A workshop and a declaration

The excitement of governments in organising high-profile global investor meets or new technology meets is palpable. It is abnormal that climate change doesn’t elicit any such excitement in them. The vitality and ethical energies of the GP members at a recent workshop in Bengaluru ask that the government sheds this indifference.

The eighty Gram Panchayat (GP) members from across Karnataka were in earnest and in good spirits. The men and women representatives had gathered at a workshop on what GP members could do to conserve their local ecologies and rein in climate change. Their enthusiasm and openness made all the difference to the day-and-a-half-long event that Siddhartha, the founder of Pipal Tree and a long-time friend, and I had co-organised in the beautiful wooded campus of Fireflies Intercultural Centre outside Bengaluru.

While not wielding the clout of MLAs and MPs, the GP members, who are chosen through village-level elections that are in many ways tougher contests than the assembly or parliamentary elections – since the voters know all the candidates contesting the GP elections – had a determined spirit nevertheless. Familiar with the issue of global warming, the virtues of avoiding chemical fertilisers and pesticides and of composting, natural farming methods, restoring local tanks, conserving local seeds, rain water harvesting, and minimising plastic use, among others, were known to them. How were they to go about addressing any of these in their capacity as GP members? The discussion threw up a few constructive measures that formed part of the Bengaluru Declaration that was made at the end of the workshop.

Instead of a general pan-Karnataka model of tackling climate change, region-specific concrete measures arrived at with the participation of local communities aware of livelihood realities would be better. The MGNREGA should be integrated with the work of making local agriculture climate-friendly. Climate action committees to track the harmful local impact of climate change would be necessary to create. Instituted by the Karnataka government two decades ago, the biodiversity management committees in the GPs have become token bodies. This can change by bringing them within the ambit of the Karnataka Panchayat Act, 1993, with clearly spelt-out responsibilities and adequate resources. The GPs should be consulted on the ecological impact of infrastructural works being carried out locally.

Apart from these valuable measures, three policy suggestions of Sudhi Seshadri, an academic and friend, that Siddhartha and I shared at the workshop went down well with the GP members. First, the crops grown through organic and natural farming methods should be offered a higher MSP (minimum support price) to both encourage those methods and reward farmers for their contribution to ecology as well as public health. Second, GPs should undertake reforestation work and claim carbon credits that fetch sizeable revenues in the global market and create valuable resources for themselves. Any existing forests that the GPs have helped grow are also eligible for compensation. In this regard, it is key that the state government sets up public affordable carbon credit certifying agencies. Third, the state government must set up pyrolysis units in GPs where adequate biomass is available. The conversion of biomass to biochar generates both cooking gas as well as soil nourishing manure eligible for the fertiliser subsidies that the governments routinely give to chemical fertiliser companies. Here too, a source of constructive as well as revenue-generating work for the GPs.

A few glimpses of changed rural realities also emerged from the lively discussions.

Many families that sold milk to dairies were making do with less milk, curds, and butter in their households than before. New clothes used to be bought during major festivals, fairs, and family occasions like weddings, but now, the daily discounts popping up on smartphones are making villagers buy new clothes for no particular occasion. Farmers would store the grains from their crop yield for seeding the next crop, but no longer with many opting to buy seeds for the next season.

The excitement of governments in organising high-profile global investor meets or new technology meets is palpable. It is abnormal that climate change doesn’t elicit any such excitement in them. The vitality and ethical energies of the GP members at the workshop ask that the government sheds this indifference.

(Chandan Gowda is an ISEC Professor who looks for new ways of looking. X: @Chandan_Gowda73)

Disclaimer: The views expressed above are the author's own. They do not necessarily reflect the views of DH.