They may be illiterate and lack the sophistication that befits an international meet like the Climate Change Summit that concluded at Copenhagen recently, but the four rural women from our State did leave a lasting impression on the world leaders by lecturing extensively on the importance of traditional wisdom to save mother earth from the devastating effects of climate change. They even staged a protest to draw the attention of the representatives of various nations, who attended the meet, to the climate-related problems of a billion Indians.
“We the people of India from the mountains, coasts, forests, deserts, plains and plateaus of this vast and rich country, who have lived with nature for millennia, whose farming, fishing, forestry and pastoralism have been seen as iconic by the World, have today decided to articulate our issues, concerns and solutions to the climate crisis...” the three - Chinna Narsamma, Sammamma and Manjula - declared in Telugu as they occupied the podium at the conference. They also presented a booklet titled “We Have the Power to Heal the Planet”.
Chinna Narsamma from Pastapur, B Sammamma from Bidakanne and T Manjula from Medak district participated in the conference on behalf of the Peoples’ Coalition on Climate Change. Organisation director P V Satheesh accompanied them.
Sharing their concerns about nature with Express, Chinna Narsamma said, “We have a wealth of traditional knowledge and expertise to correct and heal nature, but require a free hand without any interference through unwanted policies to enable us to implement our methods.”
This was not the first trip out of the country for Narsamma, though. She had been 10 countries earlier besides various places in India to speak about traditional practices for nature conservation. “We, the communities from rural areas, are not responsible for climate change crisis. Only major cities contribute to emissions. If the same situation continues in future, all of us will die,” she said.
Introducing new technologies to replace traditional knowledge and processes in the name of combating climate change would only worsen the situation. “Recognize the diversity and integrity on our farms, forests and seas as civilisational assets and do not do anything to disturb them. Declare officially that these are fundamental in our fight against the climate crisis,” demanded Sammamma.
She said they had spent at least five days in Copenhagen and represented various issues. “As the representatives of rich countries were reluctant to accept our voice on climate change, we got disappointed and boycotted the summit,” Sammamma revealed.
Thousands of delegates from other countries took out rallies protesting against the stand of developed countries on climate change,” she said.
Manjula on the other hand batted for use of traditional organic seed varieties instead of hybrids.
“The traditional seed varieties, in use for centuries, need very little water to grow and can withstand high temperatures, the qualities that will be crucial as climate crisis worsens in the coming years,” she said and sought incentives to farmers and communities who preserve local plants and promote local seed varieties.
mouli@expressbuzz.com
