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ACTIVITY OF SIKKIM STATE CLIMATE CHANGE CELL

Background:

Sikkim State Climate Change Cell is established in October 2014 under Sikkim State Council of

Science and Technology, an autonomous organisation of Department of Science and

Technology, Government of Sikkim. The Cell is established under National Mission for

Sustaining the Himalayan Eco-system (NMSHE), one of the missions under National Action

Plan on Climate Change, supported by Department of Science and Technology, Government of

India.

Sikkim is one of the mountainous states of Indian union. Elevation gradient varies from 300

meters to more than 8000 meters within 113 km North South extension and 64 km East West

extension makes the steep gradient topography of the state. The geographical area of Sikkim

is 7096 Sq. Km. High gradient slope provides more erosive power to river and stream which

aggravate the erosion activities in the hill slopes during the monsoon season. Landslides and

flash flood are common during the rainy season.The state population lives in this vulnerable

hill slopes both inrural and urban areas. Besides, the majority of state population lives in rural

areas with agriculture as the primary occupation. The accessibility within the state meet

through mountain roads constructed in varying slopes which remain cut off during the rainy

season. In addition, the state is located in tectonic active area in Himalaya, where the

earthquake is a frequent phenomenon. In this scenario the state population are directly and

indirectly depends on nature for their livelihoods in this landlocked state.

Climate change is expected to pose serious threat to nature and environment both in local and

global level. Its impacts are seen in the form of unusual weather and climatic phenomena like

drought, heavy rainfall, melting of the glacier and ice masses etc which result in various kinds

of natural disasters, extinction of plant and animal species, decrease of food production which

ultimately affect the survival of human beings. So the Climate change and its impacts are likely

to pose serious impact on the life of people in this Himalayan state. This situation makes the

state vulnerable to climate change. As such NMSHE has to play a major role in understanding

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the inter links between Himalayan ecosystem and the climate factors and provide inputs for

Himalayan sustainable development of the state.

The State Climate Change Cell established under NMSHE has the mandate to focus and

address various issues related with climate change to fulfil the objectives of NMSHE.

The Centre has undertaken two kinds of initiatives as according to the guidelines of NMSHE.

Oneprogramme focused on conservation of natural ecosystemandstudy of impact of climate

change on Himalayan ecosystem. Another programme focused on human lives and livelihood

that will help the people in the state directly and indirectly to tackle the impact of climate

change.

Broadly the major goals and objectives to be achieved are:

1. Vulnerability and Risk Assessment at Gram Panchayat Unit (GPU) and ward level: The

state has total number of 178 GPU and 1001 wards in its four district of Sikkim.

Vulnerability and risk assessment provides level of vulnerability within ward/GPU to

prioritize the adaptation measures.

2. Institutional Capacity building to attain the capability to handle climate change

program and to find the solutions to address the problem of climate change in the

state. To carry out Research and Development activities for data base generation as

per the SAPCC and NMSHE requirements.

3. Training programmes for stakeholders including Government officials, researchers,

community based organizations, media etc in the state to work for the minimizing the

effect of climate change in the state and to achieve the sustainable development.

4. Involving masses to work for minimizing the impact of climate Change through

awareness programme.

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1. Ongoing activities of the State Climate Change Cell:

A Generation of database for the vulnerability and risk assessment of state interms

of climate change:

The State Cell is presently engaged in database generation for vulnerability assessment

on the impact of Climate Change in different areas including rural and urban

vulnerability, agricultural vulnerability, human health vulnerability etc. Vulnerability

assessment requires series of database including meteorological data, Population

census data, data on land use land cover, data on human health and agricultureetc to

meet the parameters on exposure, sensitivity and adaptive capacity. Apart from these

data sets, proper boundary delineation map of wards and GPU is required to calculate

the area of each ward and GPU. The complete data set would be integrated in GIS

Platform to generate the degree of exposure, sensitivity and availability of adaptive

capacity within wards and GPU. Based on these parameters, the level of vulnerability

will be drawnwithin the wards and GPU. It will help in prioritizing Climate Change

Adaptation programme in the state.

