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Tshering, third from left. |
Ms. Tshering Uden Bhutia was one of two
South Asian community leaders invited to the 5th Asia
Pacific Climate Change Adaptation (APAN) Forum in Colombo for the parallel
session “Enhancing Gender Responsive Adaptive Capacity in Communities” on the
last day of the three-day event. It was held from October 17 to 19, 2016, in
Sri Lanka. Underrepresentation
of South Asian women in the seven plenary and thirty-five parallel sessions of
APAN 2016 was an issue. The presence of community leaders like Uden in the
parallel session lessened the regional gender gap. The session was renamed
“Enhancing Women Responsive Adaptive Capacity in Communities” and all except
one panellist were women.
Uden a former mountaineer has been involved
with sustainable livelihood projects and waste management for over twenty
years. Her love of the mountains translated into community leadership. She
hails from the Himalayan state of Sikkim, in a district at the base of the
sacred and majestic Kanchenjunga. And leads the Khangchendzonga Conservation
Committee (KCC) which “comprises of community representatives, community
based organization and other key stakeholders highly committed toward nature
conservation.”
The social entrepreneur from Yuksam in West
Sikkim had insightful and anecdotal information to share on how the populace
can be pro-planet. But her main contention was that each and every one of us
must take personal responsibility and commit to inculcating eco-friendly habits
in ourselves and others. As she mentioned, it’s easy to preach and teach but
hard to do, but the best lessons are the ones taught by good actions not big
words. And each individual’s actions build up and will counter the gigantic
ecological footprint and resources used, abused and wasted by mankind. The
habit of being pro-planet needs to be adopted and scaled-up now; for we are
dangerously close to the tipping point of irreversible climate change and
environmental damage.
In her childhood Uden’s family tearoom
served varieties of dishes using Maggi 2-minute Noodles. And over her lifetime
she witnessed the noodle wrappers take over her home. While climbing the peaks
as well the debris consisted of food wrappers. Instant noodles and other
instant foods cooked with just hot water are a great convenience for
mountaineers and for people cooking in the open. It is used everywhere and is the fast food of
choice as it is both easy to carry and easy to cook. Yet the plastic wrappers
forms a non-biodegradable wake behind tourists, trekkers, and mountaineers for
only a fraction committed to “leaving behind only footprints.”
Since 1997, as a personal contribution to
reducing waste she decided to avoid Maggi products and the like. She made her own instant noodles and carried
it in reusable containers that she brought back, without littering in her wake.
She opted for fruits and nuts to processed foods and though it was hard and
sometimes expensive – and literally extra baggage, she developed and fully
committed to the pro-planet habit. For
as the KCC website puts it,
Conservation
cannot happen with an empty stomach, hence KCC strongly believes in providing
livelihood support to mountain people and facilitating them for alternative
livelihood with minimum impact on nature and the rich culture, thus creating a
win win situation among nature and its people.
KCC
conserves natural and cultural resources through skill development programs,
micro planning, awareness campaigns, monitoring of natural resources as well as
by advocating for appropriate policy changes. Through KCC and other community
level activities Uden now has more waste management, reducing, reusing and
recycling programmes. The habit turned into a job creator and in turn she and
other community leaders build pro-planet skills and
capacities through training, exposure and other participatory means.
When asked about her impressions about APAN
2016 she mentioned that it was her first time at an international forum and was
pleasantly surprised by the number of women and
young people on panels. The
participation of young people and women is essential for the protection of our
planet. Their quest will be helped by better access to information and funds.
Uden also mentioned that while status of
women in Sikkim was better off than in other states, they were still hesitant
to come forward and raise their voices and stand up for their rights and
problematic gender issues. And she emphasized that to be fair, to avoid “na insafy” (injustice) to women, their
voices must be heard. Just like with feminization of poverty, the adverse
impact of climate change is felt more by women and girls than men, thus it
is essential that their experiences and stories are shared.