The Intergovernmental Panel of Climate Change has laid out devastating scenarios that will result from global warming in India.
But much of the blame, according to the authors of a piece in the Hindu on April 9, 2007, will lie with India’s own lack of action.
“The irony is that much of this damage will be self-inflicted, unless the country is prepared to make a radical, enlightened change in its energy and transportation strategies.”
Click here to read the article.
The article was written by Daphne Wysham and Smitu Kothari; Smitu is the head of Intercultural Resources, a forum for research and political intervention on issues related to the impacts of and alternatives to unsustainable development initiatives.
Intercultural Resources has received two grants from Global Greengrants over the last several years, both recommended by our International Financial Institutions (IFI) Advisory Board. The first, in 2005, supported the preparation of a status report on IFIs in the North-East of India through site assessment visits, collation of relevant information, and through meetings with IFI officials in Delhi and Northeast government officials.
With a second grant in 2006, Intercultural Resources, in partnership with colleague the Human Resource Development Foundation, organized a meeting of diverse groups to share information and to develop a long-term strategy to respond to existing and proposed IFI projects in the Northeast of India, China, Burma, Bangladesh, and Nepal.
This type of ground-up organizing and research promotes a stronger network among grassroots groups and helps them to set the stage for action in the future. Especially given the challenges of climate change, it is vital to form an effective and cohesive movement capable of voicing strategies for real change. And in the face of expanding IFI investments in Northeast India, the call to action is more urgent than ever.