Recently the number of wards and GPUs of Sikkim has been increased after

delimitation process. Though the newly formed wardsand GPUs boundaries are

finalized but so far it’smapping are not completed. As such there is a need of effort in

correction and finalization of these boundaries. So at present the Centre is working to

fulfill database generationandupgradation of wards and GPUsboundaries.

The primary source of population and socioeconomic data in the state are Census of

India and DESME data. The Census data are based on the number of villages under

each districtin Sikkim. According to Census of India 2011, there are 451 villages in

Sikkim. Similarly, there were around 904 wards listed in DESME Report 2005, which

increased to 1001 wards after delimitation. Similarly the number of GPU increased

from 163 to 178after delimitation.

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Fig1: Ward and GPU Map of Sikkim after delimitation. The number of wards increased

to1001 from 904 wards and 178 GPUs from 163 GPUsafter delimitation. New Wards and

GPU boundarymapsare not available.

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In one of the joint study on climate change vulnerability assessment conducted by

Department of Science and Technology and Rural Management and Development

Department under State Government,South and West district are found to bemost

vulnerable district in Sikkim. The study focused onclimate change vulnerability of rural

communities of Sikkim based on database of Census of India and DESME. In this study

the parameters like temperature, rainfall, family size, percentage of farming

population, percentage of population below poverty line, literacy, connectivity etc are

considered for vulnerability mapping.

Fig 2: Climate change vulnerability index in terms of Exposure, Sensitivity and adaptive

capacity of rural communities of Sikkim.

The particular study is also included in State Action Plan on Climate Change (SAPCC).

There is a need to cover more parameters and update the newly formed wards and

GPUs in the studies. The ward boundary considered in the studies required to be

verified for more refine vulnerability mapping. Considering the study as the base of the

vulnerability mapping of Sikkim, the State Climate Change Cell is working for more

precise vulnerability mapping in upcoming days. The state Socioeconomic Survey for

the year 2015 by DESME is already completed and the final report is expected to be

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available in next 3-4 months. The particular database will included in the more refined

vulnerability mapping by the Cell.

The district and village vulnerability index of the study conducted by DST and RMDD

Department are given in the following figure.

Fig 3: District/village wise climate change vulnerability index of Sikkim carried out by Rural

Management and Development Department, Sikkim. The vulnerability index is also included in

Sikkim State Action Plan on Climate Change.

Exposure Sensitivity Adaptive Capacity

1. Temperature 2. Rainfall

1. Percentage of rain fed farming

2. Percentage of farming population

3. Elevation 4. Family size

1. Economic capacity in terms of percentage poverty rate

2. Human capacity in terms of percentage of class 10 passed population

3. Environment Capacity in terms of density of population

4. Physical connectivity in terms of road connectivity

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Table1: Parameters considered for the climate change vulnerability of village wise rural population of Sikkim. The meteorological data is one of the most important component of vulnerability mapping.

In Sikkim, the long term meteorological database are available only for two stations of IMD

in Gangtok and Tadong in East Sikkim. The database is available for the period of around 49

years from 1966 to present. The State Cell has approached National Data Centre of Indian

Meteorological Department at Punerequesting for the available meteorological data in

consultation with the IMD Sikkim Circle. At present the IMD Sikkim has around 16 weather

monitoring stations in Sikkim. But so far the state Climate Change Cell has not received the

data.

B Institutional Capacity building and R&D for data base generation:

Prior to establishment of State Climate Change Cell, the State Council of Science and

Technology had been working on various areas of climate change related studies in Sikkim.

For this efforts of the State Council, the state government has renamed the Department of

Science and Technology as the Department of Science and Technology and Climate Change to

carry out ongoing climate change activities in the state in responsible and coherent manner.

