Exploring climate change

As countries across the globe come together in Paris in December 2015 to strike a new climate change pact, India will see the Science Express Climate Action Special (<g data-gr-id="21">SECAS</g>) running across the country, to sensitise people about climate change and its impacts. 

A unique collaborative initiative of the Department of Science and Technology, Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change (MoEF&CC), and the Ministry of Railways, Government of India, the <g data-gr-id="33">SECAS</g> aims at creating awareness among various sections of the society, especially youth, students and teachers, on how climate change can be combated through mitigation and adaptation. The state-of-the-art exhibition aboard the <g data-gr-id="34">SECAS</g> will travel across the country, initially for about 8 months, halting at 64 locations in about 20 states, covering about 19,500 km. 

This innovative mobile science exhibition mounted on a 16 coach AC train, will be flagged off by the Ministers of the three partnering Ministries, Suresh Prabhakar Prabhu, Minister of Railways, Dr Harsh Vardhan, Minster of Science and Technology and Minister of Earth Sciences and Prakash Javadekar, Minister of State (I/C), Environment, Forest and Climate Change on 15th October, at 12 noon.

For climate change, 2015 could be a decisive year, with leaders of over 190 nations gathering in Paris to discuss a possible new global agreement on climate change during the 21st session of the Conference of the Parties (COP 21) to the 1992 United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) and the 11th session of the Meeting of the Parties (CMP 11) to the 1997 Kyoto Protocol. 

The ‘Science Express’, redesigned as <g data-gr-id="35">SECAS</g>, intends to contribute towards increasing the understanding of the science of climate change, the observed and anticipated impacts, and possible responses. The exhibition will convey a strong message about climate change and will also be a good opportunity to generate dialogue and discussion on the impact of climate change and possible strategies on mitigation and adaptation for enhancing sustainability of India’s development path. It will also put forth India’s action, and the role of civil society, in combating Climate Change.

Of the 16 coaches of <g data-gr-id="22">SECAS</g>, the exhibitions in eight coaches have been developed by the Centre for Environment Education (CEE), a Centre of Excellence of the Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change (MoEFCC). These coaches will be devoted exclusively for information, case studies and material related to various aspects of climate change, the underlying science, impacts, adaptation activities, mitigation solutions and policy approaches in a manner that is easy to understand and interesting for not just school students but also the masses. 

The rest of the train will have exhibitions on various themes like the wildlife and nature conservation work being carried out by different research institutions across India, India’s development in the field of Biotechnology, innovations in science and technology, DST scholarships and schemes, and careers in science and technology.

In one of the coaches, a ‘kids zone’ has been created to engage them in fun-filled activities including games and puzzles in science, mathematics and environment.tate the visitors and conduct complementary activities.

The exhibition is open to all but primarily targets students and teachers.  It is open to visitors from 1000 hours till 1700 hours and the entry is free.