WCRP My Climate Risk Education Working Group Webinar 2025

At a moment when the world faces multiple existential threats, including climate disruption, what ways of thinking, being and acting might enable us to work for better futures? Somnath, a dedicated social and political activist, describes what he has learned from engagement with Adivasi (Indigenous) and forest-dwelling communities in India over the past twenty years. By foregrounding the experiences, perspectives and worldviews of marginalized communities, paying attention to issues of power and positioning, and building equitable and trust-based relationships over long spans of time, extraordinary transformations are possible, enabling the emergence of new ideas, concepts and actions. Somnath describes how this approach has led to Adivasi communities raising themselves out of abject poverty toward a resurgence of water security, local forests, livelihoods, traditional knowledge systems and dignity.