New Delhi: Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Saturday said "climate change cannot be fought from conference tables alone" and that "it has to be fought from the dinner tables in every home", adding that "when an idea moves from discussion tables to dinner tables, it becomes a mass movement". He was addressing a World Bank event titled "Making it Personal: How Behavioral Change Can Tackle Climate Change" via a video link.
Referring to the wisdom of ancient Indian scholar and philosopher Chanakya, the Prime Minister said, "By itself, each good deed for the planet may seem insignificant. But when billions across the world do it together, the impact is huge. We believe that individuals making the right decisions for our planet are key in the battle for our planet. This is the core of Mission LiFE."
Speaking about the genesis of the LiFE movement, the Prime Minister remembered that in 2015, at the United Nations General Assembly, he spoke about the need for behavioural change and in October last year, the UN Secretary General and he launched Mission LiFE. He mentioned that the preamble to the outcome document of CoP-27 also speaks about sustainable lifestyles and consumption, according to an official statement put out by the government.
Mr Modi said: "In this matter of mass movements and behaviour transformation, the people of India have done a lot in the last few years."
The Prime Minister gave examples of an improved sex ratio, a massive cleanliness drive, and the adoption of LED bulbs, which help in avoiding nearly 39 million tonnes of carbon dioxide emissions every year, the statement said, adding that the PM also referred to water conservation by covering nearly 7,00,000 hectares of farmland with micro-irrigation.
Mr Modi said that under Mission LiFE, the government’s efforts will save over 22 billion units of energy, 9 trillion litres of water, reduce waste by 375 million tonnes, recycle almost 1 million tonnes of e-waste and generate around 170 million dollars of additional cost savings by 2030. "Further, it will help us reduce the wastage of 15 billion tonnes of food. Let me give you a comparison to see how big this is. The global primary crop production in 2020, according to FAO, was about 9 billion tonnes", he stated.
