Local Community Participation goes a Long Way in Sustainable Climate Protection Approaches

Local participation by people is crucial to attaining a sustainable environment and inculcating a sense of responsibility towards nature. Read along to know how you can do your bit for preserving the environment.

Climate change can have a dramatic impact on our natural resources, economic activities, food security, health and physical infrastructure. India is one of the worst hit countries by climate change. The threat is especially severe in places where people’s livelihoods depend on natural resources, and India has a considerable population of tribal communities. In such areas climate adaptation measures take on a special significance for safeguarding rural livelihoods and ensuring sustainable development.

In the 74th session of UNGA, the Sustainable development goals highlighted the community participation, to ‘support and strengthen the participation of local communities in improving the environment.

In community development theories, “participation – as opposed to tokenism – is a process by which local community members become part of the decision-making and planning processes of the projects, as well as part of the implementation, evaluation and adaptation phases. In addition, participation has been defined as the existence of adequate mechanisms for people to be involved in decision-making”.

The native people residing in a place are a more integral part of its ecosystem.They are economically and emotionally connected to their environment and hence they realize the need to preserve it and are willing to fight for it. So it is likely for them to have answers to the issues as well. Policies are made at the administrative level, but local people ensure their efficient implementation at the unitary level.

India is not new in the field of community approach for the betterment of the environment. There are records of agitation for nature in the past, but it was in the 1970s that people were really vocal about the preservation of nature. It was the dawn of industrialization and things were rapidly changing, and the environment was also being affected. In the foothills of Himalayas, a man named Sunderlal Bahuguna who literally held on to protect the trees. That sparked a fire and the movement was mobilized to many parts of the country. Looking back at it now it was a very early-on realization of the alarming low carbon revolution that the world is rushing to right now.

That was a realization when industrialization was beginning. Currently we are approaching a post-industrial phase and the concern for the environment is alarming. With rapid urbanization, the sense of environmental consciousness has sort of faded on an individual. In retrospect, “we often find the biggest cities with some of the most polluted areas and worsening air quality”. Cultural and economic blending of people also plays a major role in ethics of nature.

Besides Chipko Movement there have been several other efforts by people in different matters, like the Sukhomajri village model; which presented a model town of self-reliant economy, Beej Bachao Andolan or Save the Seeds Movement began in Jardhargaon in Tehri Garhwal district in Uttarakhand, Sustainable Groundwater Harvesting In Rajasthan; which was a partnership between US-Asia Environmental Partnership (USAEP) and a local NGO, Silent valley project in Kerala and a host of others. So, there have been successful projects and movements on the local level, but there is a further need for mobilization and strengthening.

There’s plenty of ways we can take the initiative of any environmental issues of concern around us. Initiating small cleanliness or plantation drives, spreading awareness about potential hazards in local areas, community recycling days will bring bigger changes in the long run.

There is more transparency regarding activities of public services with the availability of RTI. With the availability of the internet and social media it is possible to spread out and acquire support from other people.

There are a lot of NGOs both national and even international who are doing marvelous work and promote such attempts. Our responsibility here becomes raising a concern and spreading it, bringing it to the knowledge of government and organizations, and spreading awareness among people. It works like a butterfly effect and the necessary change eventually takes place.