New Delhi, Jul 14 (PTI) Experts from government agencies, academia and the infrastructure sector on Tuesday deliberated on a draft policy and guidelines aimed at integrating climate adaptation into the planning and construction of India’s national highways.
The inputs and recommendations received during a workshop held here would support the refinement and finalisation of the Climate Adaptation Policy and Guidelines, ensuring their “practicality, effectiveness and applicability” for developing a sustainable, safe and climate-resilient national highway network, an official statement said.
A workshop was organised on the “Development of National Highways Climate Adaptation Policy and Guidelines (HighCAP)” by the National Institute of Disaster Management (NIDM) here, under the Ministry of Home Affairs, with support from the Ministry of Road Transport and Highways (MoRTH).
The workshop was organised to deliberate upon and validate the draft policy framework and guidelines prepared for enhancing the climate resilience of India’s National Highway network, it said.
Highlighting the need for such a policy, the statement said climate change and disaster risks, including floods, landslides, storms, heatwaves and intense short-duration rainfall, pose significant threats to the sustainability and operational reliability of national highways.
“The increasing frequency and intensity of floods, landslides, storms, heatwaves and intense short duration rainfall underscore the urgent need to integrate adaptation from hazards into the planning, design, construction and maintenance of highway systems,” it said.
According to the statement, the HighCAP project examined vulnerability and risk across 30 study sites covering about 2,000 km of national highways, representing different climatic zones, hazard types and physiographic contexts.
Based on the studies, adaptation options, transport emergency management plans (TEMP), traffic evacuation plans (TEP), climate projections till 2090, and recommendations on codes and manuals have been incorporated into the draft policy and guidelines.
The workshop brought together representatives from ministries, state governments, disaster management authorities, highway agencies, technical institutions, academia and consortium partners to review the draft policy, adaptation strategies and implementation framework.
The statement said the workshop aims to obtain expert feedback, validate the proposed adaptation measures and resilience framework, and gather recommendations before the policy and guidelines are submitted for adoption. PTI MHS MHS SKY SKY
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