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First State Level Seminar on CLIMATE CHANGE

Introduction

The 1st State Level Seminar on Climate change was successfully conducted on 16th September 2009 at Madurai, in the event of International Ozone Prevention Day thus focusing on Environmental and Social Impacts and Mitigation Strategies of Climate Change.  It was organized by Go Green, a network of NGOs led by Chevalier Roche Society for the cause of environment promotion actions.  The event was inaugurated by Mr. P.M.Mannan, Vice Mayor of Madurai Corporation in the presence of Mr.Thangavel,, Project Officer of TamilNadu Women Development Corporation, Madurai District.

About 150 NGOs from various districts of TamilNadu participated in the Seminar. It was from the different geographic regions of the state such as coastal, hilly and plain areas which provide the opportunity to discuss the climate change aspects from the multi sectoral approach.

Mr. Surendran (Country Director of IYCN, New Delhi) presented an overview on climate change and Environmental issues.  In his presentation, he pointed out the causes of global warming and its impacts - melting glaciers and polar ice caps causing sea level rise, extreme weather events such as storms, droughts, floods and reduced agricultural productivity, increased water crisis, health risk and collapse of ecosystems and loss of coastal livelihoods.   So he stressed for a world wide movement and actions for finding out equitable solution to the clime change crisis.

Mr.Suresh Maria Selvam (Consultant on Disaster Management) described how green house gases effect the global warming and its impacts on climate, sea level, agriculture, water, health and costal livelihoods.  He pointed out that estimated loss of global GDP due to the climate change factors will be 5% whereas the cost of actions for reducing green house emissions will be 1% of the global GDP in each year.  He listed out the various National Action Plans drawn in the background of Kyoto protocol and stressed for the joint actions by individuals, organizations and governments for the cause of controlling the climate change agents.

Dr.K.M.Parivelan(Consultant on Disaster Management) presented ‘Strategies through Disaster Management’ in which he visualized the linkages between the climate change effects and Pre Disaster prevention strategies. He listed out the various types of hazards - climate & water related, geological hazards, chemical / nuclear – industrial related, biological hazards and major accidents. He also described the genesis and development of   Disaster Management Act of 2005 and setting up of National, State level, District level and PRI level Disaster Management Committees. He emphasized the need for community based Disaster Management as the local community is the first and last responders to any disasters – having the inherent indigenous and traditional traits and wisdom that will react spontaneously for any risk / opportunity assessments and act accordingly.

Mr. M. Bala Murugan (State Coordinator, Save the Children) presented his views on ‘Child Centered Disaster Risk Reduction’. Children are the vulnerable group to any natural or manmade disasters as they are exposed to the incidents of any contagious diseases like malaria, diarrhea, malnutrition etc and the exploitation under the circumstances of large scale migration and camp environments. Droughts, floods or submerging of costal livelihoods will lead to large scale migration and food, water and health hazards for which children will be the first victims. Hence there is need for child centered Disaster Risk Reduction activities which provides space for children to act as positive agents of change for protecting their environment and react successfully to manage any disasters while occur.

Dr.Shanmuganandam (Scientist, Periyar University) presented deliberation on ‘Ozone in Climate Changes’. He described how Chlorine can damage ozone layer more than other gases. He visualized the factors causing for climate change and ozone depletion. He also stressed for eco forest actions as he pointed out each tree will absorb 1 ton of co2 over its life time.

Group Discussions The NGO representatives participated in the seminar were divided into 3 groups based on their geographic regions. The NGOs from (1) Coastal districts, (2) Plain districts and (3) hilly regions. The participants deliberated on the local environment issues in the background of climate change factors and enlisted the action points to be undertaken. Awareness creation  among the local community, capacity building of the community based groups and PRIs and district wise  NGOs actions are the activities  pointed out by the  participant groups. The participants were issued certificates of appreciation for their active participation in the seminar by Mrs. Sulochana , APO of  Tamilnadu Social Welfare Board. The participants made joint declarations of oath for carrying out control measures for climate change and continued actions in environment promotion activities.

About GO GREEN

Go Green is the net work of the NGOs from Tamilnadu initiated by Chevalier Roche Society, Thoothukudi. As a role player in Disaster Management Action in coastal districts in Tamilnadu, Dr. Tagore De rose of Chevalier Roche Society, basically a marine biologist raised from fishermen community felt the impending dangers of sea level rise and its consequent damages to the livelihood of the coastal communities and organized this environment action forum viz Go Green towards environment promotion activities. Vasantham Trust, ARD, SRDPE, ANGEL, CHANARD, NAMCO are the active partners in the Go Green Net work along with Chevalier Roche Society.

Second State Level Seminar on CLIMATE CHANGES

Introduction

On behalf of Go Green Network, second State Level Seminar on Climate Changes was conducted at TASOSS auditorium at Trichy on 24th October. Rev.Fr.A.Xavier (Director, TOSOSS) welcomed the gathering. Hon.S.Sujatha – Mayor of Trichy Corporation inaugurated the Seminar in the presence of Mr. C .John David – Project officer of UNDP. The programme was well organized by Chevalier Roche Society for Go Green in association with TASOSS, ANGEL, CHENARD, SRDPE, NAMCO, IYCN and 350 org. NGOs mainly from the inland districts participated in the Seminar. Eminent environmentalists and scientists facilitated the Seminar as resource persons:

Mr. Suresh Maria Selvam (Consultant on Disaster Management) presented ‘Guiding Principles on Climate Change and Disasters’. He gave visual demonstration on how green house gases trap more heat and causes global warming. He mentioned various indicators for climate change in temperature, sea level rise and shrinking snow pack, etc. He described how climate changes will bring natural disasters and widespread socio economic and political crisis worldwide. He categorically emphasized climate change as human rights issue as it affects mostly the vulnerable populations of poor, women, children, disabled, farmers and fishermen in developing countries. His caution on internal and international conflicts over the distribution of natural resources like water and land will go deeper through the effects of climate change through the loss of land, drought and water scarcity. Thus it is time to look into what went wrong and improve the system to reduce the chances of the recurrence of natural calamities like flood, drought and widespread epidemics.

Dr.P.Shanmuganandram (Scientist, Periyar University) pointed out that climate change could result in big catastrophes and casualties affecting human health, altering agricultural patterns, decreasing agricultural production, food and water supplies, inviting famine and damaging marine eco systems. He advocated for both mitigation and adaptation strategies by linking climate change effects with disaster management activities.

Dr.Tagore Derose (Director, Chevaliar Roche Society) depicted various parts of our country are vulnerable to climate change – snow melting in chenab, flooding in the Ganges, the Brahmaputra and submerging of sunderbans, droughts in Rajasthan and Madhya Pradesh, coral bleaching in gulf of mannar, submerging and saline water intrusion in Mumbai and Rann of kutch are some of the vulnerable areas to be affected by the climate change catastrophes. Further, Dr.Derose enriched the participants with various terms and data related with climate change. Presenting the details on various international conferences, panels and treaties on chronological order was very informative to the NGO participants. The animated presentation on projected impacts of climate change in various parts of the country and particularly the coastal regions of TamilNadu was very useful to the participants in understanding the impending dangers at their footprints.

Conclusion:

‘Climate Activist Guide’ was released on behalf of the Go Green partner NGOs for augmenting local movements for climate change actions in 2009 and beyond. The booklet was issued by Hon.S.Sujatha, Mayor of Trichy Corporation and Mr.C. John David, Project Officer of UNDP received the first copy. The participant NGOs were also issued certificates of appreciation and their joint declaration for conducting local events on climate change was a successful ending of this 2nd State level Seminar.