The Chipko movement, a grassroots environmental movement that originated in the Indian Himalayas in the 1970s, holds a profound historical significance. This article delves into the origins and explores the deeper meaning behind this iconic movement that embraced tree-hugging as a form of protest against deforestation and the exploitation of natural resources.

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Five decades ago, women from the Himalayan villages of Reni and Mandal in India used their bodies to shield trees from loggers in a desperate attempt to protect their indigenous land, ecosystem, and livelihood. The locals depended on the fodder, fuel, and fibres provided by nearby woodlands that contributed to daily sustenance. The government’s exploitation of natural resources, reckless deforestation, and destruction of wildlife had devastating environmental repercussions in the villages. Led by village leader Gaura Devi, the protest asserted local people’s rights over their resources. 

By the 1980s, the women’s peaceful resistance birthed the first ecofeminist movement of its kind that became known across India as the Chipko Andolan – or Chipko movement. Chipko is Hindi for “to cling” or “to hug”. Eventually, these women’s aim to protect India’s forests evolved into a green movement that continues to persist amid the rapidly accelerating climate crisis.

The Roots of Chipko 

The story of Chipko was inspired by Amrita Devi from the northwestern state of Rajasthan. In 1730, Amrita bravely resisted the orders of the Maharaja (Sanskrit title for “great ruler”) of Jodhpur to cut down trees in her native Khejarli village. 363 members of her tribe were beheaded as they hugged the trees to prevent them from being cut. Following the massacre, the Maharaja introduced a ban on cutting down trees in the area.

Although the Chipko resistance began with and was led by women, two men – Sunderlal Bahuguna and Chandi Prasad Bhatt – contributed to popularising the movement. 

In the 1970s, devastating floods and landslides in the Alaknanda Valley destroyed many small villages and left the residents questioning what caused them. Speaking with Dialogue Earth, 89-year-old Bhatt, a Gandhian environmentalist and social activist, said: “To understand the reasons behind the floods, we walked to many places and found out that wherever the forests were cut, the impact of floods was severe.”

His observations contributed to raising awareness among residents about the fragility of the region’s environment and stepping up efforts to protect the forests to protect themselves from future floods and landslides. 

A report by Virendra Kumar, a naturalist and professor at the Department of Botany at the University of Delhi later confirmed the women’s apprehension. Kumar, who also headed the commission to probe the Chipko unrest, called for a complete ban on hacking down oak and rhododendron trees in the region, stressing the deep ecological degradation that the region was experiencing. 

Bahuguna was another renowned environmental activist who had a tremendous impact on India’s environmental policies, including the preservation of forests and other natural resources in the Himalayan region. He was instrumental in bringing the Chipko movement to prominence through his 5,000-kilometer trans-Himalayan padayatras, also known as journey on foot in English, between 1981 and 1983. Bahuguna spread the message to every corner of India through folk songs, marches, and slogans, including: “What do the forests bear? Land, water and fresh air!”

As a true disciple of Mahatma Gandhi, Bahuguna’s padayatras was a long journey intended to connect with other environmentally vulnerable communities and to galvanize national support towards the Chipko movement. The movement was pivotal in making the local communities self-sufficient and making them recognise the importance of safeguarding their natural environment for their livelihoods with their forests by planting trees, growing fodder plants for livestock, building check-dams and more. 

At the end of his march, Bahuguna met with Indian Prime Minister Indira Gandhi, who then passed legislation to protect some areas of the Himalayan forests from clear-cut logging.

The Wave of Chipko Across India

In 1975, Chipko led to the formation of Van Nigam, a state-owned forest corporation that took over all forms of forest exploitation from private contractors. In the Kumaon division of the northwestern Indian state of Uttarakhand, the movement gained its momentum following major landslides at Tawaghat in 1977, succeeding in blocking forest auctions at several places, including in the small towns of Nainital, Ramnagar, and Kotdwar. 

That year, Chipko activists led by Bahuguna opposed tree-felling in the Henwal valley in Uttarakhand’s Tehri Garhwal district. Pratap Shikhar of Jajal, a Chipko activist during the 1970s, noted that this transformed Chipko from a form of economic struggle to a fight for conservation. The Chipko movement generated enough pressure for a more responsible and inclusive natural resources policy in India.

