'Great October March 2019' at Odisha led by Licypriya Kangujam

Bhubaneswar, 29th October 2019

'Great October March 2019' at Odisha led by Licypriya Kangujam

Odisha creates history in the World with the biggest rural climate strike lead by Licypriya Kangujam demanding urgent climate actions.

Eight-year-old Indian climate activist Licypriya Kangujam lead the historic “Great October March 2019” today at Paralakhemundi town, Gajapati district, Odisha with her thousands of supporters. More than 12,000 indigenous tribal population took part in the protest rally in this world’s biggest rural climate strike demanding for urgent action on Climate Change to the World leaders and also to enact the climate law in India.

She said, “Till today, only 5 countries viz., New Zealand, Australia, UK, Mexico & Peru have their legislation on climate change but 98% are not yet including India. We are marching to call on world leaders to enact the climate law as soon as possible so that it can regulate the emissions of greenhouse gases to save our planet and our future. They must unite and act now before it’s too late.”

“Maximum Climate Protest focuses only in big cities. But it’s hard to see such awareness campaign and mass movement in rural areas. This is the biggest rural strike in the World in history. Climate Change is the biggest crisis for humanity.”

“Farmers and rural communities are the biggest victims of the global climate change. Climate change is disrupting everything from the agricultural economy to health. Glaciers are melting, sea is rising, dry areas are becoming drier and wet areas are becoming wetter, with regular floods, cyclones causing massive devastation.”, she added.

Compared to developed countries, developing countries such as India are much more susceptible to this transforming climate as lives and livelihoods are majorly climate sensitive. India is already under the abnormal spells of dry extended summers, late monsoons and heavy rains that cause flooding, shorter winters and so on. India is totally unprepared and has no mechanism to adapt or even have the open mindedness to acknowledge this imminent danger.

However sensational it may sound, there is a clear threat to our lives and livelihoods mainly in the rural areas and the most affected would be our agricultural sector, which could witness string of crop failures due to unpredictability of nature. Alarmed by the recent landslide & cyclone titli and downfall in the production of crops, students and workers abandoned schools, shops and offices in nearly every corner of the Gajapati, aiming to stop what they see as a looming environmental catastrophe.

The protests started in the New Delhi, where rising air pollution threaten a way of life, and followed the sun across Bangladesh, Nepal, Afghanistan, Southeast and on to Europe, Africa, the Middle East and the Americas. Massive crowds overwhelmed the streets of Paralakhemundi town, chanting “Save our planet!” and “Save our future!” while anticipating an address by Licypriya, an international child sensation who is traveling around the world for her environmental movement ahead of United Nations COP25 at Chile.

'Great October March 2019' at Odisha led by Licypriya Kangujam

“Right now, we are the ones who are making a difference. If no one else will take action, then we will,” Licypriya told thousand some of people gathered at a sports ground in front of the SKG College, Paralakhemundi. Once she took the stage, the crowd chanted her name, then went silent to hang on her every word. As she paused between sentences, people erupted into applause.

“Age doesn’t matter to make a difference.” she concluded.“She’s like the inspiration for millions of children of their generations,” Gajapati protester Jayanta Panda, 24, said, highlighting the leadership role of young people in the international movement to reduce consumption of fossil fuels.

“Air pollutio n is not a joke. It will choke you,” read a poster held by a teenager. “Make love, not CO2” signs were spotted in the protests. Global warming caused by heat-trapping greenhouse gases from burning fossil fuels has already led to droughts and heat waves, melting glaciers, rising sea levels and floods, according to scientists.

“There is no Planet B,” read a sign hoisted by a young woman in Gajapati. According to the Inter-governmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) report, climate change refers to any change in climate over time, due to natural variability or as a result of human activity which results in greenhouse gas emissions.

The developed countries are better equipped to deal with these changes but the developing and poor countries who are not well equipped to deal with these changes will see transformation at an unprecedented scale. India, which is in the middle of an economic slowdown, is one such country and it is already experiencing adverse impacts of climate change and global warming. India’s poor and vulnerable population are at risk.

It is projected that India’s population could reach 1.4 billion by 2025 and if agricultural production is adversely affected by climate change, livelihood and food security in India would be at risk. Agriculture in India is associated with employment. Many emerging studies have directly linked climate change to agriculture in India and have shown convincing evidence that weather and climate in global warming conditions can not only adversely impact productivity in agriculture but can significantly affect the mortality rate in rural areas.

About 700 million of one billion population of India resides in rural areas. The rural population directly subsists on climate sensitive sectors like agriculture, fishery and forestry. The adaptive capacity of dry land farmers, forest dwellers, fishermen is very low. Climate change is already impacting the eco systems as well as the socio-economic systems as shown by the National Communications Report of India to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC).

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