Educate common people on climate change, activists told

National conference of South Asian People’s Action on Climate Crisis under way in Kozhikode

Former parliamentarian Thampan Thomas came down heavily on various governments in the country for projecting development as a solution to all problems and pushing it at the cost of environment and ecology.

Delivering the keynote address at the National Conference of South Asian People’s Action on Climate Crisis (SAPACC) here on Friday, he alleged that governments were not averse to using underhanded methods for their benefit. He termed them crony capitalists who fed on funds from corporates and used the same to kill democracy.

Addressing delegates from different parts of the country, working in the field of environment and climate change, he said the world temperature has risen by 1.5 degrees celsius than it should be and will rise by 2 degrees celsius in the coming year. “The human race will not survive for long unless we keep it at least in the present condition,” he said.

Mr. Thomas said 96% of the world population was affected by global warming, to which they themselves had contributed, yet are unaware of. He urged activists to create awareness about the phenomenon and its perils among common people.

Earlier, the conference was inaugurated by four victims of natural and developmental disasters from different parts of the State, including Karthik Sasi from Alappad where mineral sand mining is still on, Bhadran from Arattupuzha where sand mining is going on uninhibited, Benny from Koottikkal and Bindu Sreekumar from Puthumala, both victims of landslips. Mr. Thomas handed over plant saplings to each of them to mark the official inauguration.

The conference that began on Thursday had two sessions — one on ‘Role of civil society in tackling climate change’ and another on ‘Workers and climate change’ on the first day. The second day began with a round-table conference on ‘Nature-based solutions, agriculture and climate change’.

The inaugural session was followed by a plenary session on key policy issues such as climate change impacts, how good COP27 outcomes were, climate crisis and agriculture, climate crisis and working people, and climate justice.