The movement was crucial in the amendment of the 1927 Forest Act, which increased community involvement and strengthened local conservation efforts. However, the first major success of the movement was pressuring the Indira Gandhi government to enact  the 1980 Forest Conservation Act. The new policy aimed to limit deforestation and to conserve biodiversity in the region, with a ten-year ban on green felling growing at over 1,000 meters above sea level in the northwestern Indian state of Uttarakhand. Following that, India’s Supreme Court imposed a ban on felling trees in the northern states of Uttar Pradesh and Himachal Pradesh in 1996, which continues to this day.

Downfall and Chipko in the Present Day

Even though the movement brought about commercial deforestation in India by protecting it from loggers, the grassroots people’s primary vision for economic development was ultimately taken away by the complete prohibition on tree cutting in Uttarakhand, which effectively prevented people from developing forest-related industries in the area. For this reason, Chipko activists like Shamser Singh Bist feel that the movement failed in its purpose.

“Chipko was essentially an economic campaign, a fight for local livelihood and when this was not achieved, the people became disillusioned. Now, even their traditional rights have been taken away and the forest guard is supreme,” Bist told Down to Earth. 

Shekhar Pathak, another Chipko activist and a lecturer at Kumaon University, offers a different perspective. 

“The major failing of Chipko was its refusal to recognise its political dimensions. Political organising – both at local and national level – and electoral politics are necessary for a movement of this kind. But when politicisation was attempted, especially by the youth who came into the movement, the Sarvodaya workers dissociated themselves from it,” he said in an interview with Down to Earth.

Activists like Pathak who believed politicisation was necessary for Chipko did not understand that the movement failed to have a unified vision to begin with. Demands for the villagers to “own rights to manage their forest for their use” were not always at the forefront of the movement. Rather, for Chipko activists like Bahuguna and Bhatt, their primary focus was on protecting the forest trees from commercial loggers and destroying the notion that the grassroot communities are heedless of their natural environment. 

Despite these challenges, the Chipko Movement significantly transformed forest management systems and sparked a network of social activism both in India and worldwide. International ecologists viewed the movement as a cultural response reflecting people’s deep connection to their environment. As a grassroots initiative, it empowered communities by fostering a sense of ownership, advocating for inclusive decision-making processes, and upholding the rights of marginalised populations.​

By spreading its simple yet powerful message of tree-hugging to protect forests, the principles of the Chipko Movement resonate with modern-day climate action movements. Chipko went on to inspire other global environmental activists, including the Swedish activists’ environmental movement of 1987 and the protest to protect forests in Mount Takao by Japanese citizens in 2008, which was also based on nonviolent methods such as tree-hugging. 

The movement challenged the conventional notions of development, which prioritises economic growth over environmental health. Chipko served as a slow awakening as it seeped through the valleys and forests of India, and continues to inspire in the present era. Although the movement began as a hugging-of-trees protest, its principles continue to inspire and guide contemporary efforts in protecting the environment, upholding marginalised communities’ rights, and bringing new ecological movements across India and the rest of the world. 

Featured image licence: CC BY SA 4.0

The post 50 Years On: The Legacy of India’s Chipko Movement appeared first on Earth.Org.

Between April and June 2024, nearly one billion people will be eligible to vote in the world’s largest democratic exercise. India’s general election unfolds against a backdrop of extreme drought, melting glaciers, forest fires, deadly floods, and prolonged heatwaves. Since voting began, parts of the country have been battling with scorching heat. But while hot weather is the norm for the 1.4 billion people living in India, the intensity and frequency of heatwaves are on the rise, partly fuelled by climate change. This begs the question: Is climate change on Indian voters’ radar?

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India’s Climate Manifesto

Climate change appeared in the election manifestos of major national parties for the first time in 2019. In the 2024 election manifesto, both India’s ruling party – the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) – and the opposition Congress Party have included several pledges across different sectors that could be filed under green policies, renewable energy targets, and pollution-free mandates. However, the word “climate” is hardly mentioned in either manifesto. 