Despite of that, the State Council was facing constraints due to the shortage of manpower and

dedicated fund for climate change studies. The establishment of Cell has providedstrong

support for the ongoing climate change studies.With the establishment of Cell, the Council

has strengthened with manpower dedicated for the climate change studies in the state. The

manpower engaged in the Cell are from different subject background as the climate change

studies required the experts from different field of knowledge. At present the manpower

engaged in the Cell are from Geography, Ethno-Botany, Taxonomy, Sociology, backgrounds

and many of them are trained in Glaciology, Climate change and Remote Sensing and GIS. The

State has appointed a dedicated Officer to look after the ongoing studies of the Cell.Space for

the Cell is provided within the Department of Science and Technology building. The

Manpower of the Cell is well trained in terms of Glaciers monitoring, climate change and

vulnerability assessment in different capacity building programmes like Indo Swiss Capacity

Building programme organized by Jawaharlal Nehru university, Field training Programme on

Glaciology by GSI, Lucknow andDST-SDC Workshop on Adaptation Planning and

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Implementation in the Indian Himalayan Region: Technical Support for State Climate Change

Cells etc.

Apart from that, with the establishment the Cell is equipped with the instruments required

for the ongoing research activities. The details of the instruments so far procured are given

below:

The kind of training programme has helped in institutional capacity building of the Centre.

Despite of that, the training programme for the manpower engaged in the Cell in different

national and international level is highly required in order to understand the latest

development in the field of climate change activities.

Sl. No

Generic name of the Equipment along with make & model

Brand Name Quantity

1 Automatic weather station (AWS) Sensors (Wind speed, wind direction, Rain, Air Temperature, Humidity, Solar Radiation, Leaf wetness, Soil Moisture, Soil Temperature, Atmospheric Pressure, Snow depth Tilt Meter and workstation for data and INSAT connectivity)

Microcomm 2

2 Automatic weather station (AWS)- Portable without INSAT including Sensors (Wind speed, wind direction, Rain, Air Temperature, Humidity, Solar Radiation, Leaf wetness, Soil Moisture, Soil Temperature, Atmospheric Pressure,)

Microcomm 1

3 Heucke Steam Driller Heucke 1

4 Ultrasonic deep depth finder 300m Hondex 1

5 Electronic Weighing Machine 300gm Citizen 1

6 Automatic Current Meter (with inset connectivity) Microcomm 2

7 Walky talky for Remote communications in Glacier and other highly risk areas including accessories Walky talky repeater

Motorola (1 Set)

4 1

8 Electrical conductivity meter (HANNA) HANNA 2

9 Leica Total Station (High end) Leica Ts02plus

R500

1 set

10 Distance meter (High resolution) Leica D810 1

11 Trimble GPS Trimble (3D,3B)

1

12 Soil pH meter DM13 1

Table 2: List of instrument procured under NMSHE in State Climate Change Cell

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Fig 4: Manpower of State Climate Change Cell equiped with Walky Talky under NMSHE in East

Rathong Glacier in September 2015.

Name of Man power

Post assigned Expertise/Experience

Shri. R.K Sharma Scientist B Botany/Taxonomy/Glaciology/Climate Change

Shri. Pranay Pradhan Scientist B Geography/Remote Sensing and GIS /Glaciology/ Climate Change

Shri. Bishnu Sharma Research Assistant

Ethno-Botany

Shri. Sandeep Chettri Research Assistant

Sociology

Ms. Deepa Sharma Project Assistant Graduate

Table 4: List of manpower recruited in Sikkim State Climate Change Cell

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Fig 5: Location of State Climate Change Cell in VigyanBhawan, Department of Science and

Technology Building, Gangtok, Sikkim

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C Training programme of Stakeholders including Govt officials, researchers,

community based organisations, media etc:

Training of the stakeholders should be systematic. In order to sensitize people concerned

with the resource management on the adversary of climate change impact in coherent

manner, the systematic and sound mode of trainings are required in the state. To fulfil the

objectives, the Training Needs Assessment report of SDC is widely referred. At present, the

Cell is engaged in following activities.

The collection of training materials as according to learning materials mentioned in the

Training needs assessment report conducted by SDC in Himachal Pradesh. The materials will

be bring into power point presentation and training materials format for the participants.

The training module is preparing according to 8 modules given in the TNA report. The module

are preparing in context of the climate change scenario of Sikkim state. Module to be include

are: Introduction to climate change and need for adaptation action, Interpreting climate data

and impact of climate change, Assessing vulnerability to climate change to undertake

adaptation planning, Identification of Adaptation options and selection of measure,

Developing monitoring and evaluation framework, Building capacity for adaptation to climate

change, Module at local level in Sikkim including programme and project of various

department and refresher course (in case of need).

