Lahore, Delhi, Kathmandu, Colombo, Kabul, and Dhaka: Safma had its first interaction among Safma chapters in a video conference. Speakers from Afghanistan, Sumandar and Karim, Lakshmanan and Toha from Sri Lanka, Prateek from Nepal, Imtiaz Alam, Jabbar and Amir from Pakistan participated and Bulbul from Bangladesh and Kumar Ketkar tried to access.
The participants’ common points of agreement were as follow:
Climate changes, driven and produced by the industrialized South, are adversely affecting the developing countries of the South, South Asia in particular.
The catastrophic rains and floods have severely affected Pakistan, Bangkadesh and Afghanistan followed by heatwaves and forest fires. As glaciers melt, Nepal, India, Bangladesh and Pakistan are going to be devastated. The air pollution, floods, droughts, deforestation, desertification, rising level of seas and temperatures, higher population growth and excessive use of fossilised fuels and chemicals are going to make not only quality of life worse, but also the future of South Asia with the rise of poverty and ecological breakdown.
It’s time that the governments of member countries of SAARC rise above their bilateral conflicts and get together to seek climate justice and preserve our collective ecology.
This was suggested that Safma helps create a broader platform of environmentalists and those fighting for climate justice by floating the idea of South Asians for Climate Justice (SACJ).
Safma executive body called upon all member countries of SAARC to convene a Special Symit on Climate at the earliest.