As per its manifesto, the BJP – the party of India’s current Prime minister Narendra Modi – is striving to achieve energy independence by 2047; meet the 500GW target for renewable energy by 2030; and establish India as a global manufacturing hub for wind, solar, and green hydrogen technologies. The party’s strategy to achieve these ambitious targets includes reducing petroleum imports, focusing on electric mobility, expanding charging stations, increasing renewable energy production, and enhancing energy efficiency. The party also announced it will launch a National Atmospheric Mission to make India “weather-ready” and “climate-smart.”

According to its manifesto, on the other hand, the Congress Party plans to set up two specialized funds: a green transition fund to finance the clean energy transition and a Green New Deal investment programme that focuses on renewable energy, sustainable infrastructure, and the creation of green jobs. The party also promises to bring on an “independent” Environment Protection and Climate Change Authority to monitor and enforce environmental standards at the national and state level. Transitioning from the National Action Plan on Climate Change to a National Climate Resilience Development Mission, the party says, will help integrate climate-positive actions in all sectors of development.

India’s leadership at the G20 and prominence in international forums such as the UN Conference of the Parties (COP) influence the domestic political narrative and national policies towards India’s own climate goals. However, even though both parties have included climate issues in their Manifestos, they both failed to promote their climate pledges as a central issue in the stump speeches and rallies throughout the campaign season.

Climate Change in India

For years, India has been battling with the devastating consequences of anthropogenic climate change and currently ranks ninth out of the world’s top-50 states most at risk from climate change hazards.

According to the National Centre for Science and Environment’s 2023 climate breakdown, India had its warmest-ever August and September in 122 years. The country also suffered an extreme weather event on 318 days last year, which claimed a total of 3,287 lives, affected 2.21 million hectares of crop area, damaged 86,432 houses, and killed nearly 125,000 animals. All 36 states and Union territories were affected, with Himachal Pradesh recording the highest number of extreme weather events (149), followed by Madhya Pradesh (141). Kerala and Uttar Pradesh were next with 119 days each. 

The country also saw 208 of floods and landslides triggered by heavy rains and heatwaves lasting for a total of 49 days. Eastern parts of the country were also battered by Cyclone Michaung in December, which killed at least nine and submerged parts of Chennai.

More on the topic: 5 Biggest Environmental Issues in India in 2024

Another study published last year also pointed out that extreme weather events have led to precarious and informal work conditions, domestic violence, child marriages, and further inequality in low-income groups. In Ahmedabad, a city in western India, people living in slums and informal housing face greater exposure to extreme temperatures, inequalities, and an increase in several heat-related deaths. Bangalore, India’s Silicon Valley, is battling with widespread water shortages, after receiving little rainfall the past year due to climate change and rampant urbanization.

In 2021, the country was also among the world’s most polluted in the world, with an annual average PM2.5 level of about 58.1 µg/m³.

What Are Indian Voters’ Priorities?

After China and the US, India is the world’s third-largest emitter of greenhouse gasses and the fastest-growing major economy. Unlike its Western counterparts, where elections can be significantly influenced by candidates’ climate agendas, the climate is not featured as a major issue in India’s election.

In a Lokniti-CSDS pre-poll survey conducted in 2023, voters indicated unemployment and inflation as the most important issues. According to the Centre for Monitoring Indian Economy, the unemployment rate and inflation in March stood at 7.6% and 4.77%.

It is true, however, that urban voters are becoming more sensitive to climate change mitigation efforts and sustainable development promises as life as they know it has become heavily intertwined with environmental issues such as extreme rain, heat, and pollution due to inadequate waste management and traffic. The same goes for younger generations. This year, 18 million young Indians will be voting for the first time. For them, climate change is the third-most important societal issue, according to a 2023 Gen Z and Millennial Survey published by Deloitte.

Researchers also argue that many of the issues identified as pressing by Indian voters, such as unemployment, education, healthcare, economic growth, and caste inequality, are all linked to the climate crisis. Previous studies, for example, have shown that India’s frequent heatwaves are a growing burden on its economy and public health resources. It is estimated that 8% of India’s GDP was lost due to the climate crisis in 2022. In that same year, research showed that heatwaves made nearly 90% of Indians “more vulnerable to public health issues, food shortages and increased risks of death.”

You might also like: Elections 2024: How Much Do Voters Care About Climate?

Awareness and understanding of the climate crisis also depend on where people live. For example, people living in coastal areas such as Kerala, which is subject to frequent excessive rainfall, floods, and landslides, express a greater degree of concern. 