The trainees includes legislator, Very senior bureaucrats, senior technical officials in the

concerned departments, mid-level officials, nominations from the different institutes and

organisations.

The department concerned engaged in identified key areas under NAPCC and SAPCC has been

mapped and the climate change concern that each department needs to address has been

identified. In most of the cases the department needs to address are similar to TNA report.

The key areas identified are:

Water security

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Agriculture and horticulture and Livestocks

Forest, Wildlife and Ecotourism

Promotion of energy efficiency

Urban and rural habitats including human health

The final module will be shared with DST/SDC for finalization in next 3-4 months. Accordingly

the training programme of stake holders will be planned.

Key areas identified under

NMSHE/SAPCC

Department/Organisation in Sikkim

management identified key areas

1. WATER SECURITY

Irrigation and Flood Control Department

Water security and Public Health Engineering Department

Rural management and Development department

Central water Commission NHPC

AGRICULTURE , HORTICULTURE AND

LIVESTOCK

Agriculture and Horticulture Department

Animal Husbandry Department ICAR Central Agricultural University,

Ranipool

FORESTS, WILDLIFE AND ECOTOURISM

Forest Environment and Wildlife

Management Department (FEWMD) Tourism and Civil Aviation

Department Ecotourism Directorate (FEWMD) State Pollution Control Board (under

FEWMD) Biodiversity Board (under FEWMD)

PROMOTION OF ENERGY EFFICIENCY Power Department SREDA NHPC TistaUrja

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URBAN AND RURAL HABITATS Urban Development and Housing Department

Rural Management and Development Department

Transport Department Health Care, Human Services and

Family Welfare Department

IMPORTANT DEPARTMENTS/

INSTITUTIONS

Land Revenue and Disaster Management Department

Mines, Minerals and Geology Department

Geological Survey of India Indian Meteorological Department,

Sikkim DESME, Sikkim Sikkim University GBPHIED, Sikkim

Table 4: Mapping of the departments/organizations responsible for management of key areas

identified under SAPCC/NAPCC

Following are the list of Nodal Officer for Climate Change Advisory Committeedeputed by

various department. The Nodal Officer from other departments is awaited.

Sl.No Nodal Officer Department 1. Dr. H.N Sharma

Shri I.P Chettri Department of Animal Husbandry, Livestock, Fisheries and Veterinary Service

2. Mr. SherabTsheringBhutia

Horticulture and Cash Crops Development Department

3. Dr. Sarita Lama Health Care, Human Services and Family Welfare Department

4. Shri Anil Raj Rai Rural Management and Development Department

5. R.K Avasthe Indian Council of Agriculture Research 6. DinkarGurung Urban Development and Housing

Department 7. JangaBasnett Irrigation and Flood Control Department 8. Pravakar Rai Land Revenue and Disaster Management

Department Table 5: Nodal Officer of State Climate Cell deputed under Climate Change Advisory Committee

by various State Departments and organizations.

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D Public Awareness:

The Centre is engaged in Public awareness programme on Climate Change through:

Newsletters in the local newspaper and articles

Imparting lectures to teachers of various schools of East and North Sikkim with the help of

District Institute of Education and Training (DIET). The main idea of involving teachers is

to speed up climate change awareness in state as they impart their ideas, learned through

trainings to the students. It helps in reaching masses in limited time frame.

Lectures to the students of DIET on climate change.

Lectures in various workshops organized by other institutes and organizations on climate

change concerns of state.The State Climate Change Cell being a nodal Centre in the state,

there has been increasing number of invitation from other organizations as Resource

person to impart talks/lectures on climate change.

Publication of news report in local and national daily through press releases on

programmes of the State Cell on Climate Change studies and expeditions.

Fig 6: Press release on field study of East Rathong glacier published in local daily

of Sikkim

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Future actions on awareness programme:

The Cell will visits schools for the awareness programmes of climate change. The number

of school to be visit in a months and year are yet to be finalized.

Awareness of local bodies including Panchayat and Nagar Panchayat in rural and urban

areas on the concern of climate change in the state. The awareness programme will be

done through posters and power points. The Cell is at present engaged on the preparation

of the resource materials for the programme.

