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Today, third pole citizens are directly facing the impacts of planetary change.
As a nonprofit based in this region, we have witnessed delayed and diminished snow and rainfall in winters, devastating flooding and landslides in the monsoons, and extreme heat waves in the summers. These impacts have real consequences—including water shortages, more diseases, and the real risk of losing our homes and livelihoods. Scientific consensus confirms our lived experiences.
The Indian state holds critical “environmental” information about all of this and more—on behalf of us as citizens, and is bound by law to share it with us. Our fellow citizens from neighboring third pole democracies have similar rights of access to information.
At the Center, we have made inroads into systematically organizing environmental information concerning the third pole available in the public domain, and making it accessible widely. We are now using our Right to Information to shore up information that isn’t as readily available, let alone in an organized manner—yet which is crucial to keeping us informed about how (and to what extent) the state is planning for a rapidly changing planet.
Updates
Climate Change:
We have accessed crucial and extensive information from the Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change, regarding the functioning of two of India's highest executive decision making bodies dealing with climate change—the Prime Minister's Council on Climate Change and the Apex Committee for Implementation of Paris Agreement. The information—never accessed before, and running into more than 900 pages, includes minutes of meetings, cabinet level consultations, email exchanges, presentations, office memorandums and letters.
Access the information concerning the Prime Minister's Council here and Apex Committee here. To learn more about our experience seeking the same via our detailed thread on X here.
Forest Fires and Heatwaves:
On the 6th of June, 2024, the National Crisis Management Committee held a meeting to review preparedness to deal with heat waves and forest fires in India. The meeting followed an order passed by the Rajasthan High Court dated 30th May, 2024—on the issue of extreme weather events including heat waves.
The meeting took place at the Cabinet Secretariat in the presence of Shri Rajiv Gauba, Cabinet Secretary, and the Chief Secretaries of various States and Union Territories including those of Himachal Pradesh, Jammu & Kashmir and Uttarakhand. The minutes of the meeting were shared with Principal Secretary to the Prime Minister and the National Security Advisor.
We accessed the minutes of the meeting—available here—from the Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change.
If you are a member of the press, we would love to work together to give these crucial disclosures a wider platform. Find our presskit here, and feel free to reach out at himalayanadvocacy@gmail.com. Getting this crucial information takes work—from strategic drafting of RTI requests to following up with the Government. Do support the Center to help us continue executing environmental justice work in India.