“My wants are simple, I want soft clean water, cheap electricity, and affordable healthcare,” Khairu Nisa, a single mother and tailor living in a small settlement in the southern Indian state of Tamilnadu, told Earth.Org. Her home was flooded and damaged in the Michang Cyclone last December. In the summer months, she complains of the unbearable heat in her home every year. “Fan is not enough, I cannot afford an AC. It is very difficult to work and make a living in this difficult weather,” she said.

Extreme weather events have also been shown to affect political outcomes.

A 2022 study on political participation in India found evidence that “areas with greater cumulative exposure to extreme temperatures experience an increase in voter turnout and a change in the composition of the pool of candidates who stand for election.” 

In particular, the study has found that the negative effect of climate change on agricultural productivity can affect voter turnout, particularly in rural areas, and increase the chances that winning candidates have an agricultural background and invest more in mitigation measures aimed at protecting the agricultural sector. 

All Eyes on India

The outcome of India’s election holds immense significance not only for its own citizens but also for the global community. As the world’s largest democracy, all eyes are fixed upon this nation to witness how its new leader will confront the pressing challenges posed by the rapidly deteriorating climate crisis. With environmental concerns reaching critical levels, the decisions made by India’s elected officials will have far-reaching implications, not just within its borders but also for the future of our planet. 

The post India General Election: Is a Climate Agenda on the Cards?  appeared first on Earth.Org.

Cricket is the world’s second-most popular sport, beloved by over two billion people. As an outdoor sport, cricket has been facing challenging conditions in the face of a rapidly worsening climate crisis.

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In its Game Changer report published in 2018, Climate Coalition said that “of all the major pitch sports, cricket will be the hardest hit by climate change.” During last year’s men’s Cricket World Cup in India, extreme heat and elevated humidity affected 20 out of the 47 matches. “It is not ideal and everyone knows that,” said Indian captain Rohit Sharma, referring to the challenging weather conditions.

The debilitating conditions of last year’s World Cup are raising concerns for another potential climate threat to the upcoming Summer World Cup, set to take place this June in the US and West Indies. 

The Physical Toll on Players

While cricket may not be the most physically intense game, it is the longest, with matches lasting up to eight hours. The intense weather conditions make players more susceptible to poorer performance and can also impair the judgement of umpires.

During the 2023 World Cup tournament in Mumbai, India, Australia’s star player Glenn Maxwell collapsed on the ground in the middle of his innings, with his body spasming from debilitating muscle cramps. That day, Mumbai recorded a temperature high of 34C and 84% humidity levels. 

“I haven’t really done a whole lot of high-intensity exercise in the heat. It certainly got a hold of me today,” the player said.

The American College of Sports Medicine recommends halting continuous exercise long before these conditions are reached; a hot, still, and sunny day of 30C and 35% humidity is the college’s “black flag” threshold, at which point sporting events should be cancelled.

“When there is extreme humidity, the air tends to become thicker and it feels like you are moving through a steam bath, making it difficult to move and breathe,” said Sai Venkata Sarath Chandra, a climate and heat health research associate for the Indian Institute of Technology. 

The Hit for Six report on the impacts of climate change on cricket, which for the first time combines climate science and heat physiology, reported: “A day at the crease can be compared to running a marathon wearing helmet, gloves and pads. And when the air temperature is higher than skin temperature – typically around 33-35C – only sweat can stop the body from heating up. Protective clothing and high humidity make this less effective.” Indeed, thick pads, gloves, and helmets are known to impede ventilation, causing players to experience health effects like heat exhaustion, stress, fainting, and vomiting.

To ease the strain of heat on his players, Adil Mehmood, a Hong Kong Cricket Club coach who previously played for Hong Kong’s National Cricket Team, adopted different strategies. “We encourage our players to take sufficient rest and ensure they are hydrated well before the match starts. We have also introduced water breaks in our matches to make it easier for the players in the hot weather,” he told Earth.Org.

Climate Impact on the Game

According to the aforementioned report, major cricket league nations are facing a decrease in their freshwater availability in rivers and lakes, and the game’s adaptation and team strategies need to change to suit the changing pitch conditions. A dry pitch impacts the consistency and bounce of the ball, affecting the bowler’s ability to take wickets, while higher temperatures result in cracks on the pitch, making it uneven and unpredictable for batsmen.

