Children in a Changing Climate

We believe that the children we work with are minimal contributors to the global emergency the earth is facing.  Their carbon foot prints, as of their families and communities are, are negligible compared to those of other countries and urban areas of India which are high on carbon emissions.  And yet these children will be the greatest sufferers in the coming future.  They need to be educated in climate change and be prepared to face it.  To do this we needed to learn firsthand from the children how climate change affects their education, health, mental and social wellbeing and how the livelihood of their parents is affected.

The children were very articulate in describing the impact of drought and heat waves, floods and excessive and erratic rains.  They narrated how they adapt to the vagaries of nature and the various constraints they face.  And from their own experiences and of their parents, what they require to mitigate the impact and reduce risk.  They suggested solutions and made appeals to adults to help them build a conducive ecological balance.

From the three workshops held at different parts of the country, the experiences and wisdom of the children were culled in a beautiful 60-page booklet titled “Indian Rural  Children speak on Climate Change”.  At the end of the last workshop, the children,  as their contribution to making the earth a better place to live, committed themselves to planting  one million trees.  So far  children in the projects have planted 2,69,240 trees through the Children’s’ Parliaments, the SHGs, the community, and the Gram Panchayats.

Click here to view Online Animated Booklet published by HCDI on 'Indian Rural Children Speak on The Impact of Climate Change'.