CRE organised an International Workshop on “Combating Climate Change in South Asia and East Africa

national, May 03, 2024 : The Centre for Resource management and Environment (CRE) a non-profit Trust had organised an International Workshop on “Combating Climate Change in South Asia and East Africa” at the Executive Hostel of Indira Gandhi National Forest Academy (IGNFA) during 29th April to 1st April 2024. The workshop was organized by the IFS officers of the 1979 batch and their foreign counterparts from Mauritius, Nepal, Sri Lanka, Australia and Belgium. All together 72 participants attended the meet. Several international participants attended the workshop. There were three delegates from Mauritius lead by Mr Siram Appiah former Additional Secretary Department of Environment & Forest Government of Mauritius; three delegates from Sri Lana were led by Mr Sarath Wikramasinghe, former Additional Secretary Department of Forests and Environment Government of Sri Lanka; two delegates from Nepal were led by Mr Jagannath Koirala, former Joint Secretary Joint secretary Forest Department, Government of Nepal; Mr Satinder Singh Sandhu from Australia and Mr Sharvind from Belgium were the foreign delegates. Dr TP Singh Director, Asia Pacific region of the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) represented the International organizations.

Dr VK Bahuguna Chairman of the CRE welcomed the delegates along with Sri Alok Jain and Mr Mahiman Garbiyal on 29th April and explained the purpose of holding the workshop and about the field visits. The main aim was to take advantage of the experience of the senior members so that some concrete suggestions could be given to really tackle the emerging threat of climate change. All the delegates on 29th and 30th presented their country status on the climate change actions. On 1st afternoon after the field visit a Panel discussion was organized Chaired by Mr Sarath Wikramasinghe and Co- Chairs were Mr Siram Appiah, Mr Jagannath Koirala, Dr TP Singh, and Mr JS Asthana. Mr AK Jain, Mr Satinder Sandhu and Ms Riya Jain were other panellist. Mr Vinay Luthra former PCCF and Head of Forest Force, Karnataka government moderated the discussions. The last session was plenary session in which all delegates deliberated on the recommendations.

The participants were critical of Conferences of Parties being organised by the United Nation’s UNFCCD as nothing concrete is coming up only discussions and discussions. It was decided to request the govt of third world countries to focus more on South-South cooperation and on technology development and sharing knowledge as a sufficient science base exists in India and other countries which is needed to be further strengthened by focused research multi-lateral and bi-lateral funding as well as collaborative research rather than chasing the mirage of 100 billion dollar fund from developed countries. Further, countries citizens need to go back to our traditional roots to combat climate change and the governments should focus on climate resilient development administration at the district and sub-district levels so that all stakeholders are involved. Dr VK Bahuguna Chairman of the Trust stressed thanked the participants and stressed that there should be top priority on water rejuvenation, aquifer recharge, planning of resources and forest fire/ disasters control. The recommendation will be shared with the all concerned and their governments.