Climate change-related water shortages and droughts are adding pressure on national cricket authorities and governments from India to South Africa to minimise water use. Indeed, a standard cricket stadium requires 270,000–300,000 litres per week to keep the ground in a healthy and safe condition. In the summer months, the amount is significantly higher. 

Based on safety-related heat stress indices and erratic rainfall, more games are also being postponed and rescheduled to cooler times of the day.

In Hong Kong, for example, the unpredictable sub-tropical climate poses various challenges to players. “Hong Kong’s weather has been very unusual lately, the weather is very hot one day and it rains very heavily the next. Conditions like poor visibility, fog, heavy rain, and extreme heat have caused many matches to be postponed indefinitely, especially last month,” explained Mehmood. 

More on the topic: Cricket and Climate: Exploring the Environmental Implications of the Indian Premier League

The West Indies’ Climate Peril 

The upcoming T20 World Cup co-host West Indies, in the Caribbean, is no stranger to extreme weather events. In September 2017, Hurricanes Irma and Maria, both category 5 hurricanes, devastated parts of the Eastern Caribbean., causing significant damage to 27 cricket grounds. Leading insurer Lloyds of London reported a US$1.1 billion net loss from Hurricane Maria and a $2.1 billion net loss from Hurricane Irma due to the extraordinary level of damage incurred.

“The facilities were damaged – a lot. “Some playing fields are no longer of use at this stage because of soil erosion, water damage. There are some back up and running where we can play cricket. There is cricket going on but it’s not on a large scale. Some players migrated because they suffered damage to their house – it was difficult and it has impacted every aspect of life,” said Liam Sebastian, who plays first-class cricket for the Windward Islands within the West Indies, in the aftermath of Hurricane Maria. 

“Climate change is an existential threat for the West Indian community as the team seeks to re-establish itself at the pinnacle of the cricketing pyramid,” said Keith C. Mitchell, the Prime Minister of Grenada.

Unfortunately, the situation is only expected to worsen. According to the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), warmer global temperatures will likely fuel hurricanes of greater intensities and lead to heavier rainfall. 

In 2020, the Global Climate Risk Index ranked Bangladesh and Pakistan, two countries in which cricket is highly popular, seventh and eighth, respectively, on the list of countries most vulnerable to climate change. The situation in India is not looking much more encouraging either, with climate scientists predicting an erratic pattern in the future, with intense precipitation, prolonged drought spells, extreme heat, and rainfall. 

To date, Australia is the only major league cricket nation that has published guidelines for playing in extreme heat conditions. Their policies include recommendations for appropriate clothing, provision of water and ice, and player rest and rotation. 

The International Cricket Council (ICC) has yet to join the UN Sports for Climate Action Framework, which FIFA is part of. To ensure a sustainable future and protect cricket players around the world, it is time for the ICC to develop a comprehensive climate safety strategy for its member countries. 

As Ovais Sarman, the Deputy Executive Secretary of UNFCCC Secretariat, said: “No one is safe from the impacts of climate change and sports organisations and sporting communities are already being affected. Climate action is therefore urgent.” 

The post Cricket in Peril: Can the Popular Sport Survive in the Face of a Rapidly Changing Climate? appeared first on Earth.Org.

A growing chorus of young people is fighting climate doomism, a narrative that indicates the world has already lost its fight against climate change. Despite the pessimistic claim of climate doomism, young individuals are taking up the roles of climate and eco-content creators by producing original, entertaining, and educational content to change the minds and habits of people worldwide and ultimately reshape the existing climate narrative. 

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In March 2024, Pique Action and Harvard Chan C-CHANGE released their annual list of 17 climate creators to follow in 2024. The list is part of a collaborative project between US-based climate media startup Pique Action and Harvard University’s Center for Climate, Health, and the Global Environment. The project aims to recognize climate content creators who are inspiring global audiences to stay engaged and take action on climate change through storytelling. 

People, especially younger generations, increasingly rely on social media like TikTok and Instagram for regular news updates. According to Pew Research Center, 33% of adults aged 18-29 and 15% aged 30-49 in the US prefer getting daily news from social media. But when it comes to news, individuals become fixated on all sorts of things, and climate doomism is one of them. The mass media’s fixation on grim climate news plants the idea of doom on our planet, fostering inaction and hopelessness in people. 