The number of vehicles including public and private vehicle is increasing very fast in the

state. The pollution from the vehicle is one of the major proportion of air pollution in the

state. So the Cell is also planning to create awareness to the transport communities

specially diesel operating vehicle drivers, heavy vehicle drivers, government drivers of

state on pollution issues and their role in climate change through booklets, pamphlets and

with the help of driver associations registered in the state.

Short documentary on climate change issues of the state to be telecast on local television,

social media sites and CDs.

3. Research programme for database generation:

A Updation of base maps and database generation to fulfil the needs of SAPCCand

NMSHE.

Prior to the establishment of State Climate Change Cell, the State Council was engaged in

the generation of database on various key concerns which are important for planning and

development purpose of the state. The different kinds of database are land use land cover

mapping, Wetland map, Drainage map, Glacier map, Contour or altitude map, slope map,

ward and GPU map etc. These maps and database are very important in the field of climate

change adaptation planning. So at present the State Climate Change Cell is engaged

indatabase generations of above sectorsusing recent data including satellite data to fulfil

the requirement of NMSHE and SAPCC.

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B Database generation on Glacial Dynamics of East Rathong Glacier: The Sikkim State

Council is working in East Rathong Glacier from

last few years. The project is funded by DST, GOI.

The State Climate Change Cell continued the

study of East Rathong Glacier to fulfil the

objectives of NMSHE. The major studies are

Snout monitoring, ablation studies, glacier

velocity studies, Glacier hydrology including

discharge measurement and suspended sediment studies, meteorological studies etc.

Location of East Rathong Glacier

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With the support of NMSHE, the State Climate Change Cell

carried out following activities:

1. Installation of Automatics Weather Station:

An Automatics Weather Station is installed near East Rathong Glacier for the continuous

collection of meteorological data of the area. The weather station are installed at an elevation

of 4600 meters about a kilometer from the snout of the glacier. So far the meteorological data

for the ablation season were collected by manual meteorological instrument with parameters

limited temperature, rainfall, humidity, wind direction etc. The parameters covered by

automatics weather station are temperature, humidity, rainfall, sunshine, snow depth, snow

temperature, atmospheric pressure, wind direction and wind speed etc. The weather data will

be acquired in the interval of every 5 minutes. The automatic weather Station (Microcomm)

installed at East Rathong Glacier would be link with INSAT connectivity to access weather

data directly atState Climate Change Cell from the glacier. It is expected to be completed by

next ablation season. The present recorded data will be available in next field visit in June

2016.

Besides, the State Cell has also procured portable AWS with the support under NMSHE. The

particular AWS will be installed in upper ablation area of East Rathong Glacier in the coming

field visit for the entire ablation season. At present the AWS is installed in DST building in

Gangtok.

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Similarly two AWS (one portable and one for permanent installation) is also procured by State

Cell which will be installed in Changme Khangpu glacier, in North Sikkim in next ablation

season of June 2016.

Fig 7: Installation of Automatic Weather Monitoring Station near East Rathong Glacier in

September 2015

Fig8: Portable Automatic Weather Monitoring Station procured under NMSHE installed in the

roof top of Department of Science and Technology and Climate Change, it will be installed in

upper ablation area of East Rathong Glacier for three months (ablation season June/July-

September)

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2. Installation of Stakes in Glacier throughHeucke Ice Drilling Machine with

support from NMSHE:The stakes are need to be fixed in glacier surface for various

purpose including mass balance studies, glacier velocity studies, ablation studies etc.

The stakes need to be fix upto the depth of more than 8-10 meter depth. The

traditional method of stake fixation does not fulfilled the requirement in East Rathong

glacier due to the high melting rate.As such there was a tremendous need of Heucke Ice

Drilling Machine. So far the study team has to depend on traditional method of stake

fixation which is time consuming and difficult to drill in harsh condition of glacier.

Later, the State Council used the drilling machine of TERI Delhi due to non-availability

of the machine.

