蜜芽传媒

The Indian Prime minister Narendra Modi wants to boost coal production in the country to one billion tonnes a year. He says this will allow India to beat energy shortages, and become self sufficient.

But the plans have been met with fierce opposition from the Adivasi (Indigenous) community who live in the Hasdeo Forest where many of these mines will be opened. It also comes in the run up to the UN Climate Change (COP26) conference in Glasgow when world leaders will be pressured to move away from fossil fuels.

Now a group of Adivasi have set off on a 300km march to the capital of Chhattisgarh state in a bid to highlight their concerns.

Dr Jo Woodman is a senior researcher with human rights group, Survival International.

"The world needs to recognise that a major and vital solution to both the biodiversity and the climate crisis is to respect and support the indigenous peoples who are the ones fighting to keep the forest standing and the coal in the ground, for all our benefit... A billion tonnes a year is a disaster for the climate."

(Photo: Women protesting against the mines. Credit: Vijay Ramamurthy)

Show less