India Pavilion at COP-25 in Madrid, Spain, celebrating “150 Years the Mahatma”

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New Delhi : Union Secretary, Ministry of Environment Forest & Climate Change (MoEFCC), C K Mishra, inaugurated the India Pavilion at the 25th session of Conference of Partiesunder the UN framework convention of Climate Change (UNFCCC COP25), at Madrid, Spain, on December 3, 2019.

Owais Sarmad, Deputy Executive Secretary of the UNFCCC Secretariat, Bonn, also graced the occasion. The event was also attended by delegates of UNFCCC COP25 and partner Ministries among others.

In his address, Secretary, MoEFCC, Mishra, said that this year India is celebrating 150 years of the birth anniversary of Father of the Nation, Mahatma Gandhi. The India Pavilion has been designed to depict this theme in particular Mahatma Gandhi’s life and messages around sustainable living.

The Pavilion has a conceptual model of Gandhi Ji’s Ashram, where Mahatma’s philosophy of minimising wants and living with simplicity is espoused. The pavilion also depicts the present and traces the arc into the future of the country, where Government of India is implementing ambitious solutions to deal with the issue of climate change, inspired by the teachings of the Mahatma, and cultural underpinnings based on the principles of sustainable consumption and production. As such, the pavilion has a special focus on ‘sustainable lifestyles’ as a solution to climate change.

Mishra said that Gandhi ji was ahead of his times when he spoke of sustainable development and need to care for our earth and its resources. To mark the 150th anniversary of Mahatma Gandhi, the Pavilion features the humble ‘Charkha’ or the spinning wheel which is the physical embodiment of   the Gandhian principles of perseverance, self-sufficiency and sustainability. He invited delegates and participants representing 197 countries to try their hand at spinning the ‘fabric of sustainability’ at the India Pavilion, according to a PIB release.

Mishra further mentioned that over the next 10 days, India will be organising 20 side events at the pavilion on important issues for climate change adaptation and mitigation. He added that presentations and panel discussions involving experts from both public and private spheres will be organised. The India Pavilion will provide a platform for exchange of innovative ideas for the world to come together and take action to combat climate change.

In his closing remarks, Mishra said that it is crucial that we find ways to combat climate change not just through modern technologies but with the wisdom of our collective cultural tradition and hoping that concrete steps are taken to promote sustainable lifestyles and climate justice globally.

The India Pavilion at COP 25, Madrid, displays India’s climate action across a range of sectors covering both activities for mitigation and adaptation. India has formulated ambitious contributions to combat climate change that have been nationally determined keeping in view India’s development imperatives and sustainable growth.