Tanuj Samaddar from Assam, recently participated in the World Conservation Congress hosted by International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) in Abu Dhabi representing India and UNFCCC. Speaking to NE India Broadcast, he has summarised his key takeaways from the global congress. It is noteworthy that Tanuj is the youngest delegate to have participated in the Congress from the global south in addition to being the youngest commission member in the Commission on Environmental, Economic and Social Policy at IUCN.
Key Takeaways from the World Conservation Congress
● Tech integration in driving impact at the grassroots :
Tanuj emphasized the critical need for integrating technology-driven interventions to effect empirical and tangible change at the grassroots level of society. He further underscored that this approach is not limited to a specific sector but is broadly applicable across various domains of social impact, including environmental sustainability and education, thereby fostering comprehensive and sustainable progress.
Giving an example of GIS based mapping of vulnerable micro-geographies, he remarked how novel innovations in the domains of biodiversity impact assessment and disaster mitigation have taken the world by a storm. He further emphasized the need to institutionalise such interventions for better and effective implementation.
● Strengthening Regulatory Frameworks :
“It is imperative to embolden the existing regulatory frameworks in the domain of environment and ecology. With the prevailing interventions often being overlooked, it is the need of the hour to introduce an even stringent penalty framework for the violators, such as checks on industry emission limits.” He remarked. With ineffective enforcement of pollution control measures and lack of accountability in waste control and management, this becomes ever so important.
- Micro-policing to address contextual need :
“Policy framework is the rock on which activism and impact is built upon”, Tanuj highlighted. The dilemma lies in recalibrating the government’s generalist policy approaches to address micro-unit-specific demands through target area development initiatives.
● Scaling Up youth driven climate initiatives :
Another such pertinent and recurring theme was the immediate need to scale up youth-led climate initiatives through institutional incubation and micro-grants. Many innovative initiatives don’t see the light of the day, due to institutional inertia and the ‘elite bargain on development’, he further added. There’s a need to proliferate such initiatives in Assam for it to catch up with the rest of India and the world to be more precise. An accountability framework should be put in place to track the grant tranches and usage to decide the continuation of the same, he opined.
Tanuj participated in a number of youth pavilions in the Congress from 8th to 10th of October, where he highlighted Assam’s rising wetland threat. In a previous interview with the Times of India, he highlighted how this issue rarely captures the global attention it deserves, unlike carbon credits and climate change. As the youngest representative from the global south, Tanuj feels a deep responsibility to bring Assam’s environmental plight to the forefront at a world stage like the World Conservation Congress.
Tanuj Explores the Future of Climate Action: Bridging Global and Local Environmental Initiatives
In areas such as Assam, the issues are distinct, ranging from the sudden loss of wetlands to localized environmental degradation, and such problems need localized solutions instead of general policies. Tanuj’s push is for contextualizing climate action, in the sense that global goals are broken down into workable plans that speak to the unique needs of local ecosystems and communities. This way, he believes, we can achieve more community ownership and sustainability over the long term in tackling environmental issues.
In addition, Tanuj refers to decentralized governance as a key component in effectively dealing with environmental issues. Instead of depending on top-down approaches alone, he believes in a future where local governments, civil society groups, and youth initiatives collaborate in combating climate change. He advocates empowering local activists and leaders with the capability and resources to design innovative, context-specific solutions.