Finally the State Cell procured the drilling machine from Germany with the support of

NMSHE. In the last field expedition of the glacier in September 2015, the study team used the

drilling machine for the stake fixation.Altogether 15 stakes were installed with depth of stakes

varying from 3 meters to 8 meters. Out of 15 stakes, about 13 stakes were installed in clean

ice area of the glacier up to the depth of 8 meters. Two stakes are fixed in the depth varying

from 3-5 meters in debris covered area. For the first time, bamboo stakes were used in the

East Rathong glacier.

Fig9: Drilling of the glacial ice using Heucke Ice Drilling machine procured under NMSHE

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Fig 10: Traditional method of stake fixation before the procuring of Steam drilling machine

3. Construction of Hydrological site (Gauging Site)below East Rathong Glacier: The

existing hydrological site is modified and upgraded with the support from NMSHE. The

site is constructed with locally available materials for the collection of hydrological

data for the ablation season of 2016 onwards. The stream at the discharge site are

channelized with supportive structure in both right and left bank of the stream for the

length of about 10 meters. The construction of the supportive structures makes the

laminar flow of water,with which it is expected to get better discharge results. The

construction of supportive structure are completed in this expedition. The bridge

would be constructed for measurement of water levelin next ablation season and

water discharge measurement will be begins from next ablation season of 2016.

Old Hydrological site New Hydrological site

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Fig:11 Construction of hydrological site (Gauging Site)below East Rathong Glacier with the support of NMSHE in September 2015

4. Suspended sediment studies using the weighing machine procured under

NMSHE: Suspended sediment load studies is one of the important studies of glacier

hydrology studies. The suspended sediment needs to be filtered from the glacial melt water.

The filtered sample need to be dried up and weight of the sample measured for the

determination of suspended load in the melt water using weighing machine. In this ablation

season, the dried sample were measured using digital weighing machine procured under

NMSHE. Prior to this the study team has to depend on other centres for the weight

measurement of samples.

5. Snow cover mapping and monitoring (2013-2014): Snow is one of the important

constituents of weather system. The impact of climate change may affect in snowfall pattern

and seasonality of snowfall pattern in the particular region. Monitoring of the snowfall for the

longer period may help in understanding the impact of climate change in the weather system.

The State Council in collaboration with Space Application Centre Ahmadabad is engaged in

mapping and monitoring of Snow cover of Sikkim Himalaya from the year 2004-2005. The

State Climate Change Cell continued the snow cover monitoring of Sikkim Himalaya for the

year 2013-2014.

6. Glacier inventory mapping of Sikkim: Glaciological research is one of the important

objectives of NMSHE. To fulfill the objectives the State Cell is engaged in glacier mapping of

the state through Remote sensing and GIS. In one of the recent studies carried under glacier

dynamic study, an inventory status of glacier has been mapped using LANDSAT imagery dated

5 November 1990 and IRS LISS III satellite image of 13th January 2013 in GIS domain. About

140 glaciers of varying sizes were mapped. All the mapped glaciers were given a code based

on the grids of Topographic sheet of Survey of India, 1962. The available names of the glaciers

were given along with the glacier IDs.In order to know the status of the glacier in Sikkim

Himalaya, the glacier layer of 1990 were overlapped with layers of 2013. Finally, comparative

studies of glacier for the years 1990 and 2013 were carried out in order to detect the changes

in the status of glaciers in Sikkim Himalaya.

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Glacier area (Km2)

1990 2013 Change in area(Km2) No of Glacier Area (Km2) No of Glacier Area (Km2)

<1 56 31.56 60 32.11 +0.55

1-3 58 102.46 55 95.87 -6.59

3-6 9 38.14 10 45.42 +7.28

6-9 9 61.24 7 47.61 -13.63

9-12 5 52.17 5 50.35 -1.82

>12 3 118.73 3 118.73 0

Total 140 404.30 140 390.10 -14.2

Table6. Summary of loss in area of glaciers in between 1990 to 2013

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Fig:12. Observed change in area of glaciers in Sikkim Himalaya between 1990-2013

through Remote sensing.

