The first ever document on State of Environment (SoE) of Assam is being formally released by the Hon’ble Chief Minister of Assam, Shri Tarun Gogoi in the Assam Secretariat on 14 th December 2006 amidst dignitaries, senior government officials and experts of the state.
The report has been prepared by the Assam Science Technology & Environment Council (ASTEC), the State Host Institution under guidance and close association with the National Host Institute, Environment Protection Training & Research Institute (EPTRI), Hyderabad under a nationwide programme sponsored by the Ministry of Environment & Forests (MoEF), Govt. of India. SoE reporting is a countrywide programme of the MoEF being implemented through various state government agencies in concerned states. In Assam state government has entrusted the responsibility to the Environment Division of ASTEC and the agency has completed the preparation of the 1 st phase of the work.
The report has been compiled adopting the latest Pressure-State-Impact-Response (PSIR) methodology, the internationally recognized method for describing the state of environment. Almost all the aspects of environment have been incorporated in the report comprising of 15 chapters. Starting with the Historical Background of Assam, Changing Environment & need of SoE and PSIR Analysis. The various parameters covered in the report are Administrative & Ecological Setup, Physical Base, Demography, Resources like land, water, ground water, forest, minerals, etc., Disaster Management, Biological Diversity including Floristic and Faunal, Agriculture and allied sectors, Energy, Industries, Transport, Tourism and Heritage, Health, Urban Development and lastly on Institutional Framework. The PSIR methodology has been thoroughly applied during the preparation of the report to make it at par with international standards. In addition, lots of tables showing various environmental parameters as well as a vast list of annexure makes the report a complete in totality. Rich colourful maps/slides with ample information have been included in the report.
As a whole, this report has been published to sensitize the citizens, the government and its various agencies and other stake holders to the pressure and threats the various elements of the environment are subjected to, and to provide the basis for making informed decision on what needs to be done to improve the environment through a properly planned development process, resulting in a environmentally clean and sound Assam. The council has now started the process of preparation of 2 nd phase of the report, which will include a SoE Atlas, a SoE Photo Album, a SoE Video and SoE Website. Various gap-areas in the Phase I are also being identified and will be incorporated in the Phase II Report.
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