North East are affected in one way or the other. Therefore we need to come up with certain policies and steps together and decide. Our idea was that we should have at least a regional North East conference along with other states or neighbouring countries like Bangladesh, Myanmar and Bhutan.”
