Places of worship to be climate resilient

CHENNAI: The Environment and Climate Change Department would soon appoint consultants to prepare detailed project reports (DPR) for the Meenakshi Amman temple in Madurai and Velankanni church in Nagapattinam under the ‘Climate Resilient Green Temples/Monuments’ initiative.

These two places of worship would be part of the pilot project of the initiative under the Tamil Nadu Climate Change Mission.

Heat emission in and around the places of worship would be studied, and the DPRs would suggest natural ventilation to improve thermal comfort. It would also assess the hazard, risk, and vulnerability and suggest mitigation measures in and around green monuments.

The measures would include efficient solar lighting, water management, heat management, greening, eco-restoration of temple tanks, and interventions to remove plastic and microplastics, etc.

The road network and orientation of the streets would be assessed, and creating bicycle tracks, provision for non-motorised vehicles, pedestrian facilities, street vending, crowd patterns, and frequency around the temple and the church would be studied.

Energy audits would be conducted and changes would be suggested in the existing services to reduce carbon footprint.

Solid Waste management plan and strategies for efficiency in maintenance, identification of reuse, recycling methodologies, and waste segregation would be formulated. The wastewater generation would be studied and the possibility of recycling greywater and reusing it for landscaping would be explored.

Rainwater would be stored in nearby waterbodies or by constructing sumps to use it for the day-to-day operation of the monuments.