Tamil Nadu govt to bring website to impart heat mitigation steps to residents' associations
The department has recently conducted a pilot project for the affordable housing scheme by painting the roofs of houses with silica white paint. This white paint can reduce the interior temperature by 3 to 5 degree Celsius.
Mangroves in Ennore
CHENNAI: In a bid to help residents' welfare associations (RWA) in adopting environment-friendly and climate-resilient practices within their communities, the state environment and climate change department is preparing a web portal as a one-stop source for heat mitigation strategies. It is being developed under the Tamil Nadu Climate Change Mission.
While speaking through video conferencing mode in a national conference on 'Heatwaves and changing monsoon patterns amid climate change' organized by Climate Trends, Supriya Sahu, secretary of the environment, climate change and forest department, said that the website has been created in a way to provide comprehensive training to RWAs. "Once the RWAs register on the website, all heat mitigation solutions and suggestions will be provided in one place," she said.
"The department has recently conducted a pilot project for the affordable housing scheme by painting the roofs of houses with silica white paint. This white paint can reduce the interior temperature by 3 to 5 degree Celsius. However, the paint is effective only for the top floor, hence, we need solutions for other floors," the IAS officer elaborated.
Sahu also informed that the government would soon release an Urban Greening Policy under the Green Tamil Nadu Mission. "Tamil Nadu is the most urbanized state in the country. The rate of urbanization is also increasing. The urban greening policy will cover aspects such as vertical gardens, reuse of treated water water for greening purposes and others," she explained.
Meanwhile, the department has also taken up a project to restore around 60 hectares of mangroves in Ennore, the official informed.
Additionally, during the conference, Sudha Ramen, member secretary of Tamil Nadu State Planning Commission, said that the commission has prepared a Tamil Nadu Heat Mitigation Plan, keeping in mind in increasing fires in the summer. "Due to increasing heat, forests that have never recorded fires are also witnessing forest fires. Also, the number of fire days is increasing, apart from the fire incidents," she informed.
Around 68 per cent of the population in the state is exposed to high heat stress for 8 to 9 days between March and June, the official said, quoting the report.
