Advocacy Workshops on Climate Change May-Aug, 2014

“There is no question that climate change is happening; the only arguable point is what part humans are playing it.”
- David Attenborough

There was a time chatting about the weather was merely a veiled attempt at making small talk. Ironically, today there is a much larger, more crucial issues hidden within those conversations.

Increasingly hotter days, harsher winters, inadequate or alternatively, excessive rains are just a few of the weather changes under discussion these days. Yet whatever the particular topic at hand, things always lead to the same conclusion – there have been some drastic changes in our climate over the past decade or so. Now while these abnormal weather patterns are observed by all, most people are clueless about their origins. Despite the critical issue of ‘Climate Change’ being a mandate on almost every agenda across global environmental forums, the common man remains largely unaware about the very concept of it. Therefore, it falls to us as environmentally conscious citizens and responsible civil societies, to educate the masses on the climate change issue and raise awareness about the drivers of this phenomenon; in addition to seeking out and advocating solutions in order to better adjust to, if not entirely mitigate, the problem

Lately, there have been many press releases in the newspapers, following the recently released IPCC report which states that India and other developing countries will be the most adversely affected by climate change in coming years. Agricultural patterns, dairy products and the overall health and living conditions of the population are just a few of the factors that can expect to be negatively impacted; experts go as far as to predict that the inevitable shortage of food, water and basic essentials could even create situations of conflict in developing countries. In an attempt to generate awareness about this pressing issue, the All India Women’s Conference (AIWC) organized a series of workshops, beginning with a national one at New Delhi, followed by five regional workshops across different states hosted by local AIWC branches. The workshops were sponsored by Women in Europe for a Common Future (WECF), a Netherlands-based NGO, as a follow up to their IWE Leadership Programme held in Warsaw, Poland in November 2013 - an event in which Mrs. Kalyani Raj, Memberin-charge, AIWC participated as one of the Mentors. The New Delhi workshop drew AIWC participants from across India and focused on the impact of climate change on essentials like water, health, energy and agriculture, as well as the adaptive measures required to resolve the issue. The regional workshops on the other hand, were participated by members from neighbouring states and addressed the unique local issues affecting them respectively.

Date of the Workshop	Place	Level
22nd and 23rd May 2014	New Delhi	National
10th July 2014	Trivendrum, Kerala	Regional
26th July 2014	Allahabad, Uttar Pradesh	Regional
2nd and 3rd August 2014	Batala, Punjab	Regional
6th and 7th August 2014	Mumbai, Maharashtra	Regional
20th and 21st August 2014	Kolkata, West Bengal	Regional