Climate Strike: Guwahati Youth Demands Urgent Action

Guwahati youth have turned out for a day of climate strikes through street art, intended to stress the urgency of the climate crisis in the state amid the coronavirus pandemic.

The Guwahati arm of the Fridays For Future with 17 strikers staged a demonstration at Beltola with placards demanding effective action on issues of environmental negligence.

The people's movement highlighted climate-based issues on illegal mining and logging in Dehing Patkai Elephant Reserve, oil blowout in Baghjan Gaon, upcoming mega-dams in Dibang Valley – a Global biodiversity hotspot, and the controversial Draft EIA 2020.

According to an official statement of the group, people of Baghjan gaon have lost their homes and there seems no hope of respite even after 110+ days of the oil spill. The irresponsible environmental degradation caused by the oil spill cannot be compensated with money and will cost the people of Baghjan years of livelihood loss as they all depend on the Maguri beel, tea gardens and paddy fields for their living.

In January 2020, the central government amended the environmental laws to change the category of onshore and offshore drilling operations from A1 to B2 which allows the companies to do away with public consultation for environmental clearances. Thus, now the private companies can drill without taking the consent of locals who will directly be impacted by these projects, it said.

"Today is the 6th Global Climate Strike, and we see that the
MOEFCC has been trying to dilute many environmental laws via new drafts and amendments in eco-sensitive areas. We striked, to create awareness on the matter and tell people how Government have been trying to mend the ways for private corporations and making it convenient for them to exploit eco-sensitive areas without environmental clearances," climate striker and activist activist Shirshendu Sekhar Das said.

 "If we don't stand for ourselves today, our future is doomed and we are here in the streets to raise our concern and send a message to the authorities to take stringent actions against the companies and corporations which are violating environmental laws leading to immense human suffering," Das added.

The climate strike also underscored the ongoing crisis at Dibang Valley that falls in seismic zone 5 that will pose a threat to the people of Arunachal Pradesh due to the proposed 17 mega-dams on Dibang River.

"We are in the middle of a pandemic and it is scientifically proven that such deadly pandemics are directly connected with deforestation which is an outcome of such devastating projects. Assam is also a witness to downstream flooding from various dams and these dams will further deteriorate the situation," the group's statement read.

Coal India Limited has been mining in Saleki which is a proposed reserved forest since last 17 years without any environmental clearance. Since the entire is a part of DPER, often human-animal negative interaction is spotted in the vicinity. The Eco sensitive zones of rich bio diverse areas like Dehing Patkai Elephant Reserve and Dibru-Saikhowa National Park are manipulated in a way that allows the big companies to continue mining right at the edge of these protected areas, the statement further read.

"The clock towards human extinction is ticking and we are still busy waking up people. It's high time that we stand for the self and the co humans, take action instead of debating all around. Make sustainable shifts, hold authorities accountable, stand with the marginalized communities and do the needful but it should be now and today," climate striker and activist Shivani Goyal said.