Jharkhand to air woes at Copenhagen Saturday

RANCHI - Jharkhand will find its voice at the Copenhagen climate summit Saturday when Ranchi-based activist Ghanshyam presents a paper on climate preservation to highlight indiscriminate industrialisation in Jharkhand and the rapid degradation of the states biodiversity.

Jharkhand has a forest cover of 30 percent, one of India’s largest, huge mineral reserves and also some of the countrys biggest industrial units, which include plants of the Steel Authority of India Limited and the Tata Group.

Ghanshyam will speak on how the changing climate has impacted his state causing prolonged dry spells in some of the most fertile regions and floods in other parts of the state. He is also expected to present a community charter, sources in Judav, the NGO which Ghanshyam heads, said.

Judav has been working to generate self-employment for tribals in the remote areas of Jharkhand since 1995 using local resources - jal (water), jungle (forest) and zameen (land).

We want to highlight the fact that the poor tribal people of the state are responsible for the change in climate. The developed nations are responsible as they are setting up industries on forest land, Ghanshyam said.

He said he would recommend ways to conserve the states forests with traditional knowledge - for tribal culture, beliefs, religions and superstitions are linked to the trees and forests.

He said he would also protest the state governments decision to declare the state drought-prone. Jharkhand receives ample rain. The irregularity of rainfall may have been caused by the changing climate.

The agriculture in the state, which is rain-fed, has been affected because of scanty rainfall over the last two years, the seasonal rivers have dried up and the ground water level has depleted, sources in Judav said.

The rise in the number of townships, highrises and illegal mining in the forest areas have also eroded the green cover of the state. The three key cities - Ranchi, Jamshedpur and Dhanbad - have grown exponentially over the last decade and spread into the outlying forests and hills, climate activists in the state said.