Indian villagers winning fight against climate
As the world anxiously watches the devastating effects of climate change, noted actor Shivani Vazir Pasrich inaugurated an exhibition in India’s national capital yesterday. It provides glimpses of an entirely different picture of villagers battling and winning over the impact of climate change.
New Delhi: Mounted by Oxfam India and currently on view at the Aga Khan Hall in New Delhi, the exhibition showcases stories of change from villages in Andhra Pradesh, Tamil Nadu, Uttar Pradesh, Rajasthan and Maharashtra.
- Shivani Vazir Pasrich inaugurating the exhibition/ Photo credit: Oxfam
Voicing her solidarity with this effort to reverse the clock, Ms Pasrich said: “All it takes is the determination of a community to bring about change. We can either sit back or say nothing can be done, or be the change we want to see as these villagers have shown.”
India is home to some of the world’s richest people as also the largest number of the world’s poor. While high rates of economic growth have resulted in rising levels of wealth generation for highest strata of society, close to 300 million people still live in extreme poverty and exclusion.
Emphasising the need to reverse this, Nisha Agarwal CEO, Oxfam India stated: “Ending poverty by empowering the economically and socially marginalised is Oxfam India’s goal. Through its initiatives with people, governments and international organisations, Oxfam India is working towards reducing the impact that climate change has on the lives of such people and ensuring that their concerns are addressed in all global and national plans on climate change”.
Through these panels the story that emerges is one of hope and the victory of the human spirit. What could easily have been disaster has been transformed to an opportunity and a workable model for others to follow.
Deserts have become farmlands, aridity has been transformed by water management and retention techniques, diverse crops sit happily together, cultivated and matured through organic manure. The fact that these experiences emanate from the most marginalised, the most disadvantaged and ostracised, makes them even more remarkable.
The story of Kamla Bai’s kitchen garden is not just about vegetables and nutrition. It’s about breaking through centuries of suppression and experiencing self worth and dignity…and for the first time in generations, having upper castes eat off the produce of their land.
- People are adapting to climate chnage in villages of India/ Photo credit: Oxfam
Oxfam believes that climate change is an equity issue – globally and within countries, poor people are hit hardest by climate change though they are least responsible for it.
Nisha Agarwal said that climate change threatened to undermine efforts to attain the UN Millennium Development Goals.
She further said that there was a sense of urgency to deal with these issues by ensuring that policymakers and individuals start making efforts now. Poor people, with their limited ability to cope with climate impact, cannot wait.
For over 50 years, Oxfam has been actively partnering communities and like-minded organisations to bring in a global movement of change. In India, Oxfam is focusing on four priority areas: economic and gender justice; essential services and humanitarian work.
The exhibition will remain open from 10 am to 5 pm till November 22 at the Agha Khan Hall, Bhagwan Das Road, New Delhi.