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7. Vulnerability assessment in terms of natural disaster in the context of climate

change: The state being the mountainous state is vulnerable to different kinds of natural

disaster. Disaster like landslide, river and stream floods, forest fires etc are common in the

state. The impact of climate change is likely to aggravate this disaster in the state. Similarly,

Glacial Lake Outburst Flood (GLOF) also one of the important climate change induced

disaster which may cause huge destruction in downstream area. As such the study of these

hazards is very important. The Centre is presently engaged in following areas of studies:

a. Study of Glacial Lake Outburst flood of South Lhonak Lake:

South Lhonak Lake is continuously increasing in size in last few years. The lake was around

18 ha in 1976 which increased to more than 126 ha in 2013. The lake is purely a glacial

moraine dammed lake which is vulnerable in terms of GLOFs. The lake if burst may cause

devastation in the downstream.

First in-depth field based research on probability of GLOF at South Lhonak lake (5200 m amsl) have been carried out through Electrical Resistivity Survey of Moraine and Bathymetric Survey of South Lhonak Lake in 2014. The lake has grown its size to 126 hectare with a maximum depth of 260

feet. The storage volumeof the lake is calculated about 53.6 million m3. After field based research interventions, both short term as well as long term mitigation measures were suggested to tackle the threats of GLOFS which included installation of Early warning systems, Siphoning of water from lake, controlled widening/deepening of outlet, construction of check dams in the downstream of the lake. The long term mitigation measures suggested were -detailed geophysical surveys of the recessional moraine; detailed topographic survey of the entire area; Continuous monitoring of the lake dimensions; extreme flow simulations indicating the vulnerable conditions etc.

The State Council and State Climate Change Cell is engaged in the study of South Lhonak lake

from past few years under the guidance of working group committee formed for the study of

the lake and support from DST, GOI. Bathymetry study and resistivity study of the lake is

already completed. Based on the findings of the study, the working group has suggested to

install the glacial monitoring system in the lake as one of the remedial measures. The GLOF

sensor is already developed by CDAC Pune. The manpower engaged in StateClimate

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ChangeCell and Council is already trained for the installation process of the sensor. The

sensor will be install in next ablation season of 2016.

Fig:13 Successive growth of South Lhonak glacial lake

Figure:14 Field photograph taken during

Bathymetric survey of South Lhonak Lake in 2014. The State Climate Change Cell and Council

will carry out installation of GLOF sensor in South Lhonak Lake in ablation season of 2016. The

GLOF sensor is developed by CDAC.

c. Landslide hazard zonation: Landslide is one of the important hazards in Sikkim. With the

onset of monsoon landslide become frequent in the state. Roads which are the only means

of transport remain frequent blockages during the rainy season. The landslide also causes

huge damages of lives and property in the state. Each year landslide brings tremendous

worry in the life of people in the state. As such study of landslides becomes one of the

important objectives of the Cell. At present the State Climate Cell is engaged in inventory

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mapping of the major landslides in Sikkim using the satellite imageries. The final outcome

of the studies will provide the proper landslide hazard zonation which will help in

vulnerability assessment and mitigation of climate change in the state.

d. Study of river flood areas in Sikkim: River flood is one of the important hazard

associated with heavy rainfall during the monsoon season. The flood may posed huge

destruction along the river at a time of floods. The cloud burst which is often associated

with climate change causes tremendous damages in the stream and rivers along with its

catchment areas. As such at present the Cell is engaged in mapping and study of rivers and

major streams of state. The final goal of the study is to find out the vulnerable settlement

along the rivers in case of cloud burst induced floods.

1. Study of Human Health in terms of Climate Change in Sikkim

Climate change and associated phenomena likely to impact on the human health directly

and indirectly. Any increase in frequency of extreme events such as storms, floods,

droughts and cyclones would harm human health in variety of ways in terms of loss of

life, population displacement, loss of shelter, loss of food production, increase risk of

infectious diseases etc.So at present State Cell is engaged in study of human health

particularly focusing on various diseases prevail in the state. The information on study

was compiled from Annual Report of 2013-2014 and Sikkim Health Information Bulletin

2014 from Planning, Monitoring and Evaluation, PME Division, Health Department. The

information included the demographic composition of Sikkim, Health infrastructure and

various communicable and non-communicable diseases. Besides, statistical data was also

collected from Meteorological Department showing year wise temperature (maximum

and minimum) from 2009-2013. The various information and data available was

analyzed and correlation was made in relation to climate change and health issues.

