Bangalore still green, beautiful, says Norwegian envoy

Norwegian Ambassador to India Eivind S Homme, on Tuesday, said Bangalore is still a green and beautiful City, despite increasing infrastructure and economic developments. 

The government should ensure planned development so that mistakes we (developed nations) made are not repeated.

He was speaking to reporters on the sidelines of the launch of Royal Norwegian Embassy (NRE) — Ashoka Trust for Research in Ecology and Environment (ATREE) project to undertake research and mitigate climate change. 

At the launch, ATREE received a grant of Rs 14 crore from RNE and Rs 5 crore corpus from philanthropist Rohini Nilekani for a duration of four years. 

Homme said: “Infrastructure is booming in Bangalore. Government should ensure that there are environment-friendly buildings and intelligent transportation systems. Carbon levels are increasing gradually globally. There is a need for governmental and local level measures to mitigate climate change. Mistakes made in the past are being repeated, which should not happen. There is a need to understand the cost of development. International negotiations are still on for carbon crediting. Solving climate change issues is not easy, each country should thus act locally and at the government level.” 

ATREE Director Ganesan Balachander said: “There is no immediate solution to tackle climate change. Temperatures are rising and water levels are depleting. There is thus a need to understand importance of rainwater harvesting, change in crop pattern, change in land use and other local issues. Homemakers and women play a vital role in combating climate change and handling resources well. They should use limited energy for cooking and conserve water. They have to find technologies that are cheap and resourceful.” 

ATREE has tied up with RNE and Department of Ecology and Natural Resource Management from UMB, SUM from University of Oslo, Norwegian Institute for Nature Research, Trondheim and Centre of Excellence on Dynamics of Biodiversity of NTNU, Throndeim. Five areas where ATREE will work with the embassy and international organisations are — strengthening ATREE as an institution in capacity building and adding more resources, chalking out and implementing climate change programmes, exchange of students and faculty with Norway, enhancing infrastructure of ATREE and undertaking collaborative research.