NAVDANYA/WORLD FUTURE COUNCIL
STUDENTS MEET PM ON THE CLIMATE QUESTION AS KIDS CALL CAMPAIGN
CULIMINATES IN NEW DELHI

Three representatives of the international youth campaign KidsCall along with Climate /Energy Director Mr. Stefan Schurig from World Future Council, Hamburg and Mr Manu Sankar from Navdanya, New Delhi met the honorable prime Minister Dr Manmohan Singh on the occasion of Raksha Bandhan to tie Rakhis seeking protection from him for the future generation against Climate Change. The three children were representing thousands of kids who participated in the campaign on Climate Change carried out from February 2008 all over India. The children also handed over a catalogue of six points to the Prime Minister which they felt needs the immediate attention of the Indian Government. The original text according to the document is as follows:

1. Climate Change already impacts thousands of people in India. Methods of the Government to adapt to Climate Change should ensure that people will be able to remain in the region of their residence rather than moving into the big cities.
2. Promote organic farming both for mitigation and adaptation to climate change. We are disappointed that the Government's National Action Plan on Climate change focuses on Biotechnology and Genetic Engineering even though thousands of farmers who grew genetically modified cotton have committed suicide because the seeds are costly, non renewable and unreliable.
3. We wish to ensure a massive increase of renewable energy in India. This should be combined with regular and transparent monitoring about the implementation. 
4. Increasing of the governmental efforts to massively raise public awareness about the threat and the solutions in the field of climate change.
5. If the glaciers at the Himalayas melt how will the rivers flow? People and animals are already dying in India because of droughts. We call on you to recognise the water crisis due to Climate Change. We urge the Government to implement holistic policies of natural resource management such as rain water harvesting in order to combat this problem.
6. India cannot afford to be left behind in addressing climate change both in reducing emissions and in evolving resilience. We, as the future generations of India want to see India as an environmental leader and not a laggard. The role that India plays globally should be led by the best sense, that India will proceed with its economical development but understand the fact that growth is not necessarily connected to a massive amount of CO2 emissions.

The KidsCall campaign is the combined initiative of Delhi based Navdanya and Hamburg based World Future Council that aims to provide a platform for young people to express their concerns about Climate Change. Through this campaign over 10,000 messages from more than 30 countries were collected in mix media form from audios, videos, letters, to poster etc. made as an appeal by youth and children from between the ages of 7 and 21. These were then presented to state representatives of G-8 +5 countries to draw attention and influence policy makers towards wise decisions for future generations.

In India the campaign was launched on 2nd February 2008 by the students on the sidelines of the Gandhi, Globalization and Climate Change conference organized by Navdanya and World Future Council in New Delhi. In the following five months the campaign travelled to the students and youth of over twenty cities, villages and metros across 10 states (New Delhi, Maharashtra, Uttar Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh, Uttaranchal, Haryana, Orissa, Kerala, Karnataka and Gujarat). The response and participation of the Indian students was overwhelming and contributed to the global campaign spanning 20 countries both in quantity and quality.

For media enquiries please contact:

Manu Sankar (Navdanya)
9868020546

Stefan Schurig (World Future Council)
+49 177 25100 19

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