Climate change plaint against five nations: Indian girl among petitioners
NEW DELHI: Haridwar’s Ridhima Pandey, 11, is among the 16 children who have filed a complaint against five countries for not acting on climate change at the United Nations Climate Action Summit in New York on Monday.
The devastation caused by the 2013 Uttarakhand flash floods left a lasting impression on her, and motivated her to talk about climate change, said Ridhima over the phone from New York.
Swedish teen climate activist, Greta Thunberg, who delivered a powerful speech at the opening session of the summit on Monday, asking world leaders how they dared to ruin the future of children, is also a member of the group.
“The petitioners are not seeking money; they want action. To bring this about, the petition names five countries whose efforts to date have been too slow and too weak to prevent a climate catastrophe,” says their website, childenvsclimatecrisis.org.
“I was very small when the Uttarakhand floods happened but I saw those images on TV. My father and his colleagues were also in some remote regions to rescue animals after the floods. I don’t think the poor people in the hills contributed to global warming,” said Ridhima.
Over 5,500 people lost their lives and 4,500 villages were affected when floods and landslides triggered by heavy rain hit the hilly state in 2013.
“My father explains the science of global warming to me. I also try to read. It’s about our future. So we have to do whatever it takes,” she said.
The five countries being sued by the 16 children — Argentina, Brazil, France, Germany, and Turkey — have all ratified the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child, an international treaty under which countries have specific obligations to provide for the health and well-being of children. “These obligations aren’t being met as the climate crisis intensifies,” says the website.
Ridhima, a class 8 student of DAV Public School, Haridwar, had moved the National Green Tribunal a year ago demanding that for every development project, a climate impact assessment be conducted. The NGT had dismissed the petition.