Geographic Information System was used to locate state hospitals, district hospitals,

primary health centers and Primary Health Sub Centers existing in Sikkim.

2. Consultation workshop of Stakeholders for the preparation of Action Plan for

implementation of National Mission for Sustaining Himalayan Ecosystem

(NMSHE), Gangtok, Sikkim: 20th November 2015

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One day Consultation workshop for Preparation of Action Plan for implementation of

National Mission for Sustaining Himalayan Ecosystem (NMSHE) for the state of Sikkim was

held on 20th November 2015 at Hotel Delisso Abode, Gangtok. The workshop was organized

by State Climate Change Cell under Department of Science and Technologyand Climate

Change, Government of Sikkim in partnership with Centre for Urban Green Spaces, Delhi and

Ashoka Trust for Research in Ecology and the Environment. The key objectives of the

meeting was:

To understand the latest prioritized deliverables of the NMSHE from the long list of 10

deliverables that were originally articulated.

To identify actions that would be built into the NMSHE Action Plan for the achieving

the NMSHE deliverables.

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Figure 15. Consultation workshop of Stakeholders held on 20th November 2015

Stakeholders/Participants from various line departments–Rural Management and

Development Department (RMDD), Animal Husbandry, Livestock, Fisheries and Veterinary

Sciences, Forests, Environment and Wildlife Management Department, Food Security and

Agriculture Department, Horticulture and Cash Crop Development Department, Mines,

Minerals and Geology Department, Irrigation and Flood Control Department, Water Security

and PHE Department, Energy and Power Department, Land Revenue and Disaster

Management Department, Health Care, Human Services and Family Welfare Department,

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SREDA and SIMFED, participated in the workshop. The Workshop was also attended by

Stakeholders from many Central Government Departments-Indian Council of Agriculture

Research (ICAR), Indian Meteorological Department (IMD), GB Pant Institute of Himalayan

Environment and Development (GBPIHED), Sikkim University (SU) together with the

presence of many Non-Governmental Organizations viz. Ashoka Trust Research on Ecology

and Environment (ATREE), World Wildlife Fund (WWF), Eco-tourism and Conservation

Society of Sikkim (ECOSS).

The presence of number of participants/stakeholders from various state departments and

other organizations shows the concern of state in climate change.

4. Summary of Ongoing and future activities of State Climate Change Cell

Ongoing Activities:

Finalization of ward and GPU maps for the vulnerability mapping.

Finalization of climate change Vulnerability mapping of entire state.

Climate Change awareness generation programme for the Students

Awareness generation to the general public through media and communications.

Database collection on metrological parameters of the state from IMD and other

organization.

Compilation of report on Climate change and Health Scenario in Sikkim.

Compilation of action and programme of state government in terms of climate change

in Sikkim.

Compilation of report on Climate change and Agriculture Scenario in Sikkim

Future Activities:

Stake holder Meetings on Climate Change adaptation.

Training of manpower of State Climate Change Cell.

Training of Government Officials, Researchers, NGOs in Climate Change related issues.

Climate Change awareness generation programme for Panchayat.

Continuation of work on Glacier dynamics of East Rathong Glacier.

Analysis of meteorological data of the state.

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OTHER ACTIVITIES OF REMOTE SENSING AND CLIMATE CHANGE CENTRE

Formulation of State Action Plan on Climate change in Sikkim:

Recently in 2015, the State Action Plan on Climate Change for the State of

Sikkim have been released by the Department of Science and Technology and

Climate change, and GIZ India supported technically for the formulation of the

action plan. The Action Plan is approved by Ministry of Environment, Forests

and Climate Change (MOEF&CC), Government of India. The thematic

priorities/sectors for addressing the climate change included in State Action

Plan were Water; Agriculture, horticulture and livestock; Biodiversity, forests,

wildlife and ecotourism; Promotion of energy efficiency and Urban and rural

habitats. The strategies developed in Action Plan to tackle the climate change

has undergone series of discussions, field researches and deliberations among

the line departments of Sikkim to make it success, where Department of

Science and Technology and Climate Change acted as a nodal department

while preparing Climate Change Action Plan for Sikkim.