Fortunately, young climate communicators are still fighting and advocating for the planet by building their own community of supporters. Together, they are dismantling climate doomism with their ability to reach audiences from diverse backgrounds, commitment to sharing accurate and evidence-based information, and presenting alternative narratives that highlight hopeful climate news.

These creators, or climate “influencers”, are motivating their audiences to be more engaged in climate action by covering some of the most pressing environmental issues of our time, spotlighting advocacy events, and giving a voice to those affected by the impacts of global warming. In the era of fake news, content creators are shifting the way social platforms are used for news, demonstrating the power creators hold, specifically the power climate influencers have on the world to incite climate action. 

Here are five youth climate content creators tearing down climate doom and reshaping how the world thinks about climate change and its impact on our planet, one post at a time. 

You might also like: Framing a Crisis: The Evolution of Climate Communication and Storytelling

1. Simon Clark @simonoxfphys

Simon Clark is a science communicator from Bath, United Kingdom. Completing his PhD in theoretical atmospheric physics from the University of Exeter, his specialty is creating content focusing on Earth sciences, space, physics, and the climate crisis. He often answers critical climate questions with a healthy dose of science literacy.

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With a successful YouTube channel and a massive following on Instagram, his short and to-the-point climate content often stirs up healthy conversation and debate among his subscribers. 

2. Veronica Mulenga @veronicamulenga_

Veronica is an African climate and environmental justice activist from Lusaka, Zambia. Her work is rooted in climate racism and justice. She raises awareness about the disproportionate impacts of climate change on the most vulnerable and marginalised communities, through campaigns, storytelling, and climate initiatives.

She is part of the global youth-led movement Youth Climate Save. Launched in 2020, it is the first youth-led climate movement of its kind, focusing on the role of animal agriculture in the worsening climate crisis and advocating for a vegan diet and lifestyle. 
The movement collaborates with local schools, governments, and hospitals to organise campaigns, events, and legislation. Veronica is in charge of the movement’s chapter in Zambia, Youth Climate Save Zambia.

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3. Bodhi Patil @bodhi_patil

Bodhi is an award-winning GenZ ocean-climate solutionist from Vancouver, Canada. He is dedicated to improving both ocean and human health through a myriad of projects, workshops, conferences, and media content that fosters community building.

At the age of 13, after graduating from the Young Entrepreneurs Academy, Bodhi founded his first social enterprise – InnerLight. Having faced climate anxiety and depression at an early age, he realised the critical need to develop and foster young people’s resilience. InnerLight aims at building mentally and physically strong ocean guardians by focusing on the intersection of climate, mental health, and well-being. Its mission is to spread ocean literacy and wellness education. 

Bodhi is also the co-creator of Ocean Uprise, a creative activist movement that provides a safe space for networking where young and emerging creators, thinkers, and leaders can raise awareness, learn, collaborate and take action for the oceans. 

Bodhi is the youngest official member of the Indigenous Wisdom Keepers Delegation, a global ancestrally-rooted community. The Wisdom Keepers are bringing back ancient wisdom rooted in Indigenous practices in restoring planetary well-being such as through the just transition to a world free of fossil fuels. 

The Indigenous Wisdom Keepers Delegation is part of the Indigenous United Nations Delegation which took part in last December’s UN climate summit COP28 in Dubai, United Arab Emirates, with Bodhi as one of the speakers.

Bodhi has been featured and recognized by the United Nations and has spoken in front of world leaders at over ten global climate conferences, COP28 being just one of them.

You might also like: Indigenous Leaders Champion a Stronger Role in Addressing Climate Change at COP28

4. Navya Singh @newswithnavya

Navya is a climate journalist from Goa, India. She holds a bachelor’s degree in Media, Economics, and Political Science from Christ University. With a strong interest in the planet’s well-being, Navya shifted her focus and commitment to uncovering the truth behind the climate crisis, raising awareness, and inspiring positive change for the planet.

In January 2022, Navya started “News With Navya”, an independent news outlet that aims to build a community of eco-conscious citizens and share how climate change is affecting people and the planet through valuable climate stories covering current global and local climate affairs, positive climate initiatives, and climate solutions. “News With Navya” pushes for sustainable practices and bringing in accountability to people in power. 

She is well-known in the climate circle for her perspective on embracing climate issues rather than succumbing to climate doomism. As a youth sustainability enthusiast, she believes it is imperative for people to understand how their actions and choices impact climate change.

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5. Sumak Helena Gualinga @helenagualinga

Helena is a young environmental activist and indigenous land and human rights defender from the Kichwa people in the Ecuadorian Amazon. Throughout her life, she has witnessed colonial threats from the Ecuadorian government and the rise of big oil corporations such as Argentine oil company CGC, who have been scattering explosives across her indigenous land to free up land.

She is the co-founder of the Indigenous Youth Collective of Amazon Defenders. She has spoken about the destruction of the Amazon, at several global conferences and forums such as COP27 and the World Economic Forum to advocate against extractivism – the practice of extracting a country’s natural resources for personal, commercial and industrial uses which are then sold globally with minimal. Extractivism in the Ecuadorian side of the Amazon is mainly linked to oil extraction and large-scale foreign copper, silver, and gold mining projects and has resulted in huge environmental damage.

Coming from a long line of activists, Helena continues her family’s legacy of fighting big oil companies and raising awareness about their environmental impact on Indigenous land. 

Conclusion

These five climate creators are changing the narrative of climate doomism, each in their own special way. Their contribution in building a strong climate and eco-conscious community through myriad of initiatives, social enterprises, and Indigenous storytelling proves the many ways one can bring hope and optimism in the combat against climate change. 

You might also like: 4 Ways Social Media Can Further Climate Research

The post How Young Creators Are Shaping the Climate Narrative of Our Time appeared first on Earth.Org.

The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia is sitting on a US$2.5 trillion-worth of precious metals and minerals. Saudi’s mining magnet, state-owned Ma’aden, has recently uncovered significant gold alongside its Mansourah Massarah gold mine. This is the first of its kind from the company’s exploration programme, suggesting its potential to become a major gold belt for Arabia and strengthen its existing precious metal production pipeline. 

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Ma’aden is one of the world’s fastest-growing mining operations and is in charge of developing Saudi Arabia into an industrial and mining hub. The company recently announced it is expanding its exploration at Jabal Ghadarah and Bir Tawilah, on the outskirts of Mansourah Massarah, after discovering “significant” gold resource potential late last year.

“These discoveries have the potential to be the centre of the world’s next gold rush and are a strong part of our growth strategy,” said Ma’aden CEO Robert Wilt. “The Arabian Shield has enormous potential for more world-class discoveries, and this is the first of many we expect to make in the coming years.” 

The discovery is at par with Saudi Arabia’s efforts to diversify away and reduce its dependence on hydrocarbon revenue. The country’s mining sector is expected to become the third pillar of its economy by tripling its economic contribution by 2030. 

Under Saudi Vision 2030 – a roadmap “for economic diversification, global engagement, and enhanced quality of life” launched in 2016 – the country hopes its mining-powered green transition will generate 50% of its electricity from renewables and the other half from gas. This energy transition requires precious metals and minerals to lay the groundwork for the rapid upscaling of efficient and large-scale renewable energy projects around the world.

You might also like: Achieving Net Zero: Where Are We Today?

Precious Gold, Minerals and Green Energy

Saudi Arabia is opening up its mining industry for international collaboration and foreign investments. With investors now focused on decarbonization, gold mining is bringing about a new climate narrative. 

Known for its monetary value, in recent years gold has become an asset for its use in the green energy sector. Indeed, gold has been found to improve efficiency and conductivity in solar cells and electric vehicle batteries and, as the world shifts towards renewable energy for a sustainable and clean energy-driven world, its importance and demand along with other precious metals is expected to rise. 

According to the International Energy Agency (IEA), the market for minerals and metals, which are key to clean energy transition, has doubled in the last five years.

“All new technologies – wind, solar, electric vehicles, whatever – need specific minerals including lithium, cobalt and rare earth minerals. The Kingdom is rich in these and in many others,” said Peter Leon, a key advisor for Saudi Arabia’s Ministry of Industry and Mineral Resources. “The World Bank recently reported that over 3 million tons of minerals and metals will be needed in the coming transition. That represents a 500 per cent increase in demand for minerals. But it also means a huge supply gap.”

Hence, Saudi Arabia holds the potential to play a pivotal role as a global supplier of precious metals and minerals to drive global energy towards a green energy transition to achieve net-zero carbon emissions. 

In June 2022, gold executives said that although gold is unlikely to top the list of important net-zero metals, it is still essential to the energy transition and climate change. This means that gold mining will be important for Saudi Arabia’s push to become a global player in the mineral and metal supply chain. 

At last month’s Future Mineral Forum 2024, held in Saudi Arabia’s capital city Riyadh, the country’s Ministry of Industry and Mineral Resources formalized collaborations in the mining sector by signing memorandums of understanding with Egypt, Russia, Morocco, and the Democratic Republic of Congo, effectively solidifying its position in the global mining landscape. 

The Environmental Issues of Mining

Gold mining results in serious environmental damages and is a major contributor to waste pollution. The environmental pollution from leakages of gold mine tailings, which are often radioactive, toxic, or acidic, poses serious threats to groundwater and surface water quality, with impacts potentially lasting for over half a century. 

Furthermore, gold mining threatens Indigenous peoples’ lands, water sources, livelihoods, and way of life. Mercury for example, which is used to separate gold from sediment, can contaminate rivers. Land degradation and deforestation reduces the physical soil condition in their agricultural land. This damages the aquatic and terrestrial ecosystem of the indigenous peoples’ lands. 

The industry is also responsible for increasing greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. The World Gold Council has previously identified that 95% of the GHG emissions are from gold mining operations associated with fuel combustion, indicating the urgent need to shift from carbon-intensive power sources to renewables to ensure gold mines can achieve emissions reduction by 2030 in alignment with the 2015 Paris Agreement.

Sustainable Gold Mining and Transparency

“[T]he gold mining industry’s recognition of its need to operate in a transparent and trusted manner, and to demonstrate high standards of responsible and sustainable business practices has underpinned its ability to take ambitious steps to ensure it can contribute to social and environmental progress including decarbonisation and local resilience,” said World Gold Council CFO Terry Heymann. 

At last month’s World Economic Forum in Davos, members of the International Council of Metals and Minerals (ICMM) pledged that meeting the demand for critical materials in advancing global sustainable development goals should not be at the expense of nature. This nature-positive commitment is aimed at promoting health, diversity and resilience of species, ecosystems and natural processes. However, the persistent use of coal-fired electricity is an obstacle to accelerating progress towards climate target alignment.

“There is no escaping that the act of mining directly affects nature, which is why the cornerstone of our commitments is to ensure at least no net loss of biodiversity at all mine sites by closure against a 2020 baseline,” said CEO of the ICMM Rohitesh Dhawan while speaking at the Nature Positive Initiative event in Davos. 

With the pledge, mining companies commit to take steps across their value chains and operations to contribute towards a nature-positive future, Dhawan explained. 

This commitment was guided by the Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework and ICMM’s existing commitments in relation to protected areas, Indigenous Peoples, water and respecting human rights as per the United Nations Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights, Dhawan reassured.

A 2021 research paper suggested an absence of significant adverse environmental effects of mining in Saudi Arabia. However, the current mining situation is difficult to assess, as no data on the environmental damages and  details on the country’s mining activity has been made available since the exploration program’s inception in 2022. Transparency is further hindered by strict regulations that researchers and employees of the mining corporations have to adhere to.

Saudi Arabia is attempting to bridge away from its past by bringing responsible mining practices and implementing high standards of environmental, sustainable, and corporate governance (ESG) in its mining industry, in an attempt to enhance transparency and accountability to draw in foreign investments. These efforts include publishing the results of nature-related impact and dependency assessments and setting targets to address them. 

Indeed, in line with the commitment towards nature made in Davos 2024, all ICMM members, including Saudi Arabia, are required to provide transparent disclosures on performance outcomes, including publishing the results of nature-related impact and dependency assessments, and setting targets to address their pledge. 

The commitment paves for a much needed higher degree of transparency and credibility from Saudi Arabia to prove its efforts towards green energy transition from its gold and mineral mining, in the international stage. But will it be enough?

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