A Ray of Hope
The Rann of Kutch in the Indian state of Gujrat is one of the most desolate and arid regions in the world. It’s a vast, barren land of salt marshes with very little vegetation and means of subsistence. This arid landscape is one of the major sources of salt not just for India but globally. Temperatures during the day soar to above 50 deg C while the nights are bitterly cold. These salt marshes are home to migrant labourers, called “Agarias” who toil in pitiful conditions to manually extract salt through natural evaporation of the sea water. They live in temporary shelters with no electricity and trek on bare feet across this vast wilderness, in search of work. Dubai based youth organisation, Green Hope UAE, which works on sustainable development believes in engaging all sections of civil society, especially those who are marginalized, in the road to progress. With this objective, a team of three Green Hope members, comprising of its 15 year old Founder, President Kehkashan Basu, Pragna (age: 14) and Erin (age: 13) collaborated with Cummins Middle East and travelled to Zainabad, a village on the edge of the salt pans of Rann of Kutch in Gujrat , India. They carried with them a cargo of 100 solar rechargeable lights and several cartons of books to distribute to the children of the “salt farmers." At Zainabad, they were assisted by a prominent local business and social entrepreneur Mr. Dhanraj who has established a school for the underprivileged children, including those of the salt pan workers. The Green Hope team conducted a half day workshop at this school, spreading awareness about the sustainable development goals, the current state of the environment and the important role of young people in mitigating climate change. Thereafter they donated the books that they had carried all the way from UAE, to the school library. Kehkashan and her team, thereafter forayed into the arid salt pans with their cargo of solar lamps. The huts of the salt farmers were spread far and wide across the vast Rann of Kutch, with each hut several kilometers away from the other. Each farmer family thus lives, works and tries to survive in isolation as they extract salt from marshes. The blistering heat of the sun and cold winds of the desert night, combined with the constant exposure to the corrosive salt make every day of their lives one of misery and a struggle to make it to the next day. Mortality is high and their children have little or no access to healthcare or education. Traveling across this harsh landscape on a SUV driven by Mr Dhanraj, the Green Hope team went from hut to hut distributing the solar lamps. Pragna and Erin opened the packs and demonstrated to the Agarias how the lamps work on solar energy. According to Pragna “the look of pure of joy on their faces as they saw the lamps light up made our effort worthwhile." The Green Hope team traversed several hundred square kilometers, treveling deep into the night, reaching out to a hundred huts with these lamps. Erin said “Tonight 100 huts across the Rann will light --- it is really fulfilling that we were able to bring a ray of hope to their lives." The following day, Green Hope joined the children of the Zainabad village school to plant 25 Neem and Jetropha trees as a mark of solidarity and Climate Justice with the ongoing Climate Change Conference in Paris. This project was Green Hope’s was first step of using clean energy for the benefit of civil society and encouraged by its success, the team plans to build on it and light up the lives of all salt farmers in the Rann of Kutch.
NGOCSD-NY CSW60:
We held our monthly NGOCSD-NY meeting with a Special CSW60 session Co-Hosted by the Mission of Sri Lanka to the United NationsFriday, March 18th at the Mission. The meeting was on "Domestic Violence Against Women & Girls: A Major Obstacle to Women's Empowerment." We were honored to have joining us: Honorable Ms. Chandrani Bandara Jayasingha, Minister for Women and Child Affairs in Sri Lanka; Honorable Mrs. Sicily K. Kariuki, Cabinet Secretary, the Republic of Kenya, Ministry of Public Service, Youth and Gender Affairs; Honorable Mrs. Nana Oye Lithur, Honorable Cabinet Minister for Gender, Children and Social Protection Republic of Ghana; Honorable Ms. Carolyn B. Maloney, U.S. Congressional Representative of New York District 12; Ms. Lakshmi Puri, Assistant Secretary-General of the United Nations Deputy Executive Director of UN Women. We were very grateful to H.E. Dr. Amrith Rohan Perera, Ambassador and Permanent Representative of Sri Lanka to the UN and Ms. Sonali Samarasinghe, Minister Counsellor of the Permanent Mission of Sri Lanka for their outstanding and generous support. During our meeting we put forth a Global Call to Action to Break the Cycle of Domestic Violence so we truly Leave No One Behind.
Please look under NGOCSD-NY EVENTS on our website for other activities CSW60.
Signing the Paris Agreement on Earth Day 2016:
At United Nations Headquarters in New York on Earth Day, April 22, 2016 over 170 member states signed the historic Paris Agreement on Climate Change making way for a process that should begin setting standards for our sustainable future, globally. Never before have so many countries signed an agreement on the first available day. The signatures came on Earth Day, the worldwide day in support of environmental protection. We all are stakeholders in our sustainable future and we must truly leave no one behind. (Lindsay, If you can download a photo of the SG at the signing and Leonardo DeCaprio at the UN signing that would be great and add it to this section, thanks.)
Finance for Development:
The ECOSOC Forum on Finance for Development was held April 18-20 with the inaugural ECOSOC Forum on Financing for Development follow-up in the Trusteeship Council Chamber at the United Nations Headquarters in New York. The theme of the Forum was "Financing for sustainable development: follow-up to the Addis Ababa Action Agenda." According to its mandate, the Forum would address the follow-up and review of the Financing for Development outcomes and the means of implementation of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development. The modalities of participation of those utilized at the international conferences on financing for development.
Check back for updates in the coming months.
NGOCSD-NY TEAM BLOGS:
Who should be the next head of UN Habitat? By Felix Dodds
http://blog.felixdodds.net/2017/03/ideas-on-who-could-be-new-head-of-un.html
So you want to go out on a date with someone from the Statistical Commission meeting what should you say to make them think you are clever? By Felix Dodds
http://blog.felixdodds.net/2017/03/so-you-want-to-go-out-on-date-with.html
Guest Blog Ambassador Bleich on Trump, disruptive technology, and the role of education in a changing economy By Felix Dodds
http://blog.felixdodds.net/2017/03/guest-blog-ambassador-bleich-on-trump_4.html
Now out: Negotiating the Sustainable Development Goals: A transformational agenda for an insecure world By Felix Dodds, Ambassador David Donoghue and Jimena Leiva Roesch
