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MP member shares climate adaptation report

05.06.2016

Tara Joy and Stella Joy of Active Remedy Ltd had a private audience with His Holiness the 14th Dalai Lama at his residence in northern India, during which they discussed the environment and their work on 23 May 2016. Having recently created a report on the use of local, indigenous and traditional knowledge and practices for climate adaptation, at the request of the UNFCCC, they decided to share it with the Dalai Lama.

“It was a bright morning and the Dalai Lama greeted us warmly and held our hands with such tenderness that we immediately felt reassured and comfortable to stand talking with him about our report and how it covers many topics that we believed that he may find informative and which, could be utilized by mountain communities. We discussed the importance of preserving and restoring mountain ecosystems in order to safeguard the global water cycle and he talked about the importance of Tibetan ecosystems and mentioned that the area has been referred to as the ‘Third Pole’. He was obviously concerned about present environmental and climatic conditions and was interested in discussing these matters with us,” writes Stella Joy.

“The report that we gave him outlines the ‘Sacred Groves and Green Corridors’ model that we have formulated as a tool for safeguarding the global water cycle and restoring water-related ecosystems as a climate adaptation method. We suggested to His Holiness that Buddhist monasteries and communities might also benefit from establishing these sacred groves close to the monasteries and that these could be places where people could go and plant trees to mark particular special occasions and prayers.

When working to restore and preserve earth’s mountain ecosystems, it is important to include mountain communities and their tradition knowledge because their ecosystems are essential for regulating the planet’s water cycle and climate systems.

We feel very fortunate to have had the opportunity to talk directly to His Holiness the Dalai Lama and hope that this will bring greater attention to this critical issue that urgently needs to be addressed. His Holiness gave Active Remedy his Blessings and said that he would look into our report. We walked away draped in the traditional Tibetan white blessing scarves (Khata) feeling very happy and infused with fresh energy to continue with our work.”

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