Addressing participants, noted environmental scientist Prof Dulal Chandra Goswami provided insights about climate change, pointing out that it was global climatic change that was responsible for the birth of life forms on Earth. Now it was again climate change that was emerging as a threat to life, because this time changes were taking place at a faster rate than life forms could adapt to.

Significantly, Prof Goswami referred to the Fourth Assessment Report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), revealing that the report although not naming Northeast India as such was clear that a region like it would witness marked changes due to climatic perturbations. The report mentions NE indirectly in its listing of vulnerable communities, people dependent on ‘natural resources like water, forest, agriculture, and talks of people living on hill slopes and floodplains. He emphasized that the report must be taken seriously by all stakeholders of the region committed to the welfare of people.

He expressed concern that the monsoons will be affected by changes in patterns leading to excessive floods and extreme droughts. In course of time, these changes could lead to changes in the region’s biodiversity.

Mentioning the IPCC report, he pointed out its warning that we shouldn’t wait till tell tale evidence emerges as it may be too late. It was true that we need development, but we should opt for the least carbon emission pathway that has a low carbon footprint.

In his paper, environmental consultant Jayanta Kumar Sarma, essayed how the Northeast could be at risk from climatic aberrations. Identifying the geographical features of the region, the changes in temperature and rainfall over the years he signalled how climate change would impact the region by disturbances in the agricultural and agro-forestry patterns, causing water scarcity, degradation, and erosion of cultural practices leading to social tensions and traditional livelihoods.

He reasoned that promotion of scientific use of Traditional Ecological Knowledge (TEK), pragmatic people oriented measures of forest, wetland and water resource protection and special incentives for the Community Conserved Areas (CCA) mainly for forest and wetland could equip people to combat the effects of climate change.

Mebanda Blah, and academic and researcher from Meghalaya, in her paper focused on ways how people in the villages of Mawlam, Mawlynnong and Tangmang were feeling the impact of climate change. In their own way, the villagers were observing changes like rise in temperature, variation in rainfall and disappearance of native plant species. These alterations were posing challenges to the people, and women especially were among the worst hit.

In her view, recognition and incentives to communities which are successfully protecting their environment through effective natural resource management, revamping traditional institutions such as the Dorbar Shnongs to include women, awareness programmes on harmful effects of broom grass cultivation could be effective interventions.

Others who made a strong pitch to understand the issue of climate change in the context of Northeast India included Arwat Challam of Samrakshan Trust, Luit Goswami of Dhemaji, Teetu Yoka from Arunachal Pradesh and Prodyut Bora from the BJP and Soumen Dey